LSI DuraClass™ Technology
DuraClass technology represents a set of NAND flash management features that work in tandem to deliver world-class SSD reliability, performance, and power efficiency. It is this technology that differentiates LSI® SandForce® Flash Storage Processors (FSPs) from standard flash controllers. Of particular importance is the use of processing elements to optimally overcome a number of the inherent issues associated with standard NAND flash memory. DuraClass technology features include:
- LSI DuraWrite™ architecture- optimizes the number of program cycles to the flash, effectively extending flash rated endurance by 20x or more when compared to standard controllers.
- Powerful flash media error correction (ECC) and Redundant Array of Independent Silicon Elements (RAISE™) - deliver an order-of-magnitude improvement in drive reliability versus today’s best enterprise HDDs. The result is single-drive, RAID-like protection and recovery from potentially catastrophic flash block failures – all while avoiding the inefficiencies of traditional RAID.
- Advanced wear leveling and monitoring - optimized wear leveling algorithms further extending flash endurance.
- Advanced read/program disturb management - safeguards against errant re-programming of cells during read and program cycles.
- Recycler - intelligently performs garbage collection with the least impact on flash endurance.
Scalable Technology for Generations to Come
Given the smaller silicon geometries and trend tow ard packing more bits per cell in flash devices, there has been a dramatic reduction in the cost-per-Gigabyte for NAND flash-based SSDs, accelerating deployment in mainstream applications. However, these changes have also reduced the reliability characteristics of flash devices, resulting in lower endurance, worse data integrity, and shorter data retention. This is elevating the importance of advanced flash management technology . DuraClass technology is architected to scale and compensate for standard NAND flash memory shortcomings, ensuring SSDs can be reliably used in enterprise and client computing environments for generations to come .