Art Of Storage Research Articles

When Memory Starts to Think [The Art of Storage

Memory and storage are important elements in consumer electronic devices. They retain data for immediate and delayed processing, and they store the results of processing for later retrieval. All consumer devices use some type of volatile and nonvolatile memory along with processing and communication. Memory and processing have been separate operations using distinct devices; however, there are products becoming available that combine processing power in storage devices, and there is work underway to create processing in close association with digital storage (often called computational storage) or even using technologies where processing is in very close association with nonvolatile memories (in-memory computing). Some emerging memory technologies even have characteristics that can mimic the operations of neurons in the brain and are being used for neuromorphic computing. Let's take a look at developments that bring processing and memory/storage together in new ways to enable smarter consumer devices.

A Road Map for Technologies That Drive Consumer Storage [The Art of Storage

The International Roadmap for Devices and Systems (IRDS) is an effort initiated by the IEEE Rebooting Computing Future Directions Committee to create a road map for critical technologies that will impact the future of data processing. In addition to supporting computing technologies, these road maps will also influence the development of memory and storage in future consumer products [1], [2]. The IRDS includes a continuation and extension of the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) International Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS). This column discusses work done for the 2017 IRDS road map. The IRDS had workshops to revise the next version of the road map in November 2018.

New Media Resolutions Drive Storage Requirements [The Art of Storage

Graphical processing units (GPUs) are special-purpose microprocessors that are used to accelerate a number of applications, such as artificial intelligence, media rendering, and big data analysis. These high-performance applications place stringent requirements on the digital storage and memory hardware as well as the managing software. New hardware and software show how specialized digital storage and memory can work together with high-speed processing to enable these applications. In Figure 1, Jensen Huang, the chief executive officer of nVIDIA, Santa Clara, California, is shown demonstrating that GPUs provide a way to continue the increase in processing speed, even with the slowing of Moore's law.

Storage at the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show [The Art of Storage

Consumer electronic devices are enabled by digital storage, whether local or in the cloud. Several digital-storage device suppliers showed their storage products at the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show (CES). In addition, many show representatives used digital storage to enable their applications, including companies at the media and analyst events, ShowStoppers and Digital Experience.

Is Magnetoresistive Random Access Memory in Your Embedded Product Future? [The Art of Storage

Consumer electronics devices are usually embedded where considerable consolidation of electronic components result in cost savings, miniaturization enablement, and higher reliability. An important factor in embedded electronic product operation, cost, performance, and power use is employing various memory technologies for content caching and buffering. There is a significant opportunity in the market for consumer semiconductor electronics for Internet of Things (IoT) and automotive products. The total automotive semiconductor electronics market is estimated at US$42 billion, and the total IoT semiconductor market is estimated at US$34 billion.

Digital Storage in Smartphones and Wearables [The Art of Storage

This "Art of Storage" column will look at some portable consumer electronic devices and then explore the digital storage for these devices while touching on other important design elements. I will discuss smartphones and the variety of new wearable devices, such as smartwatches. These devices capture and store personal content as well as store and play commercial content.

A Solid-State Future [The Art of Storage

The 2017 Flash Memory Summit revealed many major advances in solid-state storage. This article will discuss some of these advances as well as the drivers for solid-state storage. Updated International Data Corporation's (IDC's) projection is that, by 2025, human civilization will generate over 160 zettabytes (ZB) of data but will retain only about 2-3% of the data on digital storage devices, as shown in Figure 1. Note that only about 16 ZB of data total were generated in 2016.

Market Trends are Driving Digital Storage Choices for Consumer Devices [The Art of Storage

The development of nearly ubiquitous electronic networking and electronic devices with lower power use have enabled a steady growth of mobile electronic devices and the gradual decline of traditional personal computers (PCs). In addition, more consumer services and tools available on the Internet (the cloud) have changed what is done locally and remotely for many consumers. Let's take a deep look at these trends and explore how they are changing consumer digital storage requirements.

Supersize My Pi [The Art of Storage

The Raspberry Pi is a series of small, single-board computers developed in the United Kingdom by the Raspberry Pi Foundation to promote the teaching of basic computer science in schools and developing countries [1]. The first Raspberry Pi was introduced in February 2012; however, the low cost of this computer platform and its flexibility have led to much greater use by hobbyists and device designers worldwide. According to the Raspberry Pi Foundation, over 10 million Raspberry Pis (now up to Generation 3) have been sold, making it the best-selling British computer [1]. Figure 1 shows a Generation 3 Raspberry Pi computer. The Generation 3 Raspberry Pi has a wired Ethernet port as well as built-in Wi-Fi. It also comes with four universal serial bus (USB) ports and a mini high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) port, allowing the Raspberry Pi to hook to up a monitor, keyboard, and mouse. A micro secure digital (SD) card provides the operating system to book the Pi.

How Big Are Your Dreams? Gauging the Size of Future Content [The Art of Storage

Many trends are driving the development of modern rich media. The digital storage and bandwidth requirements to capture, process, distribute, and archive digital video content are growing. One of the biggest trends is a move to higher resolution content, with 4K content becoming common in consumer displays and lots of early work taking place on 8K content. Another is higher frame rates, with camera capture rates at 48 or 60 frames per second (fps) and 4K acquisition up to 120 fps; higher frame rates are used in specialty cameras designed for slow-motion capture. In addition, cameras and display devices are sporting higher dynamic range and an expanded color space, providing content that looks even more like real life.

A Timeline for Flash Memory History [The Art of Storage

At the annual Flash Memory Summits, we have shown an everexpanding timeline for the history of flash memory, starting in 1967 with the invention of the floating gate memory device by Kahng and Sze of Bell Labs (Figure 1). The timeline now goes out to midyear 2016. We include this timeline with this article to illustrate the development of this key storage technology for many consumer devices. Jim Handy, Brian Berg, and Tom Coughlin put together this ever-growing timeline of advances in solid-state memory and its applications.

The Memory of Cars [The Art of Storage

Automobiles are steadily becoming rolling application platforms that require computing power, networking, and communication capabilities with other cars and the cloud, as well as with digital memory and storage. Let's look at the requirements for memory and digital storage in automotive entertainment and navigations systems, including expectations for cars with driver-assisted features and autonomous driving. The evolution of memory and storage technology is a key element in creating the deep learning capabilities and rich media that are required for the car of tomorrow.

Developments in HDD Technology Provide Consumer Services [The Art of Storage

Although flash memory has been the technology of choice for mobile consumer applications, for fixed devices in the home, such as set-top boxes and external backup devices, hard disk drives (HDDs) still provide the best bang for the buck. In addition, the vast bulk of the data that consumers access from the cloud lives on enterprise HDDs. Here is a look at some of the recent developments in HDD technology and how they are used in consumer applications.

Making The Connection [The Art of Storage

Digital storage plays a valuable role in consumer devices. It is where we keep the pictures in our cameras and where our music and video lives. All consumer devices include some storage media. For most mobile devices, the storage is often in NAND flash memory. In home devices, flash memory or hard disk drives (HDDs) might be used, depending on the amount of data being stored. In this article, we look at developments in flash memory technology interfaces that will allow consumers faster applications and data access.

Crossing the Chasm to New Solid-State Storage Architectures [The Art of Storage

This article explores the current state of solid-state memory, including what is publicly known about the Intel/Micron XPoint memory and the future consumer devices and technologies that nonvolatile memory will make possible.

You Can Take It With You [The Art of Storage

In 2014, laptops shipping with solid-state drives (SSDs) were just over 20% of the total market. There are projections that this could increase considerably over the next few years, possibly reaching over 50% of the market by 2017 [1]. This trend is driven by the decreasing costs for SSD storage capacity and the longer battery life that is possible with SSD laptops. Presently, SSDs with 256-GB capacity sell for about US$90. SSDs are still at least four-times more expensive in US$/GB than hard-disk drives (HDDs) (a 1-TB notebook HDD sells for about US$50 while a 1-TB SSD sells for about US$400) [2]. A 256-GB storage capacity is enough to hold many applications and two operating systems, with some room for data storage.

Reach Out and Touch: Digital storage devices and technologies [The Art of Storage

In this article, we will explore a new way to look at digital storage devices. This approach helps us realize what types of digital storage technologies may be best for a particular application and what combination of storage technologies might be best for a storage system. This article is based on a white paper by Steve Hetzler and Tom Coughlin that focuses on enterprise applications [1]. The analysis can also be used to look at storage in consumer applications, and we will point out implications for consumer applications as appropriate.

The internet of things meets the storage of everything [The Art of Storage

Interconnected intelligent devices (things) are all the rage in technology circles. As the price and availability of microprocessors increase, they are showing up in consumer products ranging from thermostats to refrigerators. Microprocessors are also appearing in industrial applications, where sensor networks enable higher-yield product manufacturing, and in agriculture, when they will enable higher-yield farming, where watering and cultivation can be tailored to the crop being planted and the soil in which it is planted.

New Digital Storage Solutions Enable Growing Consumer Applications [The Art of Storage

New Digital Storage Solutions Enable Growing Consumer Applications [The Art of Storage

How Data Centers Provide Consumer Services [The Art of Storage

The mobile devices that we use every day, and that seemingly have unlimited access to information, have limited storage capacity and processing power (storage capacities are usually fewer than 128 GB). They are dependent upon digital storage and servers in remote data centers that are accessible over the Internet, often called the cloud. The usefulness of these mobile consumer products and the services they provide depend upon the enterprise infrastructure that supports them. This article will explore what goes on in these data centers and how these consumer services get delivered to us. So, let's take an inside look at these data centers and the networks they make possible to see how content gets to your consumer products.