LSI today unveiled the third generation of its SandForce flash controller line. LSI claims that its SandForce SF3700 controller provides increased levels of flash performance, better reliability and improved endurance. The controller supports both native PCIe Gen2 x4 and SATA 6Gb/s host interfaces which helps in simplifying SSD designs and simpler SSD designs help to reduce development and manufacturing costs for SSD manufacturers.
With the addition of the SF3700 family’s PCIe interface support, LSI claims it's possible to achieve 1.8GB/s sequential reads whenthe controller is combined with Toshiba's second generation 19nm Advanced NAND.
LSI also makes it easy to let the controller work PCIe and SATA. M.2 form factor cards designed with a dual PCIe and SATA interface can select the final desired interface using a jumper. The SF3700 PCIe interface supports both the AHCI and NVMe protocols The SF 3700 also has "Optimized DuraWrite Data Reduction" and "SHIELD Error Correction". Durawrite is a data reduction technology which combines several techniques to extend NAND flash memory life. Shield is a technology to extend flash memory life and improve data integrity by implementing a flash-optimized low-density parity-check (LDPC) code that combines hard-decision, soft-decision and digital signal processing (DSP) together with adaptive error correction code rates. This should enables SSD manufacturers to deliver enterprise-class product life and data integrity when using less expensive flash memory.
The controller also supports "Enhanced RAISE Technology" a technology similar to RAID which is specifically designed for SSDs by protecting against page, block and full die failures in a single drive environment. The SF3700 family’s adds a ninth channel for an extra flash package to enable more RAISE protection and user capacity options. SF3700 controllers provide up to 2TB maximum capacity and a 9-channel ONFI-3/Toggle-2 flash interface.
For enterprise users, there is Dual AES-256 Encryption and optional support for TCG Opal and Enterprise specifications.
SSD manufacturers to use these new SandForce controllers are likely Intel, Micron, SanDisk, Toshiba, ADATA and Kingston. SF3700 flash controllers are currently sampling to select SSD OEM customers. Volume customer shipments are expected in the first half of 2014.
