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Nimble lives up to name after eating flashy DIMM brekkie

Getting data quickly to the heart of the compute

Analysis FlashDIMMs can turn Nimble Storage arrays into supercharged systems, shortening IO latencies and speeding overall IO.

These commodity-based systems use flash as an extension of memory with lower-than-PCIe-flash card latencies, due to them having DIMM-level access to the CPU-memory bus inside their server/controllers.

It partially uses NVault NVDIMM (non-volatile DIMM) technology licensed from Netlist, a Canadian business.

We already know that Huawei, Lenovo and Supermicro license similar DIMM-based flash memory technology from Diablo Technologies.

The background linking Netlist and Diablo is a bit complicated, but let's go through it:

  • Netlist has had a relationship with Diablo Technologies, a silicon valley startup, that has developed its own DIMM-based Memory Channel Storage (MCS).
  • This was licensed to SMART Storage, punting out a product called ULLtraDIMM, which IBM famously licensed to use in certain of its x86 servers.
  • SanDisk bought SMART and inherited the Diablo ULLtraDIMM deal.
  • IBM sold its x86 server business to Lenovo which inherited the SanDisk/SMART ULLtraDIMM deal.
  • Netlist licensed its NVDIMM technology to Nimble Storage.
  • SanDisk has licensed its ULLTraDIMM technology to Huawei and Supermicro for use in their servers.
  • Netlist is suing Diablo for IP infringement with Diablo counter-suing for restraint of trade.
  • Tegile looks likely to use ULLtraDIMM technology in its hybrid arrays in 2015.
Netlist_DDR3_NVDIMM

Netlist DDR3 NVDIMM

When we wrote about Tegile's likely ULLtraDIMM adoption we thought it would give its product an advantage over fellow hybrid array startup competitors Nimble Storage and Tintri. Hold up, said Nimble, we already have NVDIMM technology and Tegile's not getting any performance advantage over us.

How does Nimble use Netlist NVDIMM tech?

Nimble arrays have CASL (cache-accelerated sequential layout) software which, we understand, allows it to separate write and read IO paths to guarantee low latency and high performance IO (regardless of the pattern of IO, random or sequential, high writes or reads) without massive amounts of SSD.

They had a custom-designed and patented PCIe-based NVRAM architecture in its first iteration of products for write IO ingest and data coalescing; working with CASL to accelerate IO futher.

Gen 2 Nimble products came along in 2014 and used custom-designed NVDIMMs, with a Netlist technology contribution, to obtain even lower write latency and higher performance than the Gen 1 PCIe-based design. The CS300, 500 and 700 arrays use this technology.

The combination of CASL software and controllers using DRAM, NVDIMMs and SSDs makes Nimble arrays go much faster (Nimble might say) than hybrid mainstream arrays (think, Dell, EMC, HP, IBM and NetApp) and also hybrid array startups such as Tegile and Tintri.

With Tegile apparently looking to use SanDisk ULLtraDIMMs, this possibly presages a more widespread move by hybrid storage array controllers to use flash DIMMS as an IO speed-up tactic and more effectively compete with all-flash arrays. ®

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