We can give servers more memory, claims Diablo. Well, sort of

Non-volatile media closer to DRAM

A theme of all these initiatives is to somehow get non-volatile media access speeds closer to that of DRAM. This will benefit big data analytics, in-memory databases, and relational databases, as bigger working sets, four times bigger, in flash memory will speed application run-time, even though flash is being used instead of DRAM.

Relational databases, typically with larger working sets than in-memory databases, will benefit, Diablo said, by having four times larger buffers and caches.

Diablo numbers for Memory1 enabling 10:1 server reduction in search

Diablo estimates the Memory1 opportunity is to invade the Memory DIMM market, worth $4.3bn in 2015, and growing to $18.7bn in 2019.

It claims companies such as Supermicro, LiteOn, American Megatrends, Inspur and Wistron have certified its technology. Presumably Huawei, Lenovo and Supermicro will be getting calls from Diablo about Memory1.

There is no partnership in place with SanDisk over Memory1 technology. Diablo thinks hyperscale data centres and service providers are the right target users and aims to sell to them through an ODM and OEM ecosystem, not necessarily through mainstream server suppliers such as Dell and HP.

There is a hint Diablo could add Memory1 support to Windows Server and VMware ESXi in the future.

If hyperscale and cloud service provider server users see that they can achieve a fantastic-seeming 10:1 Linux server reduction then Diablo has a winner on its hands, assuming Memory1 does what it says it does, and is priced right.

Check out Memory1 at the Flash Memory Summit from 11-13 August in Santa Clara, California, booth #413. ®