Marvell Announces 88NV1160 NVMe DRAM-less SSD Controller — Flash Memory Summit 2016 Update

Marvell, a world-leading producer of semiconductor devices, is announcing the expansion of their solid-state drive (SSD) controller portfolio to include their new 88NV1160 Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) DRAM-less SSD controller.  Marvell’s 88NV1160 DRAM-less SSD controller delivers industry-leading performance per watt, and sequential read speeds of up to 1600MB/s.  The 88NV1160 can be utilized in a single ball grid array (BGA) package SSD, and also as a standalone controller in a tiny 9mm x 10mm package, making it compatible with M.2-2230 and M.2-2242 form factors.  The 88NV1160 is optimized for the next generation of thin computing devices, including productivity tablets and ultrabooks.

Marvell’s 88NV1160 is the latest product in their award-winning line of DRAM-less SSD controllers, which includes the 888NV1120 SATA and 88NV1140 PCIe Gen3x1 NVMe devices.  The 88NV1160 enables PCIe Gen3x2 NVMe SSDs, and offers full support for 2D and 3D NAND, ONFI and Toggle, MLC, TLC and QLC.  Marvell’s 88NV1160 enables BGA SSD support for 16mm x 20mm and 11.5mm x 13mm form factors.

Image source: techpowerup.com

According to Dr. David Chen, Vice President of SSD Business for Marvell, “As the world’s leading storage controller provider, Marvell has a long track record of bringing to market world-class products.  Working closely with other ecosystem leaders, Marvell has continued to advance the industry and drive a new generation of low power, small form factor mobile computing systems.  The 88NV1160 controller is optimally engineered for high performance tablets and ultrabooks, providing unparalleled performance per Watt and largest NAND compatibility on the market.”

The Marvell 88NV1160’s key features include:

• NVMe support over PCIe Gen3x2
• Fully hardware automated NVMe 1.3 support with Host Memory Buffer support
• Low power management (L1.2) design
• Powerful dual-core ARM­® Cortex®-R5 CPUs
• Embedded SRAM with hardware accelerators to optimize IOPS performance
• ONFI3 and Toggle2 NAND support
• NANDEdge­™ LDPC error-correction technology boosts SSD endurance and reliability and supports 15nm 2D TLC and 3D TLC/QLC NAND
• Full turnkey firmware and manufacturing support compatible with mainstream NAND
• 28nm low power CMOS process

Marvell has been participating this week at Flash Memory Summit 2016, from 8/9 through 8/11 at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.  Marvell’s new 88NV1160 controller is currently available to key customers globally for sampling.