PCIe Gen 5 SSD controller targets AI workloads

Data centers must be increasingly more powerful, efficient and reliable due to artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud-based service demands. In response, Microchip Technology Inc. announced its new Flashtec NVMe 5016 solid state drive (SSD) controller. This 16-channel, PCIe Gen 5 NVM Express (NVMe) controller delivers higher levels of bandwidth, security and flexibility in data centers for secure cloud computing and business-critical applications.

The SSD controller supports enterprise applications, such as online transaction processing, financial data processing and database mining, which are sensitive to latency and performance. For AI, it provides higher throughput for reading and writing large data sets for model training and inference processing. It features the high bandwidth necessary to move large volumes of data between storage and compute resources fast. A sequential read performance of more than 14 GB per second enables the NVMe 5016 to maximize the usage of valuable compute resources in traditional and AI-accelerated servers, Microchip said.

(Source: Microchip Technology Inc.)

The NVMe 5016 controller also features a high random read performance of 3.5 M IOs per second, a power profile for power-sensitive data centers that delivers more than 2.5 GB of data per watt, and its advanced node technologies, including power management, which enable automatic idling of processor cores and autonomous power reduction capabilities. It includes advanced error correction code (ECC) to support the latest Flash memory, and all flash management operations are performed on-chip, minimizing host processing and memory resources.

The NVMe 5016 controller’s flexibility and scalability help reduce the total cost of ownership as advanced virtualization capabilities like single root I/O virtualization (SR-IOV), multiple physical functions and multiple virtual functions per physical function maximize the PCIe resource utilization, Microchip said.

The programmable platform gives developers who plan to use flexible data placement (FDP) in their SSDs the control to maximize the performance, efficiency and reliability of Flash resources on the SSD, the company said. Coupled with Microchip’s Credit Engine for dynamic allocation of resources, the NVMe 5016 controller enables reliable on-demand cloud services.

Security features are integrated into the NVMe 5016 controller, maintaining the integrity of both firmware and data throughout its lifecycle. These include secure boot with a hardware root of trust, dual signature authentication to facilitate system OEM or end-user verification, support for various security standards through diverse authentication algorithms, user data protection with encryption for both data-in-transit (link level) and data-at-rest (media level) and sophisticated key management practices. It adheres to security protocols, including the Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-3 Level 2 and the Trusted Computing Group (TCG) Opal standards.

The controller is supported by an ecosystem of tools including the PM35160-KIT and PMT35161-KIT evaluation boards in various NAND options, a software development kit with PCIe-compliant front-end firmware and Microchip’s ChipLink tool for advanced debug. The controllers are available for sampling to qualified customers.