Micron releases new SSD targeted at datacenters and Big Data storage

Micron's new P400m SSD has been optimized for high performance, energy efficiency, and enhanced reliability when compared to competing products. Micron claims that this is the result of their tight integration of the NAND hardware, the controller, and the highly optimized software. The use of their XPERT (PDF) (enhanced performance and enhanced reliability technology) is at the root of their claims of delivering the best possible data protection.

Micron believes that the P400m is capable of 10 drive fills per day for five years; with the 400GB model, that means 4TB of writes per drive on a daily basis. And while datacenters can easily provide that much data, it is more likely to be spread across multiple drives and arrays than be written to a single drive, allowing for enhanced reliability with significant storage flexibility.

Each device also includes significant hardware optimization to prevent data loss, ranging from a Redundant Array of Independent NAND (RAIN), a technology that exceeds standard ECC-type memory protection, to on-board backup power that can help prevent data loss in times of power loss. The XPERT feature set includes both of these hardware and software optimizations, which provides enhanced reliability for the P400m. XPERT will be found in many Micron SSD devices, with specific optimizations for the hardware in each device

The P400m uses custom 25nm MLC NAND. The use of multi-level cell NAND flash memory, as opposed to the much more common single-level cell NAND found in most SSD implementations, enables Micron to deliver a lower-priced solution in the very competitive datacenter storage market.

Along with the new drive information, Micro has also released a video that walks through how SSD devices are made: