With Memory Channel Storage (MCS), Diablo has presented a solutions, which helps in reducing latency for storage massively and at the same time throughput performance can also be improved significantly. Diablo found a way to use the DIMM slots and therefore the CPU's memory interface to cope with non-volatile memory.

Diablo promises that MCS will be the most scalable, economical as well as best performing storage solution. For example, it will be possible to reach latencies, which are close the the ones we see with DRAM memory.

MCS is compatible with all DIMM slots, that make use of DDR3 memory. This means, that MCS can be deployed in all servers that feature DDR3 DIMM slots. Unlike PCI-Express for example, MCS doesn't depend on certain form factors, which means that it can also be installed in blade server, which usually aren't high enough to host a fully fledged PCI-Express storage card, unless there is a raiser card involved.

Ultimately Diablo seems to have found a way how to put flash memory on DIMM's and then make them talk to the memory controller of the CPU in a way, that the flash on the DIMM's becomes available as for example a hard drive. Since the memory interface of todays CPU offer a substantial amount of bandwidth and is much faster than even PCI-Express, this technology has the potential to push flash memory to its limits.




Source: Diablo