Future Electronics Offers the PATA NANDrive from Greenliant
Future Electronics has announced immediate availability of the PATA NANDrive™ from Greenliant, which can be used to replace CF cards, legacy mDOC designs, and high-density NOR.
- (1888PressRelease) May 11, 2014 - Pointe Claire, Quebec Future Electronics, a global leading distributor of electronic components, the PATA NANDrive™ from Greenliant, which can be used to replace CF cards, legacy mDOC designs, and high-density NOR.
Greenliant's PATA NANDrive offers several advantages over CompactFlash (CF) cards. CompactFlash (CF) cards are based on the widely adopted Parallel ATA (PATA) interface. Industrial temperature CF cards have often been used for data storage in older generation industrial, networking, imaging and video recording applications because of their small size and robustness. While the removable aspect of CF cards may be useful for some applications, they are not suitable for storing sensitive user data and embedded systems used in high vibration and shock environments.
As the size of embedded systems continues to shrink, there is a need for even smaller form factor storage than offered by CF cards. At about the size of a postage stamp, industrial temperature NANDrive solid state drives (SSDs) are an ideal replacement. No extra connectors are needed because NANDrive is soldered directly onto the PCB, making it very resistant to shock and vibration. In addition, if PATA NANDrive is used in TrueIDE mode, no host software changes are required to replace a CF card.
For embedded applications that require high reliability, performance and security, NANDrive offers built-in advanced features that cannot be found in today's CF cards, such as SSD health monitoring, user-configurable zones for data protection and "instant" data erase capabilities. CF cards also lack power interrupt data protection, which is a standard feature in PATA NANDrive.
Applications where Greenliant's PATA NANDrive can replace CF cards include aerospace/flight systems, gaming systems, GPS and telematics, video conferencing, multi-function printers, point of sale (POS) terminals, data loggers, VoIP systems/PBX, wireless base stations, routers/gateways/switches, single-board computers, ultrasound and medical imaging, industrial automation & control, test & measurement instrumentation, and video surveillance/ID terminals.
Greenliant's PATA NANDrive can also be used to replace legacy mDOC designs. mDOC is a family of embedded flash drives that provide data storage and execute-in-place (XIP) functionality. mDOC products have been discontinued, but customers need not worry. PATA NANDrive solid state drives (SSDs) provide easy migration from legacy mDOC-based designs and offer customers long-term support. It is an easy-to-use alternative to mDOC on the NOR memory bus. Similar to mDOC, NANDrive SSDs have a small ball grid array (BGA) form factor, making them suitable for various embedded applications.
mDOC required a specific driver on the host system in order to operate. When there was a new mDOC revision, it often required software changes. Greenliant's PATA NANDrive uses the industry standard ATA interface and does not need any special flash translation layer (FTL) drivers. The ATA Task File registers are accessed on the memory bus and most of the host interface signals in PATA NANDrive operate in the same manner as in mDOC.
Greenliant's PATA NANDrive has the same pin-out across all capacities for backward compatibility and 1mm ball pitch for increased long-term reliability. NANDrive offers built-in advanced features such as SSD health monitoring, power interrupt data protection, user-configurable zones for storing secure data and "instant" data erase capabilities.
Applications for which Greenliant's PATA NANDrive offer benefits in replacing legacy mDOC designs include set-top boxes/net-top boxes, video conferencing, multi-function printers, VoIP systems/PBX, point of sale (POS) terminals, data loggers, wireless base stations, routers/gateways/switches, ultrasound and medical imaging, industrial automation & control, test & measurement instrumentation, video surveillance/ID terminals, and in-flight infotainment.
Additionally, PATA NANDrive from Greenliant offers many advantages in replacing high-density NOR. All processor-based systems require non-volatile memory to hold their Boot Code. When a processor starts up, it needs to load initial instructions in order to run the system's applications. NOR flash memory has been a popular choice to store Boot Code because of its execute-in-place (XIP) capability, meaning the processor's code can be executed directly from the NOR. High-density NOR flash memory extends this functionality by allowing the system to store additional code, such as operating systems and applications.
The drawback, though, is that NOR is a slow write technology and all writes require an erase first. In these architectures, the contents of the high-density NOR are copied (or paged) into the random access memory (RAM) for execution. RAM has faster access times than NOR and is often used as the runtime memory. Embedded system designers have realized that a faster and more efficient way to run code is from RAM, meaning it is no longer necessary to use high-density NOR for this operation.
NANDrive solid state drives (SSDs) offer an alternative data storage architecture that has improved performance, power savings and lower cost per Byte compared to NOR. For further flexibility, PATA NANDrive supports both the industry-standard ATA/IDE interface and the general purpose memory bus. The generic NANDrive driver can be easily ported to most embedded controllers, making it a seamless process to connect the SSD to a microcontroller via memory bus.
Compared to expensive high-density NOR, the additional capacity, easy integration and expanded functionality of NANDrive give embedded systems designers a compelling and cost-effective choice for code and data storage.
Applications where Greenliant's PATA NANDrive can be used to replace high-density NOR include set-top boxes/net-top boxes, GPS and telematics, in-vehicle infotainment, video conferencing, multi-function printers, point of sale (POS) terminals, VoIP systems/PBX, wireless base stations, routers/gateways/switches, servers/network-attached storage, industrial PCs/single-board computers, ultrasound and medical imaging, industrial automation & control, test & measurement instrumentation, and video surveillance/ID terminals.
For more information about Greenliant, the PATA NANDrive, Industrial Grade SLC, Solid State Drives, SSD, semiconductors, GLS85LD1001T-60-RI-LBTE, GLS85LP1002P-S-I-FTE, GLS85LP1008P-S-I-FTE, or GLS85LP1016B-M-C-FTE, as well as access to the world's largest available-to-sell inventory, visit www.FutureElectronics.com.
About Future Electronics
Future Electronics is a global leader in electronics distribution, ranking 3rd in component sales worldwide, with an impressive reputation for developing efficient, comprehensive global supply chain solutions. Founded in 1968, the company has established itself as one of the most innovative organizations in the industry today, with 5,000 employees in 169 offices in 44 countries around the world. Future Electronics is globally integrated, with one worldwide IT infrastructure providing real-time inventory availability and access, while enabling full integration of its operations, sales and marketing worldwide. Offering the highest level of service, the most advanced engineering capabilities and technical solutions through all stages of the design-production cycle, and the largest available-to-sell inventory in the world, Future's mission is always to Delight the Customer®. For more information, visit www.FutureElectronics.com.
Media Contact
Martin H. Gordon
Director, Corporate Communications
FUTURE ELECTRONICS
www.FutureElectronics.com
514-694-7710 (ext. 2236)
Fax: 514-630-2671
martin.gordon ( @ ) FutureElectronics dot com
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