Microsemi Accelerates the Industry's Transition to Enterprise PCIe SSDs With Production Release of its Mainstream Flashtec PCIe Controllers

ALISO VIEJO, Calif., Aug. 7, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Microsemi Corporation (Nasdaq: MSCC), a leading provider of semiconductor solutions differentiated by power, security, reliability and performance, today announced the production release of its Flashtec™ NVM Express (NVMe) 2108 eight-channel controllers, enabling leading enterprises and data centers worldwide to realize cost- and power-efficient high capacity solid state drives (SSDs). The devices extend Microsemi's leadership in the NVMe controller segment with robust mainstream performance and support for capacities to 16GB and greater. Customers will enjoy the architectural consistency of the Flashtec NVMe Controller product line through high firmware reusability by minimizing engineering expense. Delivered in a 17x17mm package, the new line of controllers supports all popular form factors including M.2, U.2 and half-height half-length (HHHL) add-in cards. 

"The production release of our Flashtec NVMe2108 controllers enables customers to take advantage of the same enterprise grade features and mature enterprise architecture they have come to expect from Microsemi, with lower power and cost structure to align with the mainstream PCIe segment," said Derek Dicker, vice president and business unit manager of performance storage at Microsemi. "We look forward to capitalizing on the exciting market growth opportunities with these devices, and we will continue leveraging Microsemi's deep expertise to deliver PCIe NVMe SSD controller solutions for demanding storage system, server and rack scale architecture data center applications."

According to market research firm IDC's report titled, "Worldwide Solid State Drive Forecast, 2017-2021," the industry continues to transition rapidly toward PCIe-based SSDs, which are estimated to be more than 50 percent of enterprise SSD revenue by 2021. A major driver of this growth stems from NVMe SSDs displacing serial advanced technology attachment (SATA) SSDs as price points of NVMe SSDs narrow toward comparable SATA SSDs.

"The announcement of Microsemi's new Flashtec devices demonstrates how the company continues to accelerate adoption of PCIe flash into the mainstream enterprise market," said Eric Endebrock, vice president of storage marketing at Micron. "The high capacity these mainstream controllers support is well-aligned to take advantage of Micron's rapidly ramping 64 layer 512Gb 3D TLC and future technologies."

"Microsemi and Toshiba Memory Corporation have a longstanding relationship to deliver best-in-class PCIe SSD solutions to the market," said Hiroo Ohta, Technology Executive, Toshiba Memory Corporation. "We believe Microsemi's new controller with our BiCS FLASH TLC and upcoming innovative QLC technology will stimulate new opportunities to expand the enterprise and data center market."

The Flashtec NVMe2108 controllers offer a mature architecture with optimized power and cost for mainstream applications, while preserving enterprise features including dual-port, Separate Reference Clock with Independent Spread (SRIS) and end-to-end data protection. They also provide a programmable architecture enabling SSD product differentiation through firmware customizations. Their adaptive low-density parity-check code (LDPC) enables support for current and future generations of Toggle and Open NAND Flash Interface (ONFI), including multi-level cell (MLC) and (triple level cell) TLC, as well as QLC in future product developments. The NVMe2108HC and NVMe2108LC variants support different capacity points to align with specific industry needs.

"We are very impressed with the technical capabilities of Microsemi's NVMe2108 controllers," said Andy Hsu, CTO of Liteon Storage Group. "These innovative devices allow us to meet the ever-increasing performance, capacity and enterprise features being requested by Liteon's data center customers."   

"Microsemi's new mainstream SSD controllers are well-aligned with NAND capacity and low-density parity check (LDPC) trends, which will allow it to support multiple generations of our product development efforts," said VP S.H. Choi, head of NAND product planning office at SK Hynix. "SK Hynix's next-generation 72 layer 3D NAND and Microsemi's advanced LDPC technology will be a great combination for SSDs."

Product Availability
Microsemi's Flashtec NVMe2108 controllers are available in volume production quantities now. For more information, visit http://www.microsemi.com/products/storage/flashtec-nvme-controllers/flashtec-nvme-controllers or contact [email protected].

Product Demonstrations in Booth #213 at Flash Memory Summit Aug. 8-10
Microsemi will be showcasing its Flashtec NVMe2108, along with a variety of other innovative flash memory products and solutions, at the upcoming Flash Memory Summit (FMS) Aug. 8-10, 2017, with product demonstrations offered in Microsemi's booth, #213. In addition, Dicker will present a keynote titled, "Accelerating NVMe Innovation for Emerging Applications" at the show at 11 a.m. local time on Thursday, Aug. 10.

About Microsemi's Product Portfolio for Data Center
Microsemi is a premier supplier of innovative semiconductor, board, system, software and services for enterprise and hyperscale data centers, enabling high performance, secure, low power and reliable infrastructure for scalable deployments. Microsemi technologies drive innovation in applications including storage systems, server storage, NVM solutions, Ethernet switching, rack scale architecture, data center interconnect, network timing and power subsystems. Building on a track record of technology leadership, Microsemi's data center infrastructure portfolio is transforming networks that connect, store and move big data, while lowering the total cost of ownership of deploying next generation services. 

The portfolio includes high performance NVMe storage controllers, NVRAM drives, SAS/SATA host bus adapters and RAID controllers enabling high capacity storage architectures, high density PCIe switching and firmware for rack scale architectures, PCIe re-drivers, and Ethernet PHYs for intra-rack connectivity. Microsemi's product portfolio also includes clock and power management, IEEE1588 integrated circuits (ICs) and NTP servers for synchronization across the data center, as well as field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and system-on-chip (SoC) FPGAs to perform secure system management of servers and storage. For more information, visit http://www.microsemi.com/applications/data-center.

About Microsemi
Microsemi Corporation (Nasdaq: MSCC) offers a comprehensive portfolio of semiconductor and system solutions for aerospace & defense, communications, data center and industrial markets. Products include high-performance and radiation-hardened analog mixed-signal integrated circuits, FPGAs, SoCs and ASICs; power management products; timing and synchronization devices and precise time solutions, setting the world's standard for time; voice processing devices; RF solutions; discrete components; enterprise storage and communication solutions, security technologies and scalable anti-tamper products; Ethernet solutions; Power-over-Ethernet ICs and midspans; as well as custom design capabilities and services. Microsemi is headquartered in Aliso Viejo, California, and has approximately 4,800 employees globally. Learn more at www.microsemi.com.

Microsemi and the Microsemi logo are registered trademarks or service marks of Microsemi Corporation and/or its affiliates. Third-party trademarks and service marks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.

"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Any statements set forth in this news release that are not entirely historical and factual in nature, including without limitation statements related to the production release of its Flashtec NVMe2108 eight-channel controllers, enabling leading enterprises and data centers worldwide to realize cost- and power-efficient high capacity SSDs, and its potential effects on future business, are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations and are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. The potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, such factors as rapidly changing technology and product obsolescence, potential cost increases, variations in customer order preferences, weakness or competitive pricing environment of the marketplace, uncertain demand for and acceptance of the company's products, adverse circumstances in any of our end markets, results of in-process or planned development or marketing and promotional campaigns, difficulties foreseeing future demand, potential non-realization of expected orders or non-realization of backlog, product returns, product liability, and other potential unexpected business and economic conditions or adverse changes in current or expected industry conditions, difficulties and costs of protecting patents and other proprietary rights, inventory obsolescence and difficulties regarding customer qualification of products. In addition to these factors and any other factors mentioned elsewhere in this news release, the reader should refer as well to the factors, uncertainties or risks identified in the company's most recent Form 10-K and all subsequent Form 10-Q reports filed by Microsemi with the SEC. Additional risk factors may be identified from time to time in Microsemi's future filings. The forward-looking statements included in this release speak only as of the date hereof, and Microsemi does not undertake any obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.

SOURCE Microsemi Corporation

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