At a gathering of global influencers in Seoul, South Korea, Intel outlined a series of new technology milestones and highlighted its ongoing investment and commitment to advance memory and storage in the data-centric computing era. This includes providing customers with unique Intel Optane technology and Intel 3D NAND solutions for cloud, artificial intelligence, and network edge applications.
What Intel Announced
Among the milestones discussed at the event were Intel’s plans to operate a new Optane technology development line at its facilities in Rio Rancho, New Mexico; the announcement of the second-generation of Intel Optane DC Persistent Memory, code-named “Barlow Pass,” scheduled for release in 2020 with Intel’s next-generation Intel Xeon Scalable processor; and Intel’s industry-first demonstration of 144-layer QLC (Quad Level Cell) NAND for data center SSDs (solid-state drives), which are also expected in 2020.
Why It Matters
Massive amounts of data being generated by machines generally require real-time analysis to make that data valuable. This need has exposed gaps in the memory storage hierarchy: DRAM isn’t large enough, and SSDs aren’t fast enough. The gap is where Intel Optane DC Persistent Memory shines. And if even bigger data sets are needed, Intel Optane technology connected through storage interfaces fills the gap.
Additionally, hard disk drives increasingly aren’t fast enough for data-centric computing – that’s where the combination of Intel Optane technology plus QLC NAND comes into play. In sum, Intel Optane is a unique combination of materials, structure and performance that other current memory and storage technologies cannot match.
Intel also demonstrated its next-generation Intel Optane technology single-port SSD for key enterprise customers, with product availability expected in 2020.
