Storage systems

Solid-state persistent memory such as flash is being introduced in the enterprise environment as it improves on several factors compared to disk, most notably IO performance and power efficiency. Our activities focus on the potential use of these technologies in enterprise-strength systems.

Multi-level cell flash memory (MLC) and phase-change memory (PCM) in particular are expected to induce radical changes from the server and storage architectures up to the middleware and application design. Endurance, retention, and integrity/reliability issues of flash and PCM must be addressed properly.

We are designing and evaluating holistic approaches to error detection and correction, from the low-level data block up to the array level. In addition, we are investigating the potential for synergies between the various layers (devices, controller, and file system).

Figure 1. Impact of flash and future storage-class memories in the storage and memory hierarchies.

Figure 2. Technologies such as phase-change memory will dramatically improve endurance and density compared to flash and hence will be very attractive for enterprise storage systems.