NVMdurance Pathfinder and Navigator software

NVMdurance Pathfinder and Navigator software enable flash memory to last longer by extending the intrinsic endurance of the NAND flash.

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NVMdurance software implements a set of NAND flash optimization techniques that constantly monitors the health of the NAND flash and autonomically adjusts the operating parameters in real time. Our software optimizes NAND flash designed for the mass market to your application requirements.

We apply our technology in concert with our customers’ existing technology to compound or multiply its effect (e.g. ECC or over-provisioning), achieving an overall endurance extension in the order of 20 times.

Major financial savings can be made in final product bill of materials cost because TLC can be used without the need for LDPC, a more powerful controller or excessive over-provisioning.

How does it work?

Before the memory product (e.g. an SSD) goes into production NVMdurance Pathfinder, a custom built suite of machine learning techniques, determines multiple viable sets of flash register values. Then on the controller of the live memory product NVMdurance Navigator chooses which of these predetermined sets to use for each stage of life to ensure that the flash lasts as long as possible.

No factory determined operating parameters are ideally suited to your application, nor do standard SSDs track and manage the condition of the flash as it degrades through use.

The power behind NVMdurance is the use of off-line machine learning software that automatically learns the optimal parameter settings for the NAND device. It provides either:

  • A static set of parameters, which are set at the start of life for the device, or for optimal endurance
  • A dynamic set, which will periodically optimize the parameters over time as the device ages

The parameters provided are all relative to the manufacturers’ specified parameters so they work even though individual chips/batches have slight variations in their absolute performance.

The actual extension of endurance depends on the particular use-case and the information available to the NVMdurance Navigator autonomic system.