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After more than 18 years of working in this industry as a journalist and analyst, I come across much more business as usual announcements and briefings than products and ideas that you know have the potential to transform the IT world as we know it. Just ask Intel and my ramblings that the Ultrabook is not much more than a slim notebook that is, essentially, just a fancy version of the 1989 Compaq LTE.
This one, however, may have dramatic implications and open up the door to computer performance promises we have heard since the introduction of Windows 95. A fast, instantly responding system without noticeable delays. The technology that may be required to achieve this goal could come from a company called AgigaTech, which received two patents, 8,200,885 and 8,200,929, and is sampling products based on these patents now.
These patents describe a form of non-volatile RAM, or NVRAM, which is nothing spectacular as the most common type of NVRAM today is Flash memory – a storage technology that retains its contents even when the power supply is interrupted. What makes AgigaTech’s Technology so interesting is the fact that it is NVRAM that comes in the shape of a DDR2 or DDR3 DIMM and combines traditional DDR memory with Flash as well as a data transfer controller and power source.
Similar approaches have been released in the past. For example, there was Gigabyte’s i-RAM in 2005, which, however, required and external power source and was clumsy to use and not especially useful as a result. The AgigaRam is the first truly non-volatile DIMM I have seen.
The most obvious application is the vision of keeping, for example, Windows completely stored in a DIMM. The way the AgigaRAM achieves this feat is a clever way to make sure that the data in the volatile SDRAM is kept safe. When the DIMM loses power, for example when you turn of your PC, the controller initiates a data transfer from the SDRAM to the NAND Flash. The necessary power is provided by ultracapacitors, which do not need an external power source such as a battery such as Dell 312-0068 Battery , Dell 312-0518 Battery , Dell 312-0625 Battery , Dell 312-3250 Battery , Dell 3149C Battery , Dell 315-0084 Battery , Dell 3R305 Battery , Dell 5081P Battery , Dell 53977 Battery , Dell 6171R Battery , Dell 6T473 Battery , Dell 6Y270 Battery , and offer power just enough to transfer the contents, and will be recharged in a few seconds when the PC is turned back on. At this point, the data is immediately put back into the SDRAM.
AgigaTech says that the data retention time is about 10 years. The manufacturer claims that the devices have a shelf life of several years, are much easier to handle than battery-backed RAM and can sustain operating environments up to 70 degrees Celsius. What we do not know is the data transfer performance inside the DIMM, which currently samples in 1 GB, 2 GB and 4 GB capacities.
Initially, this technology will not be coming to PCs and target targeting RAID storage, servers, data deduplication, workstations, embedded systems, communications/networking, as well as industrial/medical as initial application fields instead. The implication is, of course, that this will not be an exactly cheap technology.
With proper scaling and industry support, this technology has massive implications and is, conceivably, the most significant evolution of SDRAM technology since the creation of the first SDRAMs in 1993. The first DRAMs, by the way, were manufactured by Fairchild Semiconductor in 1968.