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Vorlage:Infobox company

SandForce is a private American Fabless semiconductor company based in Milpitas, California, that designs and manufactures SSD processors for solid-state drives (SSDs).[1]

SandForce was founded in 2006 by Alex Naqvi and Rado Danilak who had a mix of related technology experience between them when they started the company. In April 2009, they officially came out of stealth mode and announced their entrance into the quickly expanding solid-state drive market.[2][3]

SandForce does not sell complete SSDs, but rather sells their SSD processors to partners who build and sell complete SSDs to manufacturers, corporations, and end-users.[4] The key component of any SSD is actually the controller and that is where SandForce is focused.[5] According to Zsolt Kerekes, an SSD Market Analyst and publisher of StorageSearch.com, SandForce is the best known maker of SSD controllers.[6]

History

Alex Naqvi and Rado Danilak had accumulated considerable semiconductor experience from companies including Marvell, Intel, NVIDIA, Toshiba, and SanDisk when they started SandForce.[1] At the end of 2009 there were approximately 100 employees at SandForce working on their SSD controllers.[7]

SandForce was initially financed by private equity firms Storm Ventures, DCM, and unnamed leading storage firms.[2] By April 2009 SandForce had taken in more than $20 million in two venture rounds.[3] In November that same year they closed a series C funding round of $21 million led by TransLink Capital and included LSI, A-DATA, and other Tier-1 storage OEMs, including Seagate.[7] Finally in October 2010, SandForce closed a series D round of $25 million led by Canaan Partners and included the existing investors.[8]

On the board of directors is C.S. Park, a current Seagate board member and also a former chief executive at Maxtor and former chief executive at Hynix.[3] Other members include Carl Amdahl (General Partner at DCM and son of Gene Amdahl), Ryan Floyd (General Partner at Storm Ventures), and S. "Sundi" Sundaresh (former President and CEO of Adaptec).[9]

Technology

Datei:SandForce BGA screen RGB.png
SandForce SSD Processor used in solid-state drives.

The major message behind SandForce is that the inexpensive MLC flash memory can be used in an enterprise computing environment with a 5-year expected life.[4] At the time the company emerged from stealth mode, other solid-state drives in the enterprise were using the more expensive SLC flash memory.[2][10] SandForce also works with multiple flash memory manufacturers to increase options for their partners so they are not locked into a single flash memory supplier.[4][5]

DuraClass is the name SandForce uses to describe the overall technology incorporated in their controllers. DuraClass is made up of features including DuraWrite, RAISE (Redundant Array of Independent Silicon Elements), and AES encryption.[2] DuraClass technology does not require an external DRAM chip like most SSDs today.[1]

DuraWrite is a feature that uses a proprietary technique to reduce write amplification common to all SSDs.[2] SandForce claims to have reduced write amplification to 0.5 on a typical workload.[10]

RAISE (Redundant Array of Independent Silicon Elements) improves data integrity beyond the advanced ECC already present.[4] It is similar in concept to RAID at a chip level where it can protect against the failure of an entire sector, page, or block. Think of it as RAID 5 on a chip.[10] That in turn improves the disk failure rates.[5]

AES encryption works in the background and is completely automatic. It is linked to the BIOS password and encrypts the user data at the full speed of the data as it passes through the controller.[10]

Products

SandForce initially released the SF-1000 family of SSD Processors and split them into enterprise and client computing applications. The SF-1500 is the enterprise focused product and the SF-1200 is the client focused product. Also available are complete reference designs that include the schematics and layout information to build and sell a complete SSD.[11][12] In October 2010, SandForce introduced their second generation SSD controllers called the SF-2000 family with models that are focused on enterprise applications. Key enhancements from the current enterprise product are: SATA 3.0 (6Gb/s), 500MB/s sequential read and write speeds, 60,000 IOPS random read and write speeds, non-512 byte sector support, TCG Enterprise security, AES-256, and ECC protection with up to 55 bits per 512-byte sector.[13][14] The client version of this second generation SSD controller line was introduced in February 2011 with most of the same enhancements seen in the SF-2500 over the first generation products. The SF-2200 provides the same SATA 3.0 (6Gb/s) speeds with sequential read and write operations at 500 MB/s and the random read and write performance is 20,000 IOPS. For the SF-2100 line it supports the older SATA 2.6 (3Gb/s) speeds at 250 MB/s. Both client products support the second generation ECC protection of the enterprise line.[15]

SandForce Driven

Datei:SandForce Driven screen COLOR.gif
SandForce Driven logo

In May 2010, SandForce introduced the SandForce Driven program. The idea itself is not new. The now famous "Intel Inside" program and the BASF advertising slogan that said "We don't make the things you use, we make the things you use better" are two examples of companies promoting a component inside the end product.[4][11] SandForce created a logo that partners can display on the SSD or their advertising to indicate a SandForce controller is inside.[16][17] As of June 2011 there are 30 companies who are members of the SandForce Driven program.[18]

SSDs

Not every company listed in the table participates in the SandForce Driven program, but they do identify the controller in the SSD is from SandForce.

Company Products Controller Capacities (GB) (MLC/SLC)
ADATA Technology S599[19][20] SF-1200 40/60/120/240 (MLC)
AMP Inc. SATAsphere[20][21] SF-1500 25/50/100/200 (SLC)
50/100/200/400 (MLC)
Bay Bridge[20][22] SF-1500 25/50/100 (SLC)
50/100/200 (MLC)
Apacer Technology Inc. Turbo II Series-AS602[20][23] SF-1222 60/120/240 (MLC)
Corsair Force[20][24] SF-1200 40/60/90/120/180/240 (MLC)
DigiCube Co. TBA[20] TBA TBA
extrememory XLR8 Plus[20][25] SF-1200 60/120/240/480 (MLC)
G.Skill Phoenix[20][26] SF-1200 60/100/120/240 (MLC)
Phoenix Pro[20][26] SF-1200 40/60/80/120/160/240 (MLC)
GWMedium Co. GWM 2.5" SATA II SSD[20][27] SF-1200 60~240 (TBD)
LSI Corporation SSS6200[28] TBD TBD
MX-Tech Co. MX-DS[20][29] SF-1200 40/50/60/100/120
200/240/400/480 (MLC)
Mushkin, Inc. Callisto[20][30] SF-1200 60/120/240 (MLC)
Callisto Deluxe[20][30] SF-1200 40/60/120/240 (MLC)
OCZ Inc. OCZ Agility 2[20][31] SF-1200 40/50/100/200/400 (MLC)
Extended 60/90/120/180/240/480 (MLC)
Onyx 2[20][32] SF-1200 120/140 (MLC)
RevoDrive[20][33] SF-1200 50/80/120/180/240/360/480 (MLC)
Vertex 2[20][34] SF-1200 40/50/100/200/400 (MLC)
Extended 60/90/120/180/240/480 (MLC)
Vertex 2 Pro[20][35] SF-1500 50/100/200/400 (MLC)
Vertex 2 EX[20][36] SF-1500 50/100/200 (SLC)
Vertex 3[20][37] SF-2200 120/240/480 (MLC)
OWC Mercury Extreme Pro[38] SF-1200 40/60/120/240/480 (MLC)
Mercury Extreme Pro RE[20][39] SF-1200 50/100/200/400 (MLC)
Mercury Legacy Pro[20][40] SF-1200 40/60/120/240 (MLC)
Patriot Memory Inferno[20][41] SF-1200 60/100/120/200/240 (MLC)
PhotoFast PowerDrive PCI Express[42] SF-1200 240/480/960 (MLC)
Pretech P4000[20][43] TBA 32/64/128/256
Silicon Power Velox series V20[20][44] SF-1xxx 40/60/120/240
SMART Modular XceedIOPS (1.8")[45][20] SF-1500 50/100/200 (eMLC)
XceedIOPS (2.5")[45][20] SF-1500 50/100/200/400 (eMLC)
Solidata K8 Series (2.5")[20][46] SF-1200 60/120/240 (MLC)
SS Series (2.5")[20][46] SF-1500 50/100/200 (MLC)
SC Series (2.5")[20][46] SF-1200 60 (SLC)
SC-P Series (2.5")[20][46] SF-1500 50/100 (SLC)
SM8 (SATA Mini PCI-e)[20][47] SF-1200 25/60/120/240 (MLC)
N8 (1.8" Micro SATA)[20][48] SF-1200 25/60/120/240 (MLC)
Soligen Corp. Spartan[20][49] SF-1200 64 (SLC)
128/256 (MLC)
Elite Enterprise[20][50] SF-1500 64/128/256 (MLC)
Flashbridge[20][51] SF-1200 128/256 (MLC)
Flashbridge Enterprise[20][52] SF-1500 64/128 (SLC)
128/256 (MLC)
Super Talent Technology FT2 (2.5")[20][53] SF-1500 50/100/200/400 (MLC/SLC)
FT (2.5")[20][53] SF-1200 50/100/200/400 (MLC/SLC)
CT (2.5")[20][53] SF-1200 60/120/240/480 (MLC/SLC)
Team Group Inc. Xtreem-S1[20][54] SF-1200 60/120/240 (MLC)
Unigen Corp. Orion 1200 (2.5")[20][55] SF-1200 25/50 (SLC)
100/120/200/240/400/480 (MLC)
Orion 1500 (2.5")[20][55] SF-1500 100/200 (SLC)
100/200/400 (MLC)
100/200/400 (eMLC)
Orion 1500 SAS (2.5")[20][56] SF-1500 50/100/200 (SLC)
50/100/200/400 (MLC)
50/100/200/400 (eMLC)
Orion 297 (MO-297)[20][55] TBD 25/50 (SLC)
30/60/120 (MLC)
Viking Modular Solutions SATADIMM[20][57] SF-1200
SF-1500 		25 to 200 (SLC)
50 to 400 (MLC/eMLC)
Element 2.5” SATA SSD[20] N/A 25/50/100/200 (SLC)
50/100/200/400 (MLC/eMLC)
Element 2.5” SAS SSD[20] N/A 50/100/200 (SLC)
100/200/400 (eMLC)
Element Slim SATA SSD (MO-297)[20] N/A 25/60 (SLC)
25/60/120 (MLC/eMLC)
Embedded SATA Cube3[20] N/A 4 to 256

Systems

In December 2010, SandForce announced the expansion of the SandForce Driven program to include system manufacturers naming Eurocom as the first member in that category. The system manufacturer offers configurations that include SSDs which include SandForce controllers.[58]

Company Products
Eurocom Many[59]

SandForce Trusted

Datei:SandForce Trusted sm.gif
SandForce Trusted logo

After the success of the SandForce Driven program, SandForce created the SandForce Trusted program in January 2011, which identifies approved vendors that provide equipment, tools, and services compatible with SandForce SSD Processors. It is a form of Approved Vendor List that helps SSD OEMs and manufacturers get a higher level of service and support from the companies on the SandForce Trusted list. Each member company ensures that their products and/or services fully support SandForce SSD Processors and provides response to SandForce customer inquiries within 24 hours. SandForce created a new SandForce Trusted logo which member companies use in their advertising and promotional materials.[60]

Company
Calypso Systems[61]
DriveSavers[61][62]
Granite River Labs[61][63]
LeCroy[61]
OakGate Technology[61]
Serial Cables[61]
SerialTek[61][64]
ULINK Technology[61]

References

Vorlage:Reflist

Vorlage:Solid-state Drive

  1. ↑ a b c Mark Geenen: SandForce Emerges to Reshape SSD Landscape. TRENDFOCUS, Inc, abgerufen am 31. August 2010.
  2. ↑ a b c d e James Bagley: SandForce Enterprise Solid State Drive Processor with DuraClass Technology. StorageStrategiesNow, abgerufen am 31. August 2010.
  3. ↑ a b c Rick Merritt: Startup brings MLC to server flash drives. EETimes, abgerufen am 31. August 2010.
  4. ↑ a b c d e Mark Peters: SandForce--Forcing a Solid State Reconsideration. Enterprise Strategy Group, abgerufen am 31. August 2010.
  5. ↑ a b c Todd Erickson: SandForce seeks to improve SSD controllers. Abgerufen am 31. August 2010.
  6. ↑ StorageSearch - SandForce. StorageSearch, abgerufen am 7. November 2010.
  7. ↑ a b Robert Hallock: SandForce nabs additional $21 million in funding. Icrontic, abgerufen am 31. August 2010.
  8. ↑ SandForce rolls SSD processor line. 7. Oktober 2010, abgerufen am 7. November 2010.
  9. ↑ Board of Directors & Investors. SandForce, abgerufen am 31. August 2010.
  10. ↑ a b c d Charlie Demerjian: SandForce SSDs Break TPC-C Records. SemiAccurate, abgerufen am 31. August 2010.
  11. ↑ a b Zsolt Kerekes: SandForce. StorageSearch.com, abgerufen am 31. August 2010.
  12. ↑ Evaluation SSD & Reference Design. SandForce, abgerufen am 31. August 2010.
  13. ↑ SandForce SF-2000 Promises 500MBps over SATA 3.0. FastestSSD.com, 17. Oktober 2010, abgerufen am 7. November 2010.
  14. ↑ SandForce Debuts SF-2000 SSD Processor Family. SandForce, 17. Oktober 2010, abgerufen am 7. November 2010.
  15. ↑ SandForce 2nd Generation SSD Processors Deliver Break-Through Client Computing User Experiences. SandForce, 24. Februar 2011, abgerufen am 3. Juni 2011.
  16. ↑ "SandForce Driven" SSDs Establish New Era of Performance and Reliability. BusinessWire, abgerufen am 31. August 2010.
  17. ↑ SandForce Driven SSDs. SandForce, abgerufen am 31. August 2010.
  18. ↑ Single SandForce Driven SSDs Are First to Proclaim Maximum Windows Experience Index Storage Score. SandForce, 2. Juni 2011, abgerufen am 3. Juni 2011.
  19. ↑ A-DATA Technology. Global.adata-group.com, abgerufen am 16. November 2010.
  20. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av aw ax SandForce Driven SSDs. SandForce, abgerufen am 3. Juni 2011.
  21. ↑ AMP INC.: Memory Products - SATAsphere 2.5" SATA II Solid State Drive (SSD). Ampinc.biz, abgerufen am 16. November 2010.
  22. ↑ AMP INC.: Memory Products - Bay Bridge Internal Mini SATA Solid State Drives (SSD). Ampinc.biz, abgerufen am 16. November 2010.
  23. ↑ Apacer TurboII Series-AS602. apacer.com, abgerufen am 13. April 2011.
  24. ↑ Welcome to Corsair :: Force Series Solid State Disk Drives. Corsair.com, abgerufen am 16. November 2010.
  25. ↑ Extrememory. Extrememory, 16. Juli 2010, abgerufen am 16. November 2010.
  26. ↑ a b G.SKILL-Products. Gskill.com, abgerufen am 16. November 2010.
  27. ↑ Global Wireless Medium - Solution - Storage(SSD) - GWM 2.5" SATA2 SSD. Gwmedium.com, abgerufen am 16. November 2010.
  28. ↑ Chris Mellor: May the SandForce be with LSI and Seagate: LSI/Seagate PCIe flash uses SandForce controller. The Register, 24. März 2010, abgerufen am 27. Oktober 2010.
  29. ↑ 2.5" SATAII MX-DS SSD series :: SSD :: Products :: Mach Xtreme Technology. Mx-technology.com, abgerufen am 16. November 2010.
  30. ↑ a b SSDs - Mushkin Enhanced. Mushkin.com, abgerufen am 16. November 2010.
  31. ↑ OCZ Agility 2 SATA II 2.5" SSD OCZ Technology. Ocztechnology.com, abgerufen am 16. November 2010.
  32. ↑ OCZ Onyx 2 Series SATA II 2.5" SSD OCZ Technology. Ocztechnology.com, abgerufen am 16. November 2010.
  33. ↑ OCZ RevoDrive PCI-Express SSD OCZ Technology. Ocztechnology.com, abgerufen am 16. November 2010.
  34. ↑ OCZ Vertex 2 SATA II 2.5" SSD OCZ Technology. Ocztechnology.com, abgerufen am 16. November 2010.
  35. ↑ OCZ Vertex 2 Pro Series SATA II 2.5" SSD OCZ Technology. Ocztechnology.com, abgerufen am 16. November 2010.
  36. ↑ OCZ Vertex 2 EX Series SATA II 2.5" SSD OCZ Technology. Ocztechnology.com, abgerufen am 16. November 2010.
  37. ↑ OCZ VERTEX 3 SATA III 2.5" SSD OCZ Technology. Ocztechnology.com, abgerufen am 29. April 2011.
  38. ↑ OWC Mercury Extreme Pro Solid State Drive (SSD) Solutions - High Performance, Reliability, and Endurance. Eshop.macsales.com, abgerufen am 16. November 2010.
  39. ↑ OWC Mercury Extreme Pro RE Solid State Drive (SSD) RAID Ready - High Performance, Reliability, and Endurance. Eshop.macsales.com, abgerufen am 16. November 2010.
  40. ↑ OWC Mercury Legacy Pro Solid State Drive (SSD) - High Performance, Reliability, and Endurance. Eshop.macsales.com, abgerufen am 19. Februar 2011.
  41. ↑ Patriot Solid State Drives. Patriot Memory, abgerufen am 16. November 2010.
  42. ↑ Crazy Speed And Price,PhotoFast PowerDrive LSI PCIe SSD Hits Retail. expreview.com, 16. November 2010, abgerufen am 22. November 2010.
  43. ↑ SD Card. Pretec, abgerufen am 16. November 2010.
  44. ↑ Silicon Power Velox series V20. Silicon Power, abgerufen am 13. April 2011.
  45. ↑ a b SMART Modular Products. Smartm.com, abgerufen am 16. November 2010.
  46. ↑ a b c d Laptop,Notebook,Desktop,Server,Embedded system Solid-state drive storage - SOLIDATA. Solidatum.com, abgerufen am 16. November 2010.
  47. ↑ Laptop,Notebook,Desktop,Server,Embedded system Solid-state drive storage - SOLIDATA. Solidatum.com, abgerufen am 16. November 2010.
  48. ↑ Laptop,Notebook,Desktop,Server,Embedded system Solid-state drive storage - SOLIDATA. Solidatum.com, abgerufen am 16. November 2010.
  49. ↑ Soligen Corp Spartan 2.5 SSD. Soligencorp.com, abgerufen am 16. November 2010.
  50. ↑ Soligen Corp. Elite 2.5 SSD. Soligencorp.com, abgerufen am 16. November 2010.
  51. ↑ FlashBridge SSD. Soligencorp.com, abgerufen am 16. November 2010.
  52. ↑ FlashBridge Enterprise SSD. Soligencorp.com, abgerufen am 16. November 2010.
  53. ↑ a b c TeraDrive SSD | Super Talent Technology - SSD | Solid State Drives. Supertalent.com, abgerufen am 16. November 2010.
  54. ↑ Team Group Inc. Teamgroup.com.tw, 11. Oktober 2007, abgerufen am 16. November 2010.
  55. ↑ a b c Memory Solutions (Flash, Memory, Wireless) - Unigen Corporation. Unigen.com, abgerufen am 16. November 2010.
  56. ↑ Memory Solutions (Flash, Memory, Wireless) - Unigen Corporation. Unigen.com, abgerufen am 16. November 2010.
  57. ↑ Dustin Sklavos: Viking Modular SATADIMM Review. Storagereview.com, 17. November 2010, abgerufen am 18. November 2010.
  58. ↑ Eurocom Joins Prominent SandForce Driven Program as the First Desktop, Notebook and Workstation System Vendor. Businesswire.com, 10. Dezember 2010, abgerufen am 13. Januar 2011.
  59. ↑ SandForce Driven Systems. SandForce.com, abgerufen am 13. Januar 2011.
  60. ↑ New SandForce Trusted Program Accelerates Time-to-Market for SandForce Driven SSD Manufacturers and System OEMs. BusinessWire, abgerufen am 4. Juni 2011.
  61. ↑ a b c d e f g h SandForce Trusted Members. SandForce.com, abgerufen am 4. Juni 2011.
  62. ↑ DriveSavers - Welcome SandForce Customers. DriveSavers.com, abgerufen am 4. Juni 2011.
  63. ↑ GRL - Partners-Associations. graniteriverlabs.com, abgerufen am 5. Juni 2011.
  64. ↑ About SerialTek. serialtek.com, abgerufen am 5. Juni 2011.
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