New "PRAM" 30 Times Faster Than Flash

hairyfeet writes, "The EETimes describes the new Samsung memory, phase-change RAM, called PRAM. Samsung is dubbing it 'Perfect RAM' because it is thirty times faster than NOR flash, ten times more durable — and cheaper to produce, to boot." 512-Mbit modules should be available sometime in 2008. None of the initial coverage goes much beyond Samsung's press release. At the same time, Samsung also announced a 40-nm, 32-Gbit NAND flash device.

Comments

For the non-geeks

[Eightyford]

From wikipedia:

Flash memory is a form of non-volatile computer memory that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. Unlike EEPROM, it is erased and programmed in blocks consisting of multiple locations (in early flash the entire chip had to be erased at once). Flash memory costs far less than EEPROM and therefore has become the dominant technology wherever a significant amount of non-volatile, solid-state storage is needed. Examples of applications include digital audio players, digital cameras and mobile phones. Flash memory is also used in USB flash drives (thumb drives), which are used for general storage and transfer of data between computers. It has also gained some popularity in the gaming market, where it is often used instead of EEPROMs for game save data.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_memory