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Intel to Sample Flash-killer PRAM This Year

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the on-the-horizon dept.

Station writes "Intel's new phase-change memory technology (PRAM) will begin sampling this year. Samsung, IBM, and Hitachi are all working on phase-change memory as a successor to flash as it has a lower (~20ns) read latency than flash (50-90ns). 'Intel says they plan to ship the first PRAM modules as a straight-ahead NOR flash replacement so that they can work the kinks out of the design before trying to move it up the memory hierarchy. The company claims a much higher number of read-write cycles (100 million) than flash, as well as a potential 10 years' worth of data retention. NOR flash is typically used as program storage memory for mobile devices like cell phones, while more durable but slower NAND flash is used for mass storage in devices like the iPod nano.'"

17 of 78 comments (clear)

  1. Killer Pram? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Killer Pram? Won't somebody think of the children!!

    1. Re:Killer Pram? by JamesTRexx · · Score: 4, Funny

      Yeah, it's going to be fun to go to the store here in the Netherlands and ask for a couple of "prammen". (slang for hooters :-) )

      --
      home
    2. Re:Killer Pram? by elrous0 · · Score: 2, Funny
      Oh great, yet another "iPod killer."

      -Eric

      --
      SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    3. Re:Killer Pram? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      In Sweden, Honda tried to introduce a car called Honda Fitta. Interestingly, "fitta" means pussy in Swedish. And not just in some far-fetched sense. It is THE word.

      H&M, a SWEDISH company, last year introduced whole line of jeans called Sliq Fit. "Slicka" in swedish means "to lick" and "Sliq" sounds a lot like it. Apparently, nobody had thought of it(!?). This was quite funny since their really embarrassed behaviour indicated that it wasn't a PR-stunt.

      Strangely, no religious group made any comments except to make fun of the incidents.
      Which probably is because it's not the U.S.

  2. more acronym confusion...(at least for mac users) by plasmacutter · · Score: 5, Interesting

    one of the later steps in fixing technical glitches in mac systems is to zap the pram..

    imagine the confusion between 2 friends when one says "i zapped my pram" .. one fixes your computer, the other breaks your flash device..

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  3. If you think that's confusing... by CarpetShark · · Score: 2, Interesting

    In the UK, "pram" means a baby stroller.

  4. How does this compare to NOR flash in other ways? by jonwil · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Will it be cheaper per megabyte than current NOR flash?
    Will it mean that devices like mobile phones (or devices like the Lego Mindstorms which also stores programs/data on NOR flash) can have more memory space in them?

  5. Unless they make PRAM out of PRAM by tepples · · Score: 2, Informative

    one of the later steps in fixing technical glitches in mac systems is to zap the pram.. PRAM being "parameter RAM", the nonvolatile memory used to store the Mac equivalent of BIOS settings. To "zap" it means to change all settings back to factory settings by holding Command+Option+P+R while turning on the power.

    imagine the confusion between 2 friends when one says "i zapped my pram" .. one fixes your computer, the other breaks your flash device.. Unless Apple starts using PRAM for the PRAM, which could happen.
  6. Interesting.. but the page doesnt talk about... by plasmacutter · · Score: 2, Informative

    speed or latency.. (and what about heat exchange issues?)

    even with considerably slow throughput though.. it might be have useful applications in storage media..

    i'd love to replace a set of hot spinning platters with a tiny cartridge about the size of a gamecube memory card.

    --
    VLC FOR MAC IS DYING! IF YOU DEVELOP, PLEASE SAVE IT!!
  7. Obligatory Monty Python Reference... by jimstapleton · · Score: 4, Funny

    Do they like to push it a lot?

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    1. Re:Obligatory Monty Python Reference... by jcr · · Score: 2, Funny

      Let's not go there... It's a silly place.

      -jcr

      --
      The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
  8. Re:more acronym confusion...(at least for mac user by TheRaven64 · · Score: 2, Informative
    The PRAM used to be used to store a lot more in the pre-OS X days. Resetting it used to actually fix a few things caused by badly behaved system extensions. These days, it's a lot like clearing the CMOS contents on a PC; unlikely to change anything unless you have been messing with firmware settings.

    --
    I am TheRaven on Soylent News
  9. Re:3D stacking by proxy318 · · Score: 2, Funny

    3D stacking is so yesterday. I want RAM that's stacked in 4D, so I can get tomorrow's lottery numbers today.

    --
    Saying your "phone ran out of batteries" is like saying your "car ran out of gas tanks".
  10. Re:How does this compare to NOR flash in other way by asliarun · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Generally speaking, cost will be similar to NOR flash, if volume manufacturing picks up, and especially if Intel, Samsung, and other biggies get into the act. The key questions to ask are reliability/life of data and speed (and power consumption, if it is drastically different). From Intel's claims, reliability (or longevity) of data looks amazing for PRAM, but speed is still an unanswered question... both read and write speeds.

    My other lay question is how Intel and others are managing this chalc* glass manufacturing in their usual silicon DRAM process. Is this glass fused/bonded to silicon or something?

  11. Re:A day late and a dollar short by tomstdenis · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If their designs are pin compatible, good luck not not replacing it.

    Let's see faster, more durable, *and* drop in compatible? Short of insane license requirements I can't see it being a no sale.

    Tom

    --
    Someday, I'll have a real sig.
  12. Re:A day late and a dollar short by squizzar · · Score: 3, Insightful

    So were 5.25", 3.5" floppies, zip disks, cd-rw, dvd-rw etc. If the cost is right and the benefits are great enough it will be adopted. If they package it in similar formats to that flash currently uses (eg. usb sticks, sd cards) for portable storage, and stick a SATA interface on it for internal (or even bulk external) storage, it will be adopted without most people noticing it's something new.

  13. Flash killer - about time by baomike · · Score: 2, Funny

    Never liked flash anyway
    what ? you say it's memory?
    OH, nevermind