Micron Introduces 2200 Client NVMe SSD With New In-House

Micron has introduced the primary product primarily based on their new in-house consumer NVMe SSD controller. The Micron 2200 does not boast efficiency enough to compete with the highest enthusiast-class NVMe drives on the retail market, however needs to be a lot quick sufficient for OEMs and system integrators to make use of it as a efficiency possibility within the enterprise PCs it’s supposed for.

Micron has been notably sluggish about bringing NVMe to their consumer and client product strains. They initially deliberate to launch each consumer OEM and client retail drives constructed across the mixture of their first-generation 32-layer 3D NAND and the Silicon Motion SM2260 controller, however these plans have been shelved because it grew to become clear that mixture couldn’t ship high-end efficiency. Last fall Micron lastly launched the Crucial P1 entry-level NVMe SSD with QLC NAND and the SM2263 controller, however no high-end product has been introduced till now.

It’s been no secret that Micron has been engaged on their very own NVMe SSD controllers. Every different NAND producer has both developed in-house controllers or acquired a controller vendor, and full vertical integration has labored out extraordinarily properly for corporations like Samsung. Micron has been the odd man out sourcing all their controllers from third events like Silicon Motion, Marvell and Microsemi, however their 2015 acquisition of startup controller design agency Tidal Systems made their intentions clear. That acquisition and every other in-house controller design efforts bore no seen fruit till Flash Memory Summit final yr, when a prototype M.2 consumer NVMe SSD was quietly included of their reveals.

Micron has not but shared particulars about their new NVMe controller, however the fundamental specs for the 2200 SSD can be found. The 2200 makes use of Micron’s 64-layer 3D TLC NAND flash reminiscence and gives drive capacities from 256GB to 1TB as single-sided M.2 modules. The drive makes use of a PCIe gen three x4 interface and has the anticipated options for a Micron consumer drive, together with energy loss safety for information at relaxation and SKUs with or with out TCG Opal self-encrypting drive (SED) capabilities.

The efficiency and write endurance rankings for the Micron 2200 do not match up properly in opposition to prime client drives, however evaluate favorably in opposition to entry-level NVMe SSDs. Endurance is definitely decrease than their Crucial MX500 mainstream client SATA drive, so any retail spinoff of the 2200 might want to enhance on that metric. No such retail model has been introduced, however with the 2200 out there now it’s possible we’ll be listening to from Crucial inside a couple of months, although they could wait till later within the yr to launch with 96 layer NAND as a substitute of 64 layer.