ReRAM biz Crossbar hopes fad-du-jour IoT AI can help it avoid the tracks of Intel's Optane storage chip juggernaut

Wednesday 20th February 2019 01:53 GMT Ian Michael Gumby

@Chris Mellor Huh?

Sorry, I mean this is a well written article, but really WTF?

Crossbar was one of the pioneers of ReRAM coming out of the Univ of Michigan.

But what have they done?

No products. I mean they inked deals, but where have they gone?

Now they are trying to ink more deals in the bleeding edge areas to get ahead of Intel.

I get it, but has anyone seen any chips from them?

I mean the hype of 1TB per chip meaning you can put 8TB on an M.2 card or 16TB if you can put them on both sides.

Think about it. Two M.2 cards (mirroring) can provide enough storage that you don't need SSDs, and could lead to refactoring blades w enough storage to make high density clusters more of a reality.

But nothing.

What gives?

2 0 Reply
1. Wednesday 20th February 2019 12:25 GMT takyon
  
  Re: @Chris Mellor Huh?
  
  I remember getting hyped about Crossbar back in 2013:
  
  https://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/08/05/crossbar_uncloaks_fast_tiny_capacious_rram_part/
  
  https://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/07/01/the_end_of_flash_is_nigh/
  
  This could have pretty much killed NAND, which only reached similar capacities in recent years, but at lower performance than the hypothetical ReRAM. It would have enabled HP's "The Machine" by acting as universal memory. It would be a great option for that Radeon Pro SSG. The list goes on.
  
  But it has been vaporware for years. Also, where is my Optalysys desktop-scale exaflops supercomputer?
  
  2 0 Reply
  1. Thursday 21st February 2019 14:56 GMT Ian Michael Gumby
    
    @tachyon Re: @Chris Mellor Huh?
    
    Amen. same page as you.
    
    That's the frustration.
    
    If the tech was real and could be produced at scale... imagine that the form factor of PCs would have dramatically changed. Blade computers wouldn't need detached storage. Each blade could have 4-16TB without a problem (depending on blade size) I mean in theory, you could build a blade the size of a 3.5" disk that would be capable of that 4-16TB number. Obviously larger if you had 2x XEON CPUs and needed to be kept cool, but you get the idea.
    
    1 0 Reply
Wednesday 20th February 2019 13:21 GMT takyon

Oh look, Intel has 2 new fronts to fight Crossbar

Intel Says FinFET-based Embedded MRAM is Production Ready

Intel gave further details on its technique for embedding spin-transfer torque (STT)-MRAM into devices using its 22nm FinFET process, pronouncing the technology ready for high-volume manufacturing. Embedded MRAM is considered a promising technology for applications such as internet-of-things (IoT) devices.

[...] In a separate ISSCC paper presented Tuesday, Intel also described the development of resistive RAM (ReRAM) as a low-cost option for embedded non-volatile memory for SoCs used in IoT and automotive. The embedded ReRAM technology — also implemented in a 22nm FinFET process — demonstrate what the company says is the smallest and highest density ReRAM subarray and material innovations to allow low-voltage switching without impact to transistor reliability.

Note the MRAM write endurance, listed as 1E6 like Crossbar ReRAM in 2013.

Crossbar's IoT dreams snuffed out instantly, company goes bankrupt.

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