Indilinx has just completed developing its IDX22 SSD controller, also known as Barefoot, using the 90nm process technology. Barefoot is capable of hitting a maximum read speed of 230MB/s, way ahead of what other products in the market offer today, thanks to the use of multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash. Man, if it can transfer data that fast while barefoot, imagine how much better it will perform when wearing shoes. OK, bad jokes aside, here’s more on the Barefoot.

It supports native SATA 2.0 (3Gbps) interface and provides maximum read and write speed of 230MB/s, 170MB/s with SLC NAND flash, and 200MB/s, 160MB/s with MLC NAND, respectively. It is obviously made possible by Indilinx’s unique architecture and technology, including independently operating 4 channels and external DRAM buffer. In addition, it enhances stability and reliability by using two types of hardware error-correcting code (ECC) of Reed-Solomon (RS) and Bose-Chadhuri-Hocquenghem (BCH). Another advantage of Barefoot comes with flexibility and scalability. Barefoot supports various types of flash memory from major flash vendors, with expandable density up to 512GB, including Samsung, Toshiba, Hynix and Intel/Micron so that customers can have an option to choose a type of flash memory on their own needs and price.

Mass production of Barefoot is tipped to begin in Q4 this year. The image on the right is a sample of a SSD and not the Barefoot.

Press Release