Marvell displays their new, and incredibly small, NVMe SSD controllers

Storage Visions 2015 -Mike Chen from Marvell stopped by the TweakTown booth at Storage Visions 2015 to display the Altaplus controller along with a new SSD that has an integrated controller on the NAND package. NVMe has several performance advantages, but also enables low power operation modes particularly well-suited for mobile applications. Marvell is delivering both PCIe 2.0 and 3.0 SSD controllers that feature robust LDPC error correction technology.

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There are multiple lengths in the M.2 standard, and here we can see the difference in size between the different solutions.

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Using a standard SD card for scale we can observe the amazingly small size of this NAND package. What makes this solution unique is the fact that it is actually a fully functional SSD. The controller is embedded into the NAND chip, which allows for ultra-dense configurations. This small SSD contains 128GB of Toshiba flash.

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The SSD is BGA and mounted onto the PCB. The device doesn't have any embedded cache, but can use host DRAM for SSD management.

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Marvell's 28nm process on the Altaplus controller produces amazingly small devices that enable small form factors. This M.2 128GB SSD can fit just about anywhere, and features a slim design that is well suited for mobile applications. The SSD is powered by the Marvell 88NV1120 and features either ACHI or an NVMe connection.

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The adaptor illustrates the small size of the devices relative to a normal 2.5" SSD.