Datalight FlashFX Flash File System Optimized for Hitachi AND Flash and Microsoft Windows CE

Business Wire, Nov 3, 1998

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 3, 1998--Datalight, a provider of system software, today announced support for Hitachi AND flash memory devices and the Microsoft Windows CE operating system with the release of FlashFX hard disk drive emulation system firmware scheduled for November 30th.

Within a design using FlashFX, the flash devices appear to the host system as a hard disk drive to which it can read and write without modification. FlashFX also includes wear-leveling algorithms for maximum flash longevity and error correction for ensured data integrity, essentially duplicating the functionality of a flash controller.

FlashFX provides a low-cost solution for the development of real-time, flash-enabled embedded systems that require low power. Applications for FlashFX include cardless embedded flash designs such as smart phones and pagers, hand held computers and similar devices.

Hitachi AND Flash Provides Industry's Best Choice for Solid-State

File Storage

Optimized for high-performance file storage, Hitachi's AND flash architecture provides superior functionality by allowing for the programming of data in parallel. The current generation of Hitachi flash memory components provides 32 Mbytes of storage on a single chip and features the industry's fastest write speed of 2 Mbytes/second (with erase). An enhanced Multi-Level Cell (MLC) design enables lower costs-per-bit by storing two bits of data for every transistor, doing so without the performance shortcomings normally associated with the technology.

FlashFX Enables Hard Disk Drive Emulation

To accomplish hard-disk emulation, FlashFX incorporates Variable Block Flash (VBF), a patent-pending data format. In a manner similar to a conventional hard disk, the VBF format emulates small sectors, although the flash memory may contain sectors as large as 128 kbytes. VBF provides high performance due to its ability to handle variable data block sizes while writing and reading data. VBF also provides a high level of protection for data by preventing corruption of the low-level structures of the media in the event of power loss.

FlashFX Offers Broad Microprocessor and Operating System Support

By virtue of its layered design, FlashFX is easily ported to many CPUs, including the Hitachi SuperH RISC Engine family of processors. In addition to its thoroughly tested compatibility with Windows CE, FlashFX will also run on DOS, other versions of Windows, QNX, as well as proprietary operating systems. With the ability to run FlashFX on a wide range of CPUs and operating systems, virtually any embedded mobile or handheld system can take advantage of Datalight's FlashFX technology.

"Datalight's FlashFX solution provides a cost-effective way for designers to incorporate discrete flash components within designs that require the low power that real-time embedded systems demand," said Anthony Carbone, Product Marketing Manager for nonvolatile memory at Hitachi Semiconductor (America) Inc. "By optimizing this hard disk drive emulation solution for Hitachi AND Flash, Datalight has chosen the industry's state-of-the-art solution for solid-state file storage."

"Datalight is dedicated to making FlashFX the most widely-used multi-platform flash manager available" stated Keith Garvin, FlashFX Product Manager at Datalight.

Price and Availability

The FlashFX Porting Kit, with support for Hitachi AND flash components will be available November 30th, 1998 for $15,000US. This kit allows FlashFX to be easily ported to new hardware platforms and operating systems. The porting kit includes full source code organized in modular fashion to isolate those portions requiring modification for new hardware and operating systems. Furthermore, FlashFX is written entirely in portable ANSI C code.

For running FlashFX on DOS- and QNX-based systems, the FlashFX Software Development Kit is available from Datalight for $495US. Object licenses for FlashFX built from either kit are priced at $4.00US in quantities of 10,000.