Paper Title: Raw Access to Flash Memory Meets Special System Needs

Paper Abstract: SSD controllers today generally contain a Flash Translation Layer (FTL) that manages the flash devices. However, many users find current FTLs to be highly suboptimal for their applications. They have moved toward alternatives such as programmable FTLs and open-channel drives that move functionality into the system software. But why not eliminate the FTL entirely and simply allow direct raw access to the flash? Designers could then do whatever they want to optimize their systems for performance, lifetime, or other characteristics. Current controllers could simply be modified to have a raw access mode selected programmably. This would meet the needs of hyperscalers, high-perfomance computing, and other applications with special demands without major design costs for either controller makers or system designers.

Paper Author: Kenneth Pillay, CEO and Director, YALLIP

Author Bio: Ken Pillay is the CEO/Founder of Yallip, a computers and communications startup. Before founding Yallip, he held managerial positions at Apple and was Director of Engineering at Cisco. He has designed and implemented systems that use dual-ported shared memory for efficient data transfers, an approach particularly suited to real-time environments. He has also focused on simplified methods for memory systems design. He earned a PhD in Computer Networking from the University of Exeter (UK).