Paper Title: Proactive approach to SSD firmware quality management for Enterprise Storage

Paper Abstract: A comprehensive approach towards the management of Flash-SSD supplier quality for enterprise storage applications will be presented in this paper. The key objectives of this approach include i) Drive Flash-SSD supplier quality and technology capabilities in line with Enterprise requirements and expectations, ii) Understand suppliers' end-to-end quality management approaches, and iii) Drive industry best practices and key lessons learned, in line with 'Shift Left' quality emphasis, to identify defects earlier in the SSD development cycle. There are many causes for SSD fails in field applications, however firmware defects are the predominant failure mode. Most of the firmware defects are related to issues during routine background operations (journaling) and/or long-term defects that are difficult to detect during the SSD qualification phase. These type of fails pose significant impact to customer's operation and can lead to critical issues like data loss and data integrity events. This paper will provide recommendations on ways to capture the issues earlier in test environments and establish targeted corrective and preventative actions.

Paper Author: David Verburg, System Technical Staff Member, IBM Supply Chain Engineering, IBM

Author Bio: Dave Verburg is a Senior Technical Staff Member at IBM responsible for storage device strategy and quality. He has been with IBM since 1991, starting in disk drive manufacturing, and spending the last 15 years of his career working with disk drive quality and technology. Dave received a MS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Minnesota in 1996 and received a BS in both Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology in 1991. Dave is an active volunteer, helping with computer systems and mentoring for the youth at his church and teaching robotics to school children. Dave also can speak both Spanish and Mongolian and uses his language skills to help Samaritan's Purse Children's heart project when they bring children for surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN.