Western digital develops flash memory to compete with optane

Western Digital is working on its own 'low latency' flash memory that will offer higher performance and endurance compared to conventional 3D NAND, ultimately designed to compete with the Intel Optane.

Western Digital's new memory with LLF technology will compete against Z-NAND and Optane

At this week's 'Storage Field Day' event , Western Digital discussed their new low-latency memory currently in development. The technology is meant to fit somewhere between 3D NAND and conventional DRAM, similar to Intel's Optane and Samsung's Z-NAND. According to Western Digital, your LLF memory will have an access time "in the microsecond range", using 1 bit per cell and 2 bit per cell architectures.

The manufacturer admits that its new LLF memory will cost 10 times less than DRAM, but 20 times more than 3D NAND memory (at least according to current estimates) in terms of prices per GB, so it is likely that it will only be used by Select applications aimed at high-end data centers or workstations, similar to what Optane and Z-NAND are already offering.

Western Digital doesn't disclose all the details about its low-latency flash memory and it is impossible to say if it has anything to do with Toshiba's low-latency 3D XL-Flash NAND announced last year. Naturally, the company is also reluctant to talk about real products based on their LLF memory, or when they will be available. Due to the costs detailed above, it is difficult to imagine that these new memories reach the ordinary user in the short term.

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