Friday, February 21st 2025

Numemory Releases Optane Successor: "NM101" Storage-Class Memory

Numemory has introduced the NM101, a 64 Gb storage-class memory module that uses technology similar to Intel's now-discontinued Optane architecture. The device implements phase-change memory and crossbar technology in a 3D selector-only memory structure, matching Optane's 3200 MT/s transfer rate specification. The technical architecture diverges from Intel's implementation by using a single selector in its cross-point structure rather than the dual-selector approach of 3D XPoint memory. Operating at 1.2 V with an X8 bus width, the NM101 uses 3D stacking to achieve claimed performance metrics of 10x faster read/write speeds than NAND flash. Xincun Technology, which established the Numemory division in Wuhan in 2022, holds 273 patents related to the technology, including 60 international and 213 Chinese patents. The company's R&D team of 144 engineers has developed the architecture since 2019, three years before Intel ended its Optane program.

Production plans specify an initial manufacturing target of 10,000 units monthly by the end of 2025. Guao Technology has committed ¥10 billion to establish production facilities in Zhejiang province, with additional funding from the Anji county government. The NM101's operating temperature range spans 0-70°C, suitable for standard data center environments. While the device's specifications suggest the potential for data center deployment, specific IOPS and latency metrics remain unpublished. Initial production will serve domestic Chinese servers and storage manufacturers. The technology's viability in mass production remains to be demonstrated, particularly given the manufacturing challenges that contributed to Optane's market exit. The Chinese internal market is massive, so serving only domestic companies could be enough for Numemory at the beginning. If the company continues development, worldwide expansion could pick up where Optane stopped.
Sources: Numemory, via Blocks and Files
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7 Comments on Numemory Releases Optane Successor: "NM101" Storage-Class Memory

#1
DutchTraveller
Interesting for situations where latency and endurance are important.
But from announcement to viable product that consumers can buy will probably be a couple of years if at all.
Posted on Reply
#2
AnotherReader
Initial capacity is rather low; 64 Gb is 8 GB. Still, given the advantages of phase change memory over NAND, I hope they succeed in picking up where Optane left off. If they succeed, perhaps Micron will resume Optane production.
Posted on Reply
#3
bonehead123
AnotherReaderInitial capacity is rather low; 64 Gb is 8 GB. Still, given the advantages of phase change memory over NAND, I hope they succeed in picking up where Optane left off. If they succeed, perhaps Micron will resume Optane production.
Yea, and hopefully, they can do it at a price/performance point that is way more "consumer-friendly" than Optane ever was :D
Posted on Reply
#4
Wirko
bonehead123Yea, and hopefully, they can do it at a price/performance point that is way more "consumer-friendly" than Optane ever was :D
I'm a bit late today but when I see a news post talking about a new type of memory, with frendlier price, quicker latency, faster speed, longer endurance, and/or so on, I log in and put forth my deep analysis once again, which is quite brief, and it is brief because it needn't be long:

No.
Posted on Reply
#5
dgianstefani
TPU Proofreader
It's a shame Intel stopped production, it was their only product that had zero competition able to deliver comparable performance. But the hybrid Optane drives and marketing towards gamers pre direct storage was such a poor marketing ploy that I'm not surprised the tech failed commercially.

As a replacement for RAM it only ever had economy as a perk. As a replacement for an OS/scratch drive it's still unparalleled performance wise.

Even first to second gen Optane saw quite significant gains, especially compared to the "sequential number go up" we see from NAND flash these days.
Posted on Reply
#6
Wirko
dgianstefaniAs a replacement for RAM it only ever had economy as a perk.
Really... What was Intel thinking? Servers are always on and dont benefit much (or anything) from non-volatility, and the price/GB never was competitive with RAM. What you get is two types of RAM with different properties in one system. To really take advantage of that, OS support doesn't help much. Each application needs to be tuned for it.
dgianstefaniEven first to second gen Optane saw quite significant gains, especially compared to the "sequential number go up" we see from NAND flash these days.
Here's what I call it: we have Gen 5 SSDs but only Gen 1.1 programmers, who don't care to take the huge free performance gain. Sure it's hard to use long queues in disk operations but it's possible.
Posted on Reply
#7
dgianstefani
TPU Proofreader
WirkoHere's what I call it: we have Gen 5 SSDs but only Gen 1.1 programmers, who don't care to take the huge free performance gain. Sure it's hard to use long queues in disk operations but it's possible.
It's more on the hardware IMO, 10th Gen 3D NAND yet real performance is still 60-100 MB/s, when you're not queuing loads. Not everything can be expected and set up for sequential, in fact I'd say most things can't when it comes to general OS and software.
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Feb 22nd, 2025 07:22 EST change timezone

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