Simtek Corp (SMTK)

[jonesieatl]

Simtek Announces Production Program on 1 Megabit nvSRAM for Sun Fire(TM) X4600 Server and Sun Blade(TM) 8000 Modular System

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BusinessWire
08:10 a.m. 08/10/2006


COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., Aug 10, 2006 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Simtek Corporation (SRAM), the inventor, pioneer, and world's leading supplier of nonvolatile static random access memory (nvSRAM) integrated circuits today announced that it has received production orders from Sun Microsystems, Inc. for its flagship 1 megabit nvSRAM, used for Sun's latest Sun Fire(TM) and Sun Blade(TM) x64 (x86, 64-bit) servers powered by AMD Opteron(TM) processors.

By taking advantage of Simtek's patented intellectual property and products, Sun is able to provide a RAID subsystem that doesn't require battery backed SDRAM that achieves smaller board space, lower component cost, and immediately stores system-critical volatile data under power loss conditions. Sun is leading the server industry in providing RAID storage as a standard feature by integrating RAID onto the server motherboard.

Cost and space are major impediments to full-featured, cost-attractive RAID solutions on the motherboard (ROMB). Current motherboard designs have little space for additional functions. New generations of RAID controllers integrate RAID and disk controller functions. Using battery-backed SDRAM adds cost and board space. New generations of integrated RAID controllers leverage Simtek's nvSRAM for write journaling and mirroring functions, and eliminate batteries. This makes it feasible to implement ROMB both economically and considering form factor. As an added bonus, using Simtek's products eliminates the battery and enables improved compliance with "green" initiatives reducing hazardous materials from board designs.

Simtek's nvSRAM, a critical cornerstone of server based RAID reference designs has been adopted by several generations of RAID controllers. This new production award solidifies Simtek's position as the leading provider of nonvolatile memory in the RAID market.