Intel’s 3D Xpoint debuted earlier this year, in the form of Optane storage drives, but we’ll have to wait a little longer until the technology appears in RAM form, as promised. An Intel Director has revealed that we can expect Optane DIMMs to hit the market in 2018. Optane memory will be high-capacity and affordable and will boast persistent memory functionality.
3D Xpoint DIMMs in 2018
Mike Ferron-Jones, Intel’s Director of Datacenter Platform Technology Marketing, said:
“Today, this story is about to change in dramatic ways, thanks to a new generation of Intel DIMMS coming next year from Intel that will make memory big, affordable, and persistent. This new generation of Intel persistent memory, based on the groundbreaking 3D XPoint™ media developed by Intel and Micron, will enable data center operators and application developers to overcome a historical barrier to higher application capacity and performance.
Intel persistent memory will allow users to improve system performance dramatically by putting more data closer to the processor on nonvolatile media, and do it in an affordable manner. This will truly be a game-changer when it comes to the way applications and systems are designed. It’s a complete reversal of 50 years of the small, volatile, and expensive memory IT orthodoxy.”
What is Persistent Memory?
Conventional RAM only stores data for as long as it has power. Turn your PC off and you wipe your RAM. Intel’s Optane RAM, though, will be different. Thanks to the 3D Xpoint technology – inspired by NAND Flash – data will remain within the memory stick even after power-off. The advancement will make processing – particularly PC start-ups – faster and more efficient.
