Taiwan-based IC design house Innostor Technology has begun shipping USB 3.0 NAND flash device controllers, while peer company VIA Labs also plans to launch its own models in October.
Innostor and VIA Labs have both delivered samples of their single-chip USB 3.0 device controllers to a number of DRAM module makers for testing and verification, including Kingston Technology, A-Data Technology, Transcend Information, Biwin Technology, I-O Data Device and Buffalo Technology.
Innostor's USB device controllers are designed for 2-channel solutions, specially 2GB-8GB flash drives. VIA Labs' model, the VL750, which features a 4-channel memory controller supporting data transfer speeds of 100MB/s, is designed for 16GB devices and over, noted the sources.
The VL750's 4-channel design dramatically improves data throughput over dual- or single-channel designs by offering more bandwidth and improved parallelization, according to the company.
The VL750 also features USB mass storage class 'Bulk-Only Transport' for universal compatibility across platforms such as Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux, and adds USB Attached SCSI Protocol (UASP) support for additional performance. The VL750 is fully compliant with the USB 3.0 specification, and is also backwards compatible with USB 2.0 and 1.1 standards, offering class-leading performance in USB 2.0 mode with transfer speeds of up to 35 MB/s, VIA Labs added.