DDR3 RDIMM Evolving Quickly

By DE Editors

SimpleTech, Inc. (Santa Ana, CA), a developer of memory and storage products for OEMs and end users, has announced a joint effort betweenit and AMD (Sunnyvale, CA) to define registers and modules for a DDR3SDRAM RDIMMs (registered dual-inline memory modules). DDR3 RDIMMmodules are viewed as the natural successor to today’s DDR2-basedsolutions. DDR3 RDIMMs are designed to deliver the better performanceand energy efficiency required for future commercial servers andworkstations. Densities are designed to range from 512MB to 32GB.

SimpleTech’s and AMD’s development work is being conducted withinJEDEC, a coalition of approximately 270 companies focused on thecreation of open standards for the solid-state technology industry.JEDEC is the semiconductor engineering standardization body of theElectronic Industries Alliance (EIA).

“AMD’s collaboration on the development of the DDR3 RDIMM architectureand design was essential to a successful solution,” said Bill Gervasi,vice president of DRAM technology at SimpleTech in a statement releasedto the press. “AMD’s input during the definition phase andparticipation in developing the RDIMM and defining the SPD ]SerialPresence Detect] configuration EEPROM drove progress forward,” addedGervasi.

The two companies had specific roles in defining the overall solution.AMD defined the timing of the interface and termination characteristicswhile SimpleTech defined the register component to support standardheight as well as VLP (very low profile) and ATCA (advanced telecommcomputing architecture) applications. In this new design, register andPLL (phase-locked loop) functions are integrated into a single deviceto reduce overall system power consumption. SimpleTech also initiatedthe inside-out dual fly-by signaling approach used for all DDR3 RDIMMlayouts.

Validation is under way. Testing is expected to begin in 2007 and fullproduction is planned by 2008. For more information, you can access a PDF on DDR3 RDIMMs by clicking here.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.