Intel, in partnership with Micron, is announcing a major breakthrough in memory technology, one that could change computing for everyone. The companies are calling the new tech 3D XPoint (read CrossPoint).
Though Intel has been having some trouble with Moore’s Law recently, the company is still bent on improving the performance of our machines considerably. And if it can’t currently do it through smaller chips, it will do it through a whole new type of memory.
Intel is calling its new 3D XPoint technology the biggest breakthrough since NAND Flash, which was first introduced in 1989. The new tech allows for a completely new class of non-volatile memory which, according to Intel, is a huge leap forward compared to today’s current technologies.
The chip manufacturer is boasting that 3D XPoint memory, on top of being non-volatile is also up to 1,000 times faster than traditional NAND, while also having 1,000 times greater endurance. And if that’s no enough for you it’s also 10 times denser than what’s currently available today.
All of this means that a device using this new type of memory would see a remarkable boost in performance even while its processor stayed the same. That’s because one of the biggest performance barriers today is the amount of time it takes for the CPU to receive data from storage. But with 3D XPoint, that time is drastically reduced. Intel says this opens up whole new use cases, such as doctors tracking the spread of disease in real time or data centers being able to serve up information considerably faster.
Of course, the proof lies in the pudding and until 3D XPoint memory hits markets we won’t know if the new tech is as wonderful as it sounds. Luckily, this isn't just some proof-of-concept study. Intel is actually manufacturing the new memory as we speak and it will be releasing it to select partners soon, with other products based on this tech coming next year.
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