In recent years, we have witnessed significant advancements in technologies such as 5G, cloud computing, and edge computing, and we are filled with anticipation for the applications of emerging technologies like intelligent devices, autonomous driving, Web 3.0, and the metaverse. Ultimately, all of these rely on the storage and distributed real-time processing of massive amounts of data. According to analysis and research firm IDC, the amount of data created, acquired, or copied is expected to reach an astonishing 175 ZB by 2025. The explosive growth of data from the cloud to the edge, the acceleration of digitalization, and the strong demand from downstream applications including consumer electronics, network communications, IoT, and automotive electronics have significantly increased the demand for various storage devices and analytical processing. This has raised more stringent requirements for the performance, reliability, and security of storage, becoming a challenge that the entire industry urgently needs to address. Against this backdrop, the importance of intelligent storage and computing innovations is becoming increasingly prominent.
Innovative Applications of Computing Make Storage Smarter
Under the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic, digital transformation and automation are accelerating to achieve efficient remote work. Meanwhile, to drive business expansion, innovation, and enhance user experience in this new situation, global enterprises are increasingly focusing on strengthening data-centric critical infrastructure, which includes computing infrastructure. Emerging compute storage, characterized by near-storage data processing and reduced data movement, is making data centers, edge servers, IoT devices, vehicles, and other data-intensive devices more real-time, efficient, and secure.
Compute storage enables data processing to occur directly where data is stored, allowing storage devices to become smarter. This approach reduces the transmission of large amounts of data to external processing devices, while also providing numerous benefits, including reduced latency and bandwidth usage, enhanced security, and energy savings. At the same time, to ensure that data can realize its value not only in the cloud but also across various fields such as IoT, machine learning, and edge computing, it is crucial to process the generated data into meaningful insights, and the speed and efficiency of data analysis depend on the architecture of data processing systems.
ScaleFlux is a company dedicated to driving storage application innovation through computing storage strategies. Regarding the development of computable storage technology, ScaleFlux co-founder and CEO Zhong Hao stated: “In recent years, computable storage has been in an exploratory stage, verifying the benefits and effectiveness of application scenarios through FPGA. We are now about to welcome chips integrated with ASIC and Arm processors, significantly accelerating the large-scale deployment of computable storage products.”
The Industry Actively Embraces Intelligent Storage
Given the increasingly broad application range of Arm technology, many Arm storage partners are actively embracing intelligent storage, driving market innovation and transformation.
CEO of InnoDisk, Wu Zining, stated: “In an era where the digital economy is deepening and data volume is surging, data infrastructure has higher requirements for the throughput, performance, reliability, and update iteration speed of storage devices. InnoDisk has always focused on storage technology and data processing systems, supporting the development of innovative applications across various vertical industries through independent research and development. Arm is a close partner of InnoDisk. In our mass-deployed PCIe 4.0 controller Rainier series, we have chosen mature and reliable Arm processors, achieving mass production for leading brand customers like Lexar and ADATA, solidifying InnoDisk’s core competitive advantage. We are pleased to collaborate with Arm, allowing us to focus on product performance enhancement and various differentiated innovations, improving product iteration speed.”
“Phison, as a globally leading NAND Flash controller chip manufacturer with extensive experience, provides high-performance SSDs for China’s ultra-large-scale data centers with a full range of product lines, as well as customized, small-sized single-chip SSD solutions for industrial control, commercial, and automotive markets. We have maintained a long-term partnership with Arm, and due to Arm’s extensive and rich processor products and high scalability, it particularly meets our diverse needs across multiple application areas and various industry stages,” said Duan Xiting, Senior Vice President of Marketing and R&D at Phison. “Our latest MonTitan™ high-performance and customizable PCIe Gen5 SSD platform is equipped with the Arm Cortex-A55 application processor and Arm Cortex-M33 microcontroller, leveraging Arm’s powerful ecosystem to provide performance scalability and meet modern innovative technology requirements for the most challenging data center and enterprise SSD storage applications, offering high flexibility and customizable programming capabilities to meet future standards. We look forward to jointly empowering more innovative applications in the storage industry in the future.”
Recently, ScaleFlux launched the CSD 3000, which is the industry’s first fully self-developed ASIC-based computable storage SSD (no longer using FPGA), fully compatible with standard NVMe, and capable of large-scale production. Zhong Hao further added: “Collaborating with Arm technology was a choice made after comprehensive consideration from multiple dimensions. First, from the perspective of the user ecosystem, most SSD manufacturers have previously developed firmware based on the Arm architecture, which laid a favorable foundation for the introduction of new products and firmware portability. Secondly, regarding product and toolchain maturity, Arm processors exhibit excellent stability and reliability. Lastly, from the perspective of technological support and evolution, we greatly appreciate and look forward to Arm’s long-term, sustained investment in this field. ScaleFlux is pleased to collaborate with Arm to bring groundbreaking products to the industry. By adopting the Arm architecture, we have achieved significant improvements in SSD performance, latency, and cost optimization, helping our customers and partners achieve cost reduction and efficiency enhancement, optimizing TCO goals.”
While specialized processing capabilities drive performance improvements in various applications, Arm has introduced the Cortex-R82, a processor tailored for intelligent storage and compute storage, which better supports high-density flash, PCIe Gen5/Gen6 interfaces, near-storage computing, and uses new technologies such as ML to make storage smarter. DeYi Microelectronics, as a leading domestic storage control chip manufacturer, has prioritized adopting the Arm Cortex-R82, knowing that its ultra-low latency and consistently stable high performance will play a crucial role in their next-generation SSD controllers for cloud, enterprise, and automotive markets based on PCIe Gen5. With the continued deepening of collaboration and joint exploration between Arm and DeYi Microelectronics, the innovative applications of Cortex-R82 in the intelligent computing storage field are worth looking forward to.
Data Security Safeguards the Storage Industry
As storage and computing move out of data centers and homes, reaching every corner of the globe and even the universe, physical security often struggles to provide optimal protection. At the same time, with the deepening of digital transformation, preventing data privacy breaches and data leaks has become crucial. The larger the data volume and the broader its distribution, the greater the importance of security assurance. It can be said that data security is essential for the future of data. Whether data is at rest, in transit, or in use, ensuring sufficient confidentiality, integrity, and availability requires collaborative efforts across the entire information and communication technology stack.
The Arm architecture, spanning cloud, edge, and endpoint, will soon touch nearly all shared data globally, creating unprecedented opportunities for Arm’s vast partners, who will increasingly rely on Arm’s security architecture, tools, and trusted ecosystem to bring transformative security experiences to every corner touched by data and computing.
In the evolution of the Arm architecture, the emphasis on security and support for security have been increasing day by day. Arm supports the security ecosystem in many ways, such as:
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Including the PSA Certified security certification system co-founded by Arm and like-minded partners;
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A security-oriented product innovation philosophy that ensures sensitive data is stored, processed, and protected in isolated, trusted environments;
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Detecting and preventing memory corruption, enhancing encryption support, and mitigating side-channel attacks through built-in defenses in the microarchitecture.
Arm Architecture Empowers the Future of the Storage Industry
Looking ahead, the continuously growing high-value data sets brought about by intelligent devices, autonomous driving, Web 3.0, the metaverse, and digitalization present exciting development opportunities for the storage industry. However, the increasingly complex workloads that come with it also mean that storage drives must be built on reliable, secure, and efficient platforms, making the Arm architecture the best choice:
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Arm boasts a rich portfolio of production-validated, high-performance, high-reliability, and high-energy-efficient processors, system IP, and tool products that comprehensively cover the needs of various storage applications;
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Arm’s key investments in machine learning, vector computing, security, custom instructions, and CXL continuously empower the next generation of computing and storage innovation;
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Arm firmly believes in the importance of customer-centricity and ecosystems, continuously deepening cooperation with the world’s largest ecosystems to help customers achieve rapid, simple, and cost-effective product development.
Of course, storage controller chips require more than just processors. To further simplify storage controller chip design, Arm provides a rich array of system IP, including interconnects, mesh networks, interrupt controllers, MMUs, and physical IP. Meanwhile, Arm continues to promote the development of storage interfaces in industry alliances such as CXL, breaking the limitations of memory density and bandwidth bottlenecks. For storage firmware and software development, Arm provides customers with the industry’s best software development tools to simplify the development process, thereby accelerating development cycles. With a comprehensive, high-performance, high-reliability, and highly trustworthy processor and system IP technology combination as a foundation, backed by a strong ecosystem and a highly recognized development community, Arm can continuously empower partners to challenge the limits of innovation and build optimized systems, thus becoming a source of differentiated value creation.
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