Wind River, Datalight ally to provide integrated flash memory solution

ALAMEDA, USA: Wind River has entered into a reseller agreement with Datalight to sell Datalight FlashFX Pro directly to customers, providing fully integrated support for NAND flash within the VxWorks operating system.

NAND flash memory is quickly becoming the standard storage technology for systems requiring high-capacity data storage, including embedded devices like set-top boxes, cameras, automotive infotainment and a range of medical and industrial applications. FlashFX Pro makes it simple for software applications to access flash memory and increases overall device responsiveness.

The collaboration between Wind River and Datalight makes development and licensing of flash memory solutions for VxWorks simpler and more cost effective for customers. Wind River will now be a one-stop shop where customers can turn to fill flash memory requirements and receive post sales support, minimizing lag times and removing interoperability concerns.

“At Wind River we strive to incorporate best-in-class third-party technology into our platforms, and deliver it in an easy-to-access manner to our customers,” said Marc Brown, vice president of marketing and strategy, VxWorks Product Division, Wind River.

“Our customers have relied on FlashFX Pro for years to accelerate NAND integration and speed time-to-market, and now they have one place to turn to meet their embedded flash memory and real-time operating system needs.”

“Both Wind River and Datalight are committed to making embedded devices in every industry more reliable, flexible and with exceptional performance,” said Roy Sherrill, CEO, Datalight. “With Wind River’s knowledge and experience in the embedded market and our expertise in device data storage, customers can turn to a tightly integrated, cost-effective solution and more confidently plan for, build and deliver devices to market.”

“NAND is quickly becoming the dominant storage technology for embedded devices of all types,” said Kevin Kilbuck, director of strategic marketing at Micron. “We expect that many of these applications will experience triple digit growth rates in NAND gigabyte consumption over the next several years.”

FlashFX Pro is a flash media manager designed to deal with the complexities of both NAND and NOR flash, making it appear to the system as a standard block (hard-drive) interface. FlashFX Pro features pre-written support for over 300 flash parts, works with virtually any NAND controller, and features wear leveling, bad block management, and background compaction for unrivaled performance.

Pairing FlashFX Pro with VxWorks gives customers the flexibility to use a single flash manager for all NAND, NOR, and hybrid flash technologies. FlashFX Pro works with all file systems including DosFS FAT file system and HRFS high-reliability file system from Wind River and Reliance fault-tolerant file system and Reliance Nitro high-performance fault-tolerant file system from Datalight.