Memoir Systems® Inc., the Semiconductor Intellectual Property (SIP) startup that delivers breakthrough embedded memory performance, today announced the official launch of the company. Through its unique, patent-pending Algorithmic Memory™ technology, Memoir solves the Memory Operations Per Second (MOPS) bottlenecks that are plaguing today’s SoC products. The company’s technology provides an order of magnitude increase in embedded memory performance. Memoir’s technology can also lower embedded memory area and power consumption, and shorten memory development time.
Memoir Systems was co-founded in March 2009 by Sundar Iyer (CTO) and Da Chuang (COO), and is backed by Lightspeed Venture Partners. Iyer has previous experience as co-founder and CTO of Nemo Systems, the network memory company that was acquired by Cisco Systems, and Chuang was a technical leader at Cisco. In addition, both founders have a common background in academia, as well as in founding roles in previous switching and associative memory-related startups.
In conjunction with the formal launch of the company, memory industry veteran, Adam Kablanian, has been named as CEO of Memoir Systems. Iyer and Chuang noted, “Adam’s experience and knowledge of the memory industry will play a pivotal role in the overall development of Memoir as a successful, thriving enterprise.”
Kablanian noted, “I am delighted to join the team at Memoir Systems. After spending 25 years in the memory business, I thought I had seen all the innovations that were possible in terms of how to make memories faster. After learning about Memoir’s unique technology, I realized that there are more chapters to write on memory, and I want to be part of that. Memoir’s pioneering technology ushers in the next phase of embedded memory innovation, i.e. Memory 2.0.”
Kablanian previously held numerous positions as a technology and business executive in the embedded memory industry which included serving as president and CEO (until Mar ’07), chairman (until Mar ’08), of Virage Logic; a company building embedded memories, which he co-founded and subsequently took public on NASDAQ in 2000.
Memoir Systems has pioneered a new “Algorithmic Memory Technology™,” that uses algorithms synthesized in hardware to increase the performance of existing embedded memory macros – up to 10X more MOPS. This technology is implemented as RTL-level IP, and is process, node, and foundry independent. Memoir’s solutions appear as standard embedded memories, and can be readily integrated into existing standard SoC design flow. Da Chuang, co-founder and COO, noted, “We have developed a software platform that enables us to rapidly deliver Algorithmic Memories that fit seamlessly within the SoC design flow.”
Since it’s process independent, Memoir’s technology works equally well on older as well as advanced process nodes and can be implemented into a variety of SoC implementations including, ASICs, ASSPs, GPPs and FPGAs. These devices have the most need for higher MOPS making them ideal candidates for Memoir’s performance enhancements.
Sundar Iyer, co-founder and CTO, noted, “Algorithmic Memory technology is unique in the industry. Our approach introduces a new ‘chisel’ to solve the memory-performance bottleneck at a higher level of abstraction. This is different from the traditional ‘hammer’ of only relying on performance improvements in memory circuits. Our approach complements circuit techniques, and forms a powerful way to alleviate the traditional ‘processor-memory’ gap.”
Memoir Systems Technology Overview
Memoir Systems’ patent-pending Algorithmic Memory technology provides benefits in five different ways:
- Increases Performance up to 10X: Memoir’s Algorithmic Memory Technology increases the performance of existing embedded memory macros by implementing a variety of techniques such as caching, virtualization, pipelining, and data encoding, and weaves them together to operate seamlessly.
- Shortens Development Time by 100X: Memory development can typically range between 6 to 12 months. Memoir’s technology significantly shortens development time to days.
- Quickens Memory Architecture Analysis by 1000X: Analysis of a custom memory can typically take up to 1 week. Memoir’s technology allows memories to be architected and analyzed real-time within 10 seconds.
- Lowers Area and Power: Memoir can take a lower performance memory (which typically has lower area and power), and synthesize a new memory which achieves higher memory performance. This Algorithmic Memory achieves the same performance as a high performance memory built using circuits alone, but has lower area and power.
- Provides Versatility: Memoir’s technology delivers configuration versatility because it is capable of synthesizing custom memories built on many different embedded memory types with any combination of read/write ports, and on any process, node or foundry.
Memoir Systems, Inc. is a provider of breakthrough embedded memory technology that is delivered as Semiconductor Intellectual Property (SIP). The company utilizes its patent-pending Algorithmic Memory™ technology to increase the performance of existing memory macros – up to 10X more Memory Operations Per Second (MOPS). In addition, the technology significantly shortens memory development time, and lowers area and power consumption. Memoir’s technology is process, node, and foundry independent, and can be readily integrated into any existing SoC (ASICs, ASSPs, GPPs and FPGAs) design flow. The company’s strategy is to deliver technology and business benefits to its customers and partners by providing solutions that are drop-in replacements for existing embedded memory. Memoir Systems is based in Santa Clara, California, and has additional research and development facilities located in Hyderabad, India.