Microsoft Builds Speedy Flash Bridge Between RAM And Hard Disk

[DaBees-Knees]

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/021711-microsoft-flashstore.html

Microsoft researchers are trying to improve the efficiency of flash memory by building software that uses solid-state storage in conjunction with RAM and hard disk, and eliminates random writes and other wasted operations.

Microsoft hasn’t made much headway in the storage market, dominated by the likes of EMC and NetApp, but the Microsoft Research team sounds confident about its new “FlashStore” research project. In lab tests, Microsoft says it performs 60 times faster than Oracle’s open-source Berkeley DB systems, at much greater energy- and cost-efficiency.

In case you are tempted to go out and try and buy one, current prices for this type of equipment start of at a six figure sum.  

[White Stripes]

whatever happened to static ram? .... fast as dram but needs only a coin cell to keep its contents (doesnt need to be 'refreshed' like current capacitor based ram or have a electron charge pumped between two poles like flash rom)