- Montitan SSD shows impressive specifications, but the time window may have been lost
- Silicon Motion faces a tough competition of nand manufacturers integrated vertically
- The solid performance of the controller may not be sufficient in the current market
The Montitan SSD Motion Motion platform is finally receiving a complete performance breakdown after previous years of commercial fairs, and although the results impress on paper, the question is whether it is too late to import.
A review of Tweaktown He states that the 7.68TB Montitan SSD is “a masterpiece of business storage design”, fed by the SM83366 PCIE Gen5 controller of Silicon Motion and built to compete at the highest levels of the performance of the data center.
The Montitan platform is aimed at the TLC and QLC settings and is optimized for AI environments, edge and HPC computing.
Offers more than most
With support for NVME 2.0B, specifications of the OCP data center and multiple factors of standard form, 7.68TB Montitan SSD are aimed at modern and high demand workloads. The reviewed unit, a SSD based on the Form Form Factor based on TLC, admits 3.4 million IOP and sequential speeds up to 14.2GB/s.
It also has adjusted latency control, low inactive power (less than 5W) and a DWPD resistance rating that allows you to rewrite the impulse almost 2000 times for its useful life.
The SM8366 controller itself is the cornerstone of the platform, which offers advanced features such as APPORTSAPE, a firmware based algorithm to shape the performance for the user -defined service quality requirements (QOs).
Combined with the insulation at the hardware level, this design aims to offer consistent performance and adjusted to the application through workloads.
Summarizing, Tweaktown He said: “We like what Silicon Motion has developed in its SM8366 controller delivered by its Montitan platform. Our test subject clearly demonstrated that it can deliver more than most of its competitors. We especially appreciate its delivery of tight, consistent and predictable together along with its ability to dominate the majority, if not all, of those in their class or even above the low depths of the tail.”
Despite technical strengths, Silicon Motion’s position is more complicated. It is, like Phison and other controllers providers, it is now competing against former partners.
NAND manufacturers such as Samsung and SK Hynix are integrated vertically, building their own controllers and maintaining more than the internal value chain. In that landscape, offer a platform, even if it is capable, there is a much more difficult sale.
With the workloads of AI now pushing the depths of the tail far beyond the typical only a few years ago, the quality of the controller is more important than ever. But with the complete marketing of platforms such as Montitan that comes years after the AI ​​infrastructure career began, Silicon Motion can be too late to forge a significant space against rooting competitors.
