(Press Release) Toshiba Corporation and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. today announced their agreement to manufacture network specific DRAM, a common interface DRAM specification for high-speed network applications. The two companies will separately manufacture and market network specific DRAM based on this specification. Toshiba has already commercialized network specific DRAM based on the 256Mb DDR FCRAM that the company jointly developed with Fujitsu for high-speed network applications. Samples of Samsung's 256Mb Network-DRAM which is fully compatible with FCRAM are available and full production is scheduled for 3Q 2002. The availability of these high-speed networking memory devices from major suppliers is expected to secure market leadership and assure customers a stable supply.
Historically, high-density memory systems have consisted of Single-Data-Rate Synchronous DRAM (SDRAM) or Double-Data-Rate SDRAM. However, the rapid evolution of network environments accompanying the expansion of the Internet and LANs is driving demand for network specific memory ICs. These combine the high speed of SRAM with the high density of DRAM to dramatically increase data handling capability. Samsung and Toshiba have been developing network specific DRAM in response to this demand. Network specific DRAM devices have random read-write cycle and latency times that are 50 percent faster than the next generation DDR333. These devices also offer the fastest high-speed data transfer rate among next-generation DRAM and integrate a late-write function for efficient data-bus utilization. Samsung and Toshiba will position the network specific DRAM devices for buffer and look-up table use in network applications and as cache and main memory for high-end computers.
