• 214182021 © Pavlineo | Dreamstime.com
    681a7624358626c2cb588866 Promo Pavlineo Dreamstime Xxl 214182021

    Smart and Secure Storage

    April 2, 2025
    Storage is no longer just a collection of bits. Now it needs to be secure and sometimes computation is part of the mix.
    Related To:

    What You'll Learn

     

    Developers continue to push memory and storage technologies continue to provide higher capacity, faster access, smarter processing and more secure operation. This TechXchange highlights articles that address a range of memory and storage methods. 

    More Smart and Secure Storage-related TechXchanges

    ID 76795646 © Cybrain | Dreamstime.com
    promo__id_76795646__cybrain__dreamstime
    Data centers and cloud data centers employ a lot of hardware and software, much that is specific to those environments. Designing these systems touches on many different technologie...
    6814962 © Ivra00 | Dreamstime.com and Samsung
    cxl_memory_promo_6814962__ivra00__dreamstime
    One of the main targets for CXL is memory expansion.

    Smart Storage Technologies

    Volatile or non-volatile storage and memory systems can do more than just save and transfer data with the right augmentation. It is possible to provide more capacity using data compression. Information can be more secure using data encryption and it is possible to move computation into the storage device to offload the host and provide a more efficient data manipulation system. 

    Prom Onew rigatti
    CSD systems are emerging as the must-have peripherals for intensive storage demands required by leading-edge industries. But their complexity leads to issues with traditional ...
    Retrofitting Secure Storage
    Swissbit’s data-protection technology allows SD cards to provide features like encrypted, write-only operations.
    Xilinx Smart Ssd Promo
    Developed by Xilinx and Samsung, the device combines smart storage with the SmartNIC to take advantage of FPGAs.
    Bittware M2 Fig 2 Csp Module Promo
    Though the coming together of FPGAs and memory on one platform isn’t groundbreaking, the fact that they now fit on an M.2 module is eye-opening.
    Image credit: Samsung Electronics.
    Samsung 2nd Gen Smart Ssd
    The second-generation SmartSSD is upgrading from Xilinx's Kintex FPGA to AMD's Versal Prime SoC.
    U55 C Promo
    Xilinx's Alveo U55C FPGA board takes aim at exascale applications.

    Back to table of contents

    Networks and SmartNICs

    Data centers are built around very large network and storage systems. Optimizing data movement is key to providing efficient operation. Moving some of the processing from the host to the network interface card (NIC) can reduce the overall traffic and provide services from firewalls to data compression in a SmartNIC. The SmartNIC TechXchange contains a more extensive list of SmartNIC articles but a couple are included here as well. 

    76795646 © Cybrain | Dreamstime.com
    promo_cybrain_dreamstime_xxl_76795646
    Network interface cards are a lot smarter than they used to be.
    NVIDIA
    Promo Nvidia Igx Platform New
    NVIDIA’s IGX Orin motherboard, featuring a Jetson AGX Orin module, delivers artificial-intelligence and SmartNIC capability to industrial applications.
    67552534 / Abstract © Vladimir Timofeev | Dreamstime.com
    Data Center Dreamstime M 67552534 Promo
    At Hot Chips, AMD outlined a 400-Gb/s SmartNIC that combines ASICs, FPGAs, and Arm CPU cores.
    Xilinx Promo Getty 1159763189 Web 5ed958e51bb62
    SmartNICs bring computing to the network interface.

    Back to table of contents

    CXL Storage and Disaggregation

    The Compute Express Link (CXL) TechXchange provides a more detailed list of CXL articles. A few of the articles are listed here as CXL is a major component in data center storage these days. It is also a technology that is being utilized in embedded systems as the storage requirements of high performance computing (HPC) has risen. 

    214182392 © Pavlinec | Dreamstime.com
    cxl_txc_214182392__pavlinec__dreamstime
    Check our more Compute Express Link (CXL) articles and videos.
    CXL Consortium
    Hot Chips Promo New
    This year’s Hot Chips event featured a tutorial on the fast-rising CXL standard and its latest iteration—CXL 3.
    Image credit: Microchip Technology
    Microchip Smc 2000 Launch Image
    Microchip's new SMC 2000 series helps open the door to CXL-attached memory in the data center.

    Back to table of contents

    More Memory Technologies

    There are lots of memory and storage articles that don't fit in the prior sections so we collect some of the more interesting ones here. This includes articles about secure boot and SR-IOV that are memory-related technologies. 

    Dreamstime_suwinpuengsamrong_139968432
    autonomous_dreamstime_suwinpuengsamrong_139968432p
    This article will explore how SR-IOV SSDs can enhance automotive systems by enabling storage virtualization, reducing hardware complexity, and improving efficiency for applications...
    What’s the Difference Between Serial NAND and NOR Flash?
    Winbond’s QspiNAND brings NAND flash memory to serial storage applications.
    Looking at Secure Serial Flash Memory for Secure Boot
    Offering firmware integrity protection among other features, Winbond’s secure serial flash memory facilitates secure boot.

    Back to table of contents

    About the Author

    William G. Wong | Senior Content Director - Electronic Design and Microwaves & RF

    I am Editor of Electronic Design focusing on embedded, software, and systems. As Senior Content Director, I also manage Microwaves & RF and I work with a great team of editors to provide engineers, programmers, developers and technical managers with interesting and useful articles and videos on a regular basis. Check out our free newsletters to see the latest content.

    You can send press releases for new products for possible coverage on the website. I am also interested in receiving contributed articles for publishing on our website. Use our template and send to me along with a signed release form. 

    Check out my blog, AltEmbedded on Electronic Design, as well as his latest articles on this site that are listed below. 

    You can visit my social media via these links:

    I earned a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Masters in Computer Science from Rutgers University. I still do a bit of programming using everything from C and C++ to Rust and Ada/SPARK. I do a bit of PHP programming for Drupal websites. I have posted a few Drupal modules.  

    I still get a hand on software and electronic hardware. Some of this can be found on our Kit Close-Up video series. You can also see me on many of our TechXchange Talk videos. I am interested in a range of projects from robotics to artificial intelligence. 

    Email

    Continue Reading

    Sponsored Recommendations

    Comments

    To join the conversation, and become an exclusive member of Electronic Design, create an account today!