The next Centrino platform to be released next year – codenamed Santa Rosa – will feature an integrated disk cache using flash memory in order to speed up disk access and also save energy – which is a must in extending battery life. In this IDF Fall 2006 we had a more detailed explanation on how this technology, codenamed Robson, will work.
What Intel is proposing with Robson technology is a cache solution using flash memory between the CPU and the hard disk drive. This flash memory will basically hold the most frequently accessed data in order to speed up disk access.
Intel will deliver Robson technology on a mini PCI Express card, which will contain the flash memory chips and their controller. The presentation was based on a 1 GB solution and the current memory controller used can handle up to 8 GB of NAND flash memory.
