How much storage capacity should your product offer its users? Too much and it becomes too expensive. Too little and burgeoning software updates will quickly consume the device’s available storage capacity. Ideally, upgradeable storage solves the issue but, with consumers expecting ever-smaller tech, even the tiniest M.2 SSDs are too large, especially once connector volume is added to the equation. microSD is an alternative, but it can’t always provide the needed performance to store media for example and the push-fit socket doesn’t provide the required reliability, especially under shock or vibration.
Filling this gap is KIOXIA’s XFMEXPRESS, a storage medium developed to be upgradeable like M.2 SSD but as space-saving as BGA Universal Flash Storage (UFS). Designed to support both 1- and 2-lane PCI Express (PCIe) and NVM Express storage interfaces, it is simple to integrate with commonly used SoCs. It is also reliably connected with the circuit board thanks to a slimline lockable-cover connector that allows the storage to be upgraded with ease.
XFMEXPRESS Features
- Compact and slim: just 18 × 14 mm (252 mm2) and 1.4mm thin
- Minimize board space: 62% less area than M.2 2230
- Total height (including connector): 2.2 mm
- Low weight storage and connector: 1.6 g total
- Transfer bandwidth: up to 2 GB/s
- Long battery life: support for PS0 through PS4 power states
- Designed for 3D BiCS FLASH: capacities up to 1,024 GB supported
Simple and intuitive design
The thin, rectangular format is reminiscent of an SD card, with a corner notch and gold-plated connectors on the rear. Combined with the robust connector solution it makes XFMEXPRESS easy for technicians to exchange and upgrade quickly. Customers buying-in to ecosystems using XFMEXPRESS also have confidence that their investment won’t be impacted by obsolescence caused by limited storage.
