BOISE, Idaho, Oct. 04, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Micron Technology, Inc. today announced that the Xccela Consortium has more than doubled its membership to a total of 12 companies and launched the Xccela Consortium website – www.xccela.org – to provide support and an information source for the Xccela Bus community. STMicroelectronics International N.V., a global leader in semiconductor solutions, is the latest company and first chipset partner to join the consortium. The consortium, founded by Micron Technology, Winbond Electronics, GigaDevice Semiconductor, and AP Memory Technology, has also recently added Elite Semiconductor Memory Technology (ESMT), PHYTEC, Elnec, Lyontek, NOR-MEM Electronics Co., ASR Microelectronics, and Xenon Digital Workshop as members.
The Xccela Consortium works to proliferate solutions around the open-standard Xccela Bus octal SPI interface, creating an ecosystem for a high speed, low signal count digital interconnect and data communications bus suitable for volatile and nonvolatile memories as well as other types of integrated circuits.
Member Company Quotes
Ricardo de Sa Earp, Microcontroller Division General Manager, STMicroelectronics
“STMicroelectronics is delighted to be part of the Xccela Consortium. Our new high-performance, ultra-low power STM32L4+ supports dual Xccela Bus interfaces to allow cost-effective, high-speed extensions of code and data storage memory space. Paired with Xccela Flash solutions, the STM32L4+ can meet the instant-on response and sophisticated feature requirements demanded by applications such as fitness bands, smart watches, portable medical equipment, smart meters, and smart industrial sensors. We anticipate strong enthusiasm for this valuable protocol, and we will be incorporating Xccela Bus support in additional STM32 microcontrollers moving forward.”
Micron’s NOR Flash Product Line Director Richard De Caro
“As a global leader in memory and storage solutions, Micron developed the Xccela Bus in anticipation of the need for a new kind of system bus in the ’smart-everything world.’ We recognized the importance of fostering an ecosystem behind the new interface by establishing the Xccela Consortium and making the Xccela Bus specification available to all companies who participate in the consortium. We welcome companies like STMicroelectronics to the diverse and growing membership which includes chipset vendors, volatile and non-volatile memory vendors, programmer vendors, and system vendors.”
TC Hsiao, Technical Marketing Director of ESMT
"Joining the Xccela Consortium, championed by the world’s leading pure-play memory vendor, was an easy decision for us, especially after recognizing the momentum that the Xccela Bus was gaining in the market. The Xccela Bus can be used with volatile and non-volatile memory which makes it especially attractive across a wide range of applications, and we are committed to adopting the interface.”
Ut Wu, Director, Lyontek
“Multi-sourcing is a key value-add for our customers. Designing to the Xccela Bus standard will not only enable our memory products to be compliant with JEDEC’s xSPI standard but also ensure true plug-and-play compatibility with other Xccela Bus compliant products.”
Dr. Haibing Peng, CEO and Founder, NOR-MEM Microelectronics Co.
“Having a thriving ecosystem is important when choosing a new memory interface for our novel high-density, high-speed NOR Flash products. The number of chipset vendors committing to support the Xccela Bus interface is impressive at this early stage. As a start-up company for developing novel 3D memory technology, we are delighted to be part of the Xccela Consortium.”
Bodo Huber, Technical CTO, Phytec
“As an embedded board solutions alpha partner for the innovative NXP i.MX 8 applications processor family, Phytec is developing phyCORE-i.MX 8 System on Modules (SOMs) to address a variety of medical and industrial embedded systems that incorporate advanced features such as speech recognition, gesture control, enhanced graphics, and robust security. The native support of the Xccela Bus interface by the i.MX 8 processors opens up the door for us to incorporate leading edge, ultra-fast Xccela Flash memory into our top-of the line, next generation SOMs. Our customers are demanding extremely fast, secure, and reliable boot for their mission-critical applications and Xccela Flash fits the bill.”
Rob Klein, President, Xenon Digital Workshop, Inc.
“Over the years, our design services firm has come across an increasing number of FPGA-based military, aerospace, and industrial controls applications which need a low pin count memory interface that still provides high bandwidth, low-latency communications within the embedded system to help reduce PCB costs and area. The Xccela Consortium is addressing a valid design challenge within the industry, and we are eager to contribute to this effort.”
In addition to making the Xccela Bus and Xccela Flash open standards, Micron also helped draft the recently approved JEDEC xSPI standard for non-volatile memory (NVM) devices; however, Micron is fully committed to the proliferation of Xccela Flash to address the shortcomings of the JEDEC xSPI standard.
“JEDEC’s xSPI standard is an important first step in putting a boundary around high-throughput octal Flash memories with mechanical, electrical, and transactional guidelines. However, because the xSPI standard covers a variety of octal Flash memory solutions, it does not guarantee device drop-in compatibility and requires that the host read critical SFDP (Serial Flash Discoverable Parameters) to determine which physical interface, operational modes, commands, and features of the xSPI standard a device may or may not support. This is where the Xccela Consortium comes in. The Xccela Consortium develops full specifications for devices residing on the Xccela Bus so that both memory and non-memory devices are interoperable and fully compatible. While the Xccela Flash specification is fully compliant with the JEDEC xSPI standard, it goes further by providing complete device specifications and guidelines so that every manufacturer’s Xccela Flash devices are 100% drop-in compatible," added Richard De Caro of Micron.
About the Xccela Consortium
Open to all companies, the Xccela Consortium is an industry association championed by Micron to promote the Xccela Bus as an open-standard digital interconnect and data communications bus suitable for volatile and nonvolatile memories as well as other types of integrated circuits (e.g. MCUs, SoCs, ADCs, etc.). The charter of the consortium is to define the Xccela Bus interface specifications and common command protocols for those devices that will reside and communicate on the Xccela Bus. To become a member, visit www.xccela.org.