Wes Felter (wmf.delete@this.felter.org) on July 28, 2022 7:53 pm wrote:
> Intel To Wind Down Optane Memory Business - 3D XPoint Storage Tech Reaches Its End
>
> Even though it never lived up to Intel's promises I'm not aware of any
> alternative persistent memory tech. I guess that whole field is over.


Few are going to miss it, or even notice it is gone.

The supposed allure of Optane was that it provided storage that was cheaper per bit than DRAM while being faster in terms of IOPS than flash. The problem is flash's performance improved a lot faster than Optane's, while DRAM's per bit cost maintained roughly the same ratio, so Optane's already small niche narrowed further over time.

The only real advantage it had was as "byte addressable flash" when used in a DIMM form factor, but that's really of limited utility. Most people have no desire for their RAM to be unchanged when they reboot their system, they just want RAM that's protected against power loss.

It seems odd to me there isn't (as far as I know?) a market for DIMMs with an integrated battery that can perform refreshes to cover power loss. You only need it for as long as is required to regain power and reboot the systems. There isn't any need for DIMMs that will maintain their state for months without power like Optane was capable of. Yes battery backed DIMMs will cost more per bit, but it will be at full DRAM performance rather than more like flash performance, so while it isn't the same thing it is close enough for those who have a need for non volatile RAM.