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Datalight Boost Linux Write Performance by over 50% with Reliance Nitro, the Most Reliable Flash-friendly File System for Linux

BOTHELL, WA – October 22, 2013 – Today Datalight announced availability of an upgraded version of its Reliance Nitro flash-friendly file that improves performance of Linux- and Android- based embedded devices, exceeding the write speeds of ext4 by over 50% while remaining immune against data corruption commonly caused by unexpected system shutdowns.

The new version 3.2 of Reliance Nitro also offers a host of customization options that surpasses what is available on any other file system for Linux. Developers of embedded devices can now easily control data-at-risk parameters even at runtime which lets them optimize performance in their systems without risking unexpected data loss or corruption. Delivered in source code with robust set of test tools, the product has everything developers need to integrate the product and compare it to alternatives in a plethora of configurations.

“Our customers are those Linux developers who build embedded products that have to have rock-solid reliability and long-lived endurance,” said Ken Whitaker, Datalight VP of Engineering. “Those customers now have uncompromised write performance available in an industrial-quality source code product.”

“Reliance Nitro has long surpassed ext4 in terms of read speeds and mount times,” said Thom Denholm, Datalight Technical Product Manager. “With the write speed improvements in this release there really is no need to compromise.”

At the heart of Datalight’s newest file system is a new approach to allocation that aligns with the behavior of the underlying flash media. This approach helps extend the life of the flash memory, which is rapidly decreasing as storage density increases. Unlike basic file systems such as ext4 that updates files “inplace”, Reliance Nitro usescopy-on-write behavior to eliminate the potential of partial page writes and corruption of live data in the event of unexpected shutdown.

As flash memory manufacturers create smaller dies with more bits per cell, bit errors and data corruption are becoming bigger problems for device developers and users with minimum data reliability requirements. Undiscovered problems with data can cause system failure hours or days later, often leaving no trace of what caused them. Reliance Nitro not only writes data in a less disruptive manner, it continuously monitors data reliability of the file system to effectively ensure reliable operations of these devices.

Embedded applications can also benefit from faster boot times that remain consistent for the life of the product, regardless of disk size, usage or shutdown state. File system mount time testing under a wide variety of conditions from a freshly formatted file system to one that had seen extensive use and in both normal and unexpected shutdown scenarios showed a variance in mount times of 70% for ext4 and only 0.1% for Reliance Nitro. Reliance Nitro mounted nearly 95% faster after unexpected shutdown compared with ext4.

Customers with valid http://www.datalight.com/support Technical Support and Maintenance contracts with Datalight are eligible to receive the update to Reliance Nitro 3.0.2 at no charge. OEMs are encouraged to contact their Datalight representative. The release will also be available through Datalight resellers worldwide.

The Reliance Nitro file system was designed from the ground up for high-reliability, high performance applications. Dynamic Transaction PointTM technology provides immunity from file corruption, even after unexpected system interruption. Reliance Nitro goes through extensive reliability testing, including more than 2 million random power cycle tests without a failure. In addition to Reliance Nitro for Linux and Android, Datalight also develops products for Wind River VxWorks, Microsoft Windows Embedded Compact and Windows Embedded Handheld and Mentor Graphics Nucleus. Customers have migrated Datalight’s portable products to many other operating systems.  

About Datalight

Datalight, Inc. headquartered just north of Seattle, Wash., develops technologies to enable risk- free mobile data. Datalight software helps leading OEMs build high-performance, reliable devices that get to market quickly. Our product line includes Reliance Nitro, a transactional power failsafe file system; FlashFXe software acceleration for managed flash and FlashFX Tera comprehensive software management for raw flash. Expert engineering consultation and services speed time to market for device manufacturers. When data integrity, time to market and design flexibility matter, the world’s leading device manufacturers invest in solutions from Datalight. Datalight products have shipped in millions of embedded devices in demanding product categories like automotive, medical, retail, industrial automation and military/aerospace.

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