Flash funds: Micron to rain cash on Excelero – sources

We understand Micron has invested in Excelero, the software supplier for its SolidScale all-flash NVME array.

Micron introduced its SolidScale array at the beginning of May, featuring NVME SSDS and an NVMe over Fabrics class access latency, adding 1 per cent to the access latency of a direct-attached NVMe SSD. It uses Excelero's NVMesh server SAN software. SolidScale can function as a shared external array block target, made up from from clustered server nodes, or as a virtual SAN in a hyper-converged style configuration.

Sources close to both Micron and Excelero confirmed that Micron has invested a sum, thought to be in the single-digit millions area, in Excelero. Neither firm has officially confirmed.

Israel-based Excelero was founded in 2014 and has had a single £20m funding round in 2015. Assume Micron has put in $5m and that gets us to $24m. It gives Micron closer access to Excelero's software development, and a better ability to tune its SSD controller software to optimise SSD performance characteristics to suit that software.

For example, it might enable SSD garbage processing to be controlled by the Excelero software. It may also enable Excelero software to make better use of QLC (4 bits/cell) flash drives, which we understand Micron has in development. ®