The M.2 form factor has undoubtedly been a staple in the PC industry for many years, but like all technological innovations, something better and even smaller is bound to come along and replace it. A replacement that, by the way, may come in the form of the JEDEC Solid State technology Association’s new Crossover Flash Memory or XFM for short.
As per the body’s official press statement, the company has announced the publication of its JESD233: XFM Embedded and Removable Memory Device (XFMD) standard and its function as a new “universal data storage media”, aimed at providing NVMe over the PCIe interface, but in a smaller and thinner form factor. Specifically, we’re talking about a component that is about the size of a microSD card.
Simply put, the new XFMD standard will still use the NVMe logical interface but with just one or two lanes of the interface. However, because the memory standard will use PCIe Gen4, this means that the new standard will maintain those super-fast transfer speeds, warranted by the interface.
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Because of its size and versatility, JEDEC says that the applications for XFMD can be used on a list of already existing technologies, including IoT devices, automotive applications, notebook PCs, gaming consoles, and video surveillance devices, to name a few.
However, it should be pointed out that while XFMD may potentially be a game changer in the world of storage, its use of the PCIe interface means that it will draw more power than current UFS solutions. Despite that, brands including Kioxia and MediaTek have voiced their support for the new technology.
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