Toshiba Memory America today announced XFMEXPRESS, a new technology for removable PCIe attached, NVMe memory devices.

With a new form factor and connector, the XFMEXPRESS technology delivers acombination of features designed to revolutionize ultra-mobile PCs, IoT devices and various embedded applications.

Putting serviceability front and center, XFMEXPRESS technology enables a new category of small memory devices and SSDs that are easy to service or upgrade, by pairing a compact package with removable memory functionality.

The XFMEXPRESS form factor’s size and low profile (14mm x 18mm x 1.4mm) offers a 252mm2 footprint, optimizing the mounting space for ultra-compact host devices without sacrificing performance or serviceability. With this minimized z-height, the XFMEXPRESS form factor is designed for thin and light notebooks and creates new design possibilities for next-generation applications and systems.

The XFMEXPRESS card mounts into a latching socket that increases the footprint up to 22.2x17.75x2.2mm. For comparison, the standard sizes for BGA SSDs are 11.5x13mm with a PCIe x2 interface or 16x20mm with a PCIe x4 interface.

XFMEXPRESS is not intended to be used as an externally-accessible slot like SD cards; swapping out an XFMEXPRESS SSD will require opening up the case of the device it's installed in, though unlike M.2 SSDs the XFMEXPRESS socket and retention mechanism itself is tool-less.

The XFMEXPRESS technology implements a PCIe 3.0, NVMe 1.3 interface with 4 lanes (4L), supporting theoretical bandwidth up to 4 gigabytes per second (GB/s) in each direction, and up to 8GB/s in each direction.

The technology is both PCIe 3.0 and 4.0 capable, can be configured with 2L to 4L, and is designed to deploy current and future 3D flash memory sizes, ensuring products using the XFMEXPRESS form factor can scale with the market.

“Innovation like this is only made possible by redefining storage technology itself,” said Jeremy Werner, senior vice president and general manager, SSD Business Unit, Toshiba Memory America, Inc. “From the PCB design to the connector, no other solution comes close to the combined size, speed, and serviceability of XFMEXPRESS technology. Toshiba Memory is excited to introduce this revolutionary new form factor to the market and enhance next-generation applications.”

Toshiba Memory demonstrates an XFMEXPRESS solution live at Flash Memory Summit, August 6 – 8.