PRESS RELEASE

Blunk Microsystems Releases TargetFFS-NAND, Embedded Flash File System

San Jose, CA (January 16, 2003) Blunk Microsystems, a leading independent developer of turnkey software components for embedded devices, has extended its flash file system coverage to both NAND and NOR devices by announcing today the general availability of TargetFFS-NAND, an embedded flash file system specifically designed for NAND flash memory.

TargetFFS-NAND provides a standard API consisting of the file related calls from POSIX and Standard C. This familiar API allows quick porting of legacy applications. Not a static ROM-image file system, TargetFFS-NAND supports dynamic creation and deletion of files, directories, and links with full read and write capability, just as with hard disk-based file systems. The fact that flash memory is used for the backing store is hidden from the application.

The hard problems of using NAND flash (wear fatigue, bad blocks, and bit errors) are solved by TargetFFS-NAND. Wear-leveling is performed to prevent premature device failure; erase cycles are spread evenly across all erasable blocks. Bad block detection and recovery are performed automatically without user intervention. A fast and efficient error correction code (ECC) is used to ensure data integrity in the presence of NAND flash bit errors.

Because TargetFFS-NAND is a monolithic NAND flash file system, it is able to provide the unique feature of guaranteed power fail recovery. Designs that use a FAT file system over a flash translation layer (FTL) have proven unreliable in the presence of an unexpected reset or power loss. With TargetFFS-NAND, only data written since the last synchronizing operation (fclose(), fflush(), etc.) can be lost. Closed files, directory structures, and files open for reading are never at risk.

TargetFFS-NAND's device driver interface is not much more than the basic NAND device commands: read page, write page, and erase block. A sample driver is provided which is easily ported to custom interfaces. Drivers may use either the software ECC routines provided by TargetFFS-NAND or hardware implementations, if present.

Flash volumes are unlimited in size and multiple volumes may be used concurrently. TargetFFS-NAND provides access protection for files and directories at the "self", "group", and "other" levels, supporting applications that allow file manipulation by naive or potentially malicious users.

TargetFFS-NAND is re-entrant. It was developed using Blunk Microsystems' TargetOS, but can be easily ported to another RTOS or used without an RTOS. Recent ports include VxWorks and Nucleus. The source code is 100% ANSI C.

TargetFFS-NAND has recently completed beta testing with a major customer whose requirements included automated power loss recovery tests, more than 1,700 files and directories on a 64MB volume, and a sub two-second mount time. TargetFFS-NAND is ready now for your applications which require a rugged, reliable NAND flash file system.

About Blunk Microsystems

Blunk Microsystems provides a broad spectrum of system software designed for embedded development including an RTOS, stacks, web server, flash file system, device drivers, and board support packages. Blunk's products are available for off-the-shelf reference boards or can be ported to the customer's platform. Products are implemented in tight, clean code to be fast, small, reliable, and portable. Licensing includes source code and royalty free distribution of executables. TargetFFS-NAND is priced at $15,000 for creating products at a single site. See www.blunkmicro.com for additional information or call (408)323-1758.