Netlist provides high-performance memory solutions to enterprise customers in diverse industries.
−Removed: Our products in various capacities and form factors and our line of custom and specialty memory products bring leading performance to customers in a variety of industries globally and cloud service providers.
−Removed: Netlist licenses its portfolio of intellectual property, including solutions relating to volatile memory, storage memory, and hybrid memory.
−Removed: The global high-performance memory module market is driven by increasing demand from data center and enterprise storage applications for improved input/output performance, lower latency, and increased redundant persistent data storage capacities.
+Added: Our products, in various capacities and form factors, including our line of custom and specialty memory products, bring leading performance to customers in a variety of industries globally.
+Added: Netlist also licenses its intellectual property.
+Added: The global high-performance memory market is driven by increasing demand from data center and enterprise storage applications for improved input/output performance, lower latency, and increased redundant persistent data storage capacities.
The proliferation of mobile devices, social media platforms, cognitive/artificial intelligence systems and cloud-based software applications has resulted in the accelerating creation and transmission of data.
To manage and analyze this data, we believe new memory and storage technologies need to be developed and implemented to satisfy the needs in the industry.
−Removed: Technical challenges arising from the production of dynamic random access memory integrated circuits (“DRAM ICs” or “DRAM”) is limiting the material's long-term viability as the high-speed memory of choice in demanding computing environments.
−Removed: Conversely, NAND flash memory (“NAND flash”), while characterized by lower access speeds, is scaling down in cost and scaling up in density at a significantly better rate than DRAM.
−Removed: This has led the industry to explore alternative computer architectures and new memory materials capable of bridging DRAM's superior access speed with NAND flash's lower cost and higher densities.
−Removed: We expect memory subsystems relying on intelligent controller technology to leverage NAND flash will most effectively address the industry's growing need for high-speed data management and analytics.
−Removed: Further, DRAM-based memory solutions are being developed to accommodate the industry’s need for significant memory bandwidth increases.
−Removed: These growing needs have led to the development and implementation of new DDR5 Dual Inline Memory Module (“DIMM”) technologies like power management on-module, as well as higher-capacity High Bandwidth Memory (“HBM”) components.
−Removed: As one example of a possible trend in developing technologies to support the newest DDR5 standard – and beyond – we expect continued focus on moving logic and management functionality away from host systems and onto memory modules themselves.
+Added: Technical challenges arising from the production of volatile dynamic random-access memory (“DRAM”) is limiting its long-term viability as the high-speed memory of choice in demanding computing environments.
+Added: Conversely, nonvolatile memory like NAND flash (“NAND flash”), while characterized by lower access speeds, is scaling down in cost and scaling up in density at a significantly better rate than DRAM.
+Added: This has led the industry to explore alternative computer architectures and new memory materials capable of bridging the superior access speed of volatile memory with nonvolatile memory’s lower cost and higher densities.
+Added: We expect memory subsystems relying on on-device intelligent controller technology to leverage the advantages of volatile and nonvolatile memory will most effectively address the industry's growing need for high-speed data management and analytics.
+Added: Further, other volatile memory solutions are being developed to accommodate the industry’s increasing need for bandwidth, such as the development of technologies pioneered by Netlist, like DDR5 Dual Inline Memory Module (“DIMM”) intelligent on-module power management, and high-capacity High Bandwidth Memory (“HBM”).
+Added: We expect continued industry focus on moving logic and management functionality away from host systems and onto – or into – memory itself.
Product Technologies
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Distributed Buffer Architecture
−Removed: We invented the distributed buffer architecture that enables the buffering of data signals along the bottom edge of a memory module using multiple data buffer devices distributed between the edge connector and the DRAM.
−Removed: The result was shorter data paths, improved signal integrity, and reduced latency compared to the industry-standard design for DDR3 load-reduced dual in-line memory module ("LRDIMM").
+Added: We invented the distributed buffer architecture that enables the buffering of data signals using multiple data buffer devices distributed between a memory module’s edge connector and its installed DRAM.
+Added: The result was shorter data paths, improved signal integrity, and reduced latency compared to the industry-standard design for DDR3 load-reduced dual in-line memory module ("LRDIMM").
The memory industry has widely adopted our distributed architecture for DDR4 LRDIMM.
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Localized Module-Based Power Management Architecture
−Removed: Early in our company’s history of research and development efforts, we developed innovative solutions for improving the performance of memory through the increased precision of voltage regulation.
−Removed: Netlist’s solution was to
−Removed: transfer the power management capabilities away from the host system and move them nearer to the components on the memory modules themselves.
−Removed: The result was improved granularity of system power loading, which could translate to improved functionality and higher data transfer speed.
−Removed: Relocating power management functionality onto modules also allows multiple distinct devices on a single module to receive power and operate harmoniously.
−Removed: While many in the memory industry have now adopted this approach for their DDR5-based DIMMs, our NVvault products incorporated this localized power management functionality long before.
+Added: Early in our company’s history of research and development efforts, we developed innovative solutions for improving memory performance by increasing the precision of voltage regulation.
+Added: Netlist rethought the way power management is handled for each memory module within a system, by moving power management capabilities away from the host system and onto the modules themselves.
+Added: The result was improved granularity of system power loading,
+Added: which could translate to improved efficiency and higher data transfer speed.
+Added: Relocating power management functionality onto modules allows multiple distinct devices on a single module to receive power and operate harmoniously.
+Added: While many in the memory industry have now adopted Netlist’s approach for their DDR5-based DIMMs, our NVvault products have incorporated localized power management for many years.
Design Expertise
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Compute Express Link Technology
−Removed: We are investing in new technologies like memory expansion applications that utilize Compute Express Link (“CXL”), which improves server capacity and bandwidth beyond what traditional memory channels can provide.
+Added: We are investing in new technologies like memory expansion utilizing Compute Express Link (“CXL”), which improves server capacity and bandwidth beyond what traditional memory channels can provide.
Traditional memory channel bandwidth and capacities can no longer keep up with host central processing unit needs.
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Customers are generally allowed limited rights of return for up to 30 days, except for sales of excess inventories, which contain no right-of-return privileges.
−Removed: Additionally, we offer warranties on our memory subsystems generally ranging from one to three years, depending on the product and negotiated terms of purchase orders from our customers.
+Added: Additionally, we offer warranties on our memory subsystems generally ranging from one to five years, depending on the product and negotiated terms of purchase orders from our customers.
These warranties require us to repair or replace defective products returned to us during such warranty period at no cost to the customer.
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We also supplement our test capabilities with advanced imaging technology to inspect the quality of our assemblies.
−Removed: We acquire components and materials, such as field-programmable gate arrays (“FPGAs”), ASICs, DRAM ICs and NAND flash, directly from integrated circuit manufacturers and assemble them into our finished subsystem products.
+Added: We acquire components and materials, such as field-programmable gate arrays (“FPGAs”), ASICs, DRAMs and NAND flash, directly from integrated circuit manufacturers and assemble them into our finished subsystem products.
We have developed supplier relationships with several manufacturers of these component products, and we typically qualify our memory subsystem products with our customers using multiple component manufacturers.
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Our supplier quality program and incoming material quality control program are important aspects of our manufacturing and sale processes.
−Removed: As of December 31, 2022, we had over 100 patents, which have various terms expiring through 2041.
+Added: As of December 30, 2023, we had over 100 patents.
Our issued patents cover various aspects of our innovations and include various claim scopes and, as a result, we believe our business is not materially dependent on any one claim in any of our existing patents or pending patent applications.
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Information about us is available at our website, www.netlist.com, to which we regularly post copies of our press releases as well as additional information about us.
−Removed: Our filings are available free of charge on our website as soon as reasonably practicable after they are electronically filed with, or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), including our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, proxy and information statements and amendments to these reports or statements.
−Removed: All SEC filings are also available at the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.
+Added: Our filings are available free of charge on our website as soon as reasonably practicable after they are electronically filed with, or furnished to, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), including our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, proxy and information statements and amendments to these reports or statements filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”).
+Added: The SEC maintains an internet site that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC at www.sec.gov.
Our website also contains copies of our corporate governance guidelines, code of business conduct and ethics, insider trading policy and whistleblower policy.
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Compared sentence by sentence after normalising whitespace, quotation marks, case and digits, so re-formatting and restated figures do not read as changed language. Wording changes appear as one removal and one addition. The current filing and the prior one are authoritative.