Texas Memory Systems

Texas Memory Systems, Inc. (TMS) was a Houston-based American technology company that designed and manufactured high-performance solid-state storage systems and digital signal processing products. Founded in 1978 by Holly Frost, the company initially addressed the demanding data-processing requirements of seismic analysis in the oil and gas sector. Its first product, the CMPS, was a custom 16-kilobyte solid-state storage device developed for Gulf Oil. This early focus gave TMS a long association with specialized, extremely high-speed storage applications. During the 1980s, weakness in the oil and gas market led TMS to broaden its activities. The company developed the SAM, or Shared Attached Memory, family of storage enclosures, selling hundreds of systems—particularly to the United States Department of Defense. SAM systems used high-speed memory and specialized interfaces to capture and process signals in real time. TMS subsequently incorporated custom digital signal processing boards into the systems, allowing data to be stored, processed, and analyzed in one platform rather than being transferred repeatedly between separate storage and computing systems. This helped shift the SAM line’s identity from memory storage toward integrated DSP and signal-processing infrastructure. TMS also developed the XP family of PCI-based DSP products for single-host applications. Its custom TM-44 and TM-100 application-specific processors supported specialized workloads where predictable, low-latency computation was more important than general-purpose processing. The company continued to serve defense, aerospace, scientific, industrial, and other technically demanding customers while maintaining storage products for enterprise users. The company returned to commercial storage in the late 1990s and early 2000s. In 2000 it introduced the RamSan brand, initially based on high-speed DRAM storage with enterprise interfaces such as Fibre Channel. The RamSan-210, announced in 2001, offered a rack-mounted solid-state system designed for very high input/output rates and included mirrored disk backup, redundant power protection, and multiple Fibre Channel connections. Later models increased capacity, bandwidth, interface speed, availability features, and backup protection. TMS also produced larger configurations such as the Tera-RamSan and solutions designed to accelerate Oracle environments and other enterprise workloads. The RamSan portfolio later expanded from DRAM systems into flash-based storage. The RamSan-500, announced in 2007, used NAND flash as its main persistent medium with a large DRAM cache and RAID-protected, hot-swappable flash modules. This transition positioned TMS within the emerging enterprise flash-storage market and led to development of RamSan-OS, a proprietary platform for flash management and storage infrastructure control. In 2009, TMS acquired intellectual property and source code from Incipient, including storage-virtualization technology intended to support storage clustering, tiering, and migration capabilities. TMS announced in December 2011 that it was seeking a buyer amid consolidation in the enterprise solid-state storage sector. IBM announced a definitive agreement to acquire the company on August 16, 2012. The transaction closed on October 1, 2012. IBM integrated TMS employees, products, and services into its Systems and Technology Group and planned to incorporate TMS technology into storage, servers, software, and PureSystems offerings. The RamSan technology was subsequently rebranded and developed under IBM’s FlashSystem portfolio. Texas Memory Systems therefore ceased operating as an independent brand, but its engineering and product heritage became part of IBM’s enterprise flash-storage business.

Texas Memory Systems was established in Houston in 1978 by Holly Frost to serve seismic-processing requirements in the oil and gas industry. Its first known product was the CMPS, a custom 16-kilobyte solid-state storage device made for Gulf Oil. The company also introduced an early digital signal processor during its founding year, establishing the two technical areas—high-speed storage and signal processing—that shaped its subsequent development. In the late 1980s, TMS produced SAM-600 and SAM-800 Shared Attached Memory systems. These systems used DRAM for storage and high-speed ECL interfaces for real-time signal acquisition and analysis. They were sold largely to United States defense customers. As the oil and gas downturn reduced demand from its original market, TMS emphasized DSP capabilities and integrated custom processing boards into the SAM architecture. This allowed users to capture, store, process, and analyze signals in the same system. Later SAM products included the SAM-2000, SAM-300/350, SAM-450, and SAM-650. The SAM-300 was also used as a high-speed reference storage system for studying bottlenecks in networks and file systems. TMS developed the XP line for applications centered on a single host. XP-15, XP-30, XP-35, and XP-100 products placed custom TMS DSP technology on PCI cards. The XP-30 and XP-35 used the TM-44 processor, while the XP-100 used the TM-100 processor. In 2004, TMS partnered with StarGen to connect the SAM-650 DSP system to StarFabric switched interconnect technology for military and embedded applications. The company began rebuilding its commercial solid-state storage business around the RamSan name in 2000. The early RamSan-520 used DRAM and Fibre Channel interfaces. The RamSan-210, introduced in 2001, brought the technology to enterprise storage users with high I/O performance, mirrored disk protection, and redundant power systems. The RamSan-220, Tera-RamSan, RamSan-320, RamSan-330, RamSan-325, RamSan-120, RamSan-400, and RamSan-300 progressively expanded capacity, interface speeds, caching modes, availability features, and performance. These systems were aimed at database, financial, scientific, government, and other applications where storage latency was a critical constraint. TMS later moved toward flash storage. The RamSan-500, announced in 2007, combined NAND flash with DRAM caching and RAID-protected hot-swappable modules. It also initiated work on RamSan-OS, a proprietary flash-management and storage-infrastructure platform. In 2009, TMS obtained Incipient’s storage-virtualization source code and intellectual property, broadening its potential portfolio beyond individual high-speed storage appliances. On December 21, 2011, TMS announced that it was seeking an acquisition by a larger information-technology company. IBM announced a definitive agreement on August 16, 2012, and completed the transaction on October 1. IBM integrated TMS into its Systems and Technology Group and subsequently reissued the technology under the IBM FlashSystem name. The independent Texas Memory Systems brand was consequently discontinued, while its technology became part of IBM’s enterprise flash-storage portfolio.

• 2012

  Acquired by IBM

  [1]Texas Memory Systemsen.wikipedia.org

  IBM announced the acquisition on August 16 and completed it on October 1. TMS technology was later associated with IBM FlashSystem.

• 2009

  Incipient storage-virtualization technology acquired

  [1]Texas Memory Systemsen.wikipedia.org

  TMS acquired Incipient’s storage-virtualization intellectual property and source code.

• 2007

  RamSan-500 introduces flash-centered architecture

  [1]Texas Memory Systemsen.wikipedia.org

  The RamSan-500 used NAND flash as its primary storage medium with DRAM caching and RAID-protected flash modules.

• 2001

  RamSan-210 announced

  [1]Texas Memory Systemsen.wikipedia.org

  The RamSan-210 marked TMS’s formal entry into commercial enterprise storage, combining DRAM storage, Fibre Channel connectivity, disk mirroring, and redundant power protection.

• 2000

  RamSan brand begins

  [1]Texas Memory Systemsen.wikipedia.org

  TMS began developing a commercial solid-state storage line using standard enterprise interfaces, including Fibre Channel.

• 1988

  SAM storage systems enter defense applications

  [1]Texas Memory Systemsen.wikipedia.org

  TMS designed and sold SAM-600/800 Shared Attached Memory enclosures, many of which were used by the United States Department of Defense.

• 1978

  Company founded and first solid-state storage product introduced

  [1]Texas Memory Systemsen.wikipedia.org

  Holly Frost founded TMS in Houston, and the company developed the CMPS, a custom 16-kilobyte solid-state device for Gulf Oil.

Specialist provider of extremely low-latency storage and signal-processing systems for enterprise, government, defense, scientific, and industrial workloads.

• Shared-memory storage and digital signal processing systems · 1988

  SAM series

  The SAM, or Shared Attached Memory, family comprised high-speed storage enclosures for real-time signal acquisition and analysis. Early SAM systems used DRAM and specialized high-speed interfaces, while later versions incorporated custom TMS digital signal processing hardware. The line served defense, scientific, industrial, and embedded applications and included the SAM-600/800, SAM-2000, SAM-300/350, SAM-450, and SAM-650.

• PCI-based digital signal processing products

  XP series

  The XP family adapted TMS digital signal processing architecture for single-host systems through PCI cards. Models included the XP-15, XP-30, XP-35, and XP-100. The XP-30 and XP-35 used the TM-44 DSP, while the XP-100 used the TM-100 DSP; both processors were custom TMS ASIC designs.

• Enterprise solid-state storage systems · 2000

  RamSan series

  RamSan was TMS’s principal enterprise storage brand. Early systems used DRAM to deliver very low latency and high I/O rates, with Fibre Channel or InfiniBand connectivity and mechanisms such as mirrored disks, backup batteries, redundant power, and memory protection. Later systems introduced flash storage, DRAM caching, RAID-protected modules, and software for managing flash-based storage infrastructure.

• Large-scale DRAM solid-state storage system · 2003

  Tera-RamSan

  Tera-RamSan combined multiple RamSan-220 units into a large rack-scale solid-state storage configuration. It was designed for very high I/O workloads and provided centralized monitoring through Tera-RamSan at a Glance.

• 2012

  Accept IBM acquisitionM&A

  Background

  TMS had announced that it was seeking a larger technology-company partner during a period of consolidation among enterprise solid-state storage vendors.

  Action taken

  IBM agreed to acquire TMS in August 2012 and completed the transaction on October 1.

  Aftermath

  TMS employees, products, and services were integrated into IBM, and the RamSan technology was subsequently associated with IBM FlashSystem branding.

  Source

• 2009

  Acquire Incipient storage-virtualization intellectual propertyM&A

  Background

  TMS sought to extend its storage systems beyond hardware acceleration into virtualization, tiering, and migration functions.

  Action taken

  The company acquired Incipient’s source code and intellectual property but did not acquire Incipient as a corporate entity.

  Aftermath

  The technology could be used to cluster RamSan systems, support intelligent tiering, and simplify migration from disk-based storage.

  Source

• 2007

  Pivot from DRAM storage toward enterprise flashProduct launch

  Background

  The storage market was developing beyond purely DRAM-based solid-state systems, creating demand for persistent flash storage with enterprise reliability and performance.

  Action taken

  TMS launched the RamSan-500, using NAND flash as primary storage and DRAM as a cache, with RAID-protected, hot-swappable flash modules.

  Aftermath

  The product established the flash-oriented direction that led to RamSan-OS and later helped form the technical basis of IBM’s FlashSystem portfolio.

  Source

1. 1Texas Memory Systemsen.wikipedia.org