Virident is developing a new class of server-based technology built around flash memory. Last year, the company signed a deal with Spansion Inc. under which Virident would use Spansion's NOR-based EcoRAM technology for its GreenGateway product. GreenGateway from Virident is a building block that promises to boost the performance of servers in the data center, while reducing energy consumption.

Raj Parekh, president and CEO of Virident, said that the company will continue to work with Spansion despite issues with the chip maker. As reported, Spansion recently filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, thereby leaving its future in limbo.

Now, Virident is also working with Spansion's rival, Numonyx, a joint flash memory venture between Intel Corp. and STMicroelectronics Inc. ''We are expanding (our chip vendor roster) with Numonyx,'' Parekh said. The idea is to work with ''multiple memory technologies.''

Numonyx (Geneva) will design and supply flash devices to Virident based on both its current and future flash memory and phase-change memory (PCM) products. Virident will integrate its GreenGateway with Numonyx' memory solutions. Numonyx' products will also be used for Virident's upcoming GreenCloud servers for Internet data centers and cloud applications.

GreenCloud servers are said to be turnkey systems for the data center, although Virident has yet to officially announce the product. GreenCloud servers are based on GreenGateway technology, which delivers ''in-memory'' computing at low latency and power.

GreenGateway is not a computer platform, but rather a set of specialized ''firmware and software'' based on flash memory. All told, the technology is designed to solve the energy consumption crisis in data centers.

GreenGateway fits inside a third-party server for the data center. The technology is said to support the search, streaming and other functions, which were previously handled by traditional DRAM.

Data center computers will still require DRAM. But with GreenGateway, the DRAM will handle more of the mundane operating-system execution functions within the servers, thereby reducing power consumption.

Servers with standalone DRAM require multiple refresh cycles, which boosts the power consumption in a system. Virident's technology lowers the power consumption, because it makes use of nonvolatile memory.

For example, when combined with Virident's new GreenGateway technology, Spanion's EcoRAM is said to slash energy consumption by up to 75 percent in data center servers.

It is expected that Numonyx' devices will produce a similar result. Virident server products based on Numonyx memories are expected to be in market beginning in the second half of 2009.

''Numonyx is suited as a partner to provide industry leading enterprise-class flash and PCM memory technologies in the coming years. These will help us create a new approach to industry standard servers,'' Parekh said. Founded in 2006 by Silicon Valley veterans from Sun, Cisco, SGI, Google and Intel, Virident is headquartered in Milpitas, Calif.