Glossary Term: Non-Volatile Memory Express [NVMe]

Computer storage peripheral based Non-Volatile Memory (Flash Memory). NVMe is similar to Solid State Drives without the storage data path protocols such as SCSI or SAS but connects directly to the computer PCI bus. This direct computer connection reduces the overhead of drive access protocols and data paths greatly increasing the IO performance.

The current form factors for NVMe drives are:

• Cards plugged directly onto the PCI bus and look like a typical expansion card
• Smaller cards which use the M.2 interface
• Standard 2.5″ disk drive form factors, similar to SSD SATA drives which use the U.2 interface