Phison may not be a household name but that does not mean they are newcomers to the solid state storage industry. Rather they are a company that has been around for a long time but only recently decided to divert their focus from the OEM market. Up until their PS3108 controller, Phison were best known for either being the being the first company to be able to offer OEMs a single-chip USB flash drive IC, or being one of the founders of the Open NAND Flash Interface (ONFI) group.

What few consumers realize is that since their founding in late 2000 Phison has shipped over half a billion NAND flash controllers. Needless to say they may not have name brand recognition in the consumer marketplace, but they are a highly respected company behind the scenes.

Unlike competitors like Indilinx or Marvel, Phison's first generation SATA AHCI NAND flash controller was a touch underwhelming and never gained much traction outside the extreme value end of the spectrum. Considering the experience and patent portfolio of Phison such a misstep must have been very irksome to them. This is why they went back to the drawing board and started with a completely fresh approach to controller design. The end result of their hard work is the new PS3110 controller.