FMS 2025: Honoring Jim Pappas, Driving AI Innovation
I still remember walking through the bustling electronics markets of Tokyo and Hong Kong with Jim Pappas, marveling at the incredible diversity of devices and form factors surrounding us. As my manager early in my Intel career, Jim had a unique way of opening my eyes to the bigger picture—showing how the foundational work we were doing in semiconductor and standards development was sparking creativity and innovation across the globe.
This week, as the Future of Memory and Storage (FMS) conference concluded in Santa Clara, I was thrilled to see Jim receive the event’s most prestigious recognition—the 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award. As someone who witnessed firsthand his passion for the vibrant innovation that happens through standards delivery of technology, watching the industry honor his decades of foundational contributions felt like a full-circle moment.
Jim has had a tremendous impact on the industry throughout the trajectory of his career. Just imagine a world without a USB standard for a second...or without PCI and all its variants. These technologies that Jim and his collaborators helped define have formed a foundation for compute innovation. I was recently at a Tech Field Day event where I listened to the delegates sharing their Jim Pappas stories, how each of them had been impacted by his leadership over the years. One thing I was lucky enough to know is that beyond his technical brilliance, Jim’s approach to management was transformational. For me personally, he enabled me to take risks, provided incredible autonomy, and helped accelerate my career and set me up for success. To FMS: Well done on this recognition. To Jim: thanks for all that you did to propel a young Allyson forward. Your impact informs my work every day.
AI Takes Center Stage at FMS 2025
The conference that honored Jim’s legacy also marked a pivotal moment for the memory and storage industry, as AI dominated the conversations in Santa Clara. In fact, FMS 2025 featured AI in more than 60% of its keynote presentations and expert panel sessions—a clear signal that AI workloads are fundamentally reshaping the entire storage industry.
“Artificial intelligence is no longer just part of the conversation—it is the conversation,” said Tom Coughlin, Conference Chair of FMS. The three-day event brought together industry leaders to explore how innovations in DRAM, NAND, CXL, and computational storage are revolutionizing AI inference and training at scale.
Honoring Three Decades of Standards Leadership
Jim Pappas’s recognition with the Lifetime Achievement Award represents more than individual accomplishment—it celebrates the foundational standards work that enables the entire industry to thrive. His journey began in 1991 with establishing the PCI-SIG and PCI standard, work that later evolved into defining the PCI Express (PCI-e) standard that remains foundational to computing platforms today.
After joining Intel in 1994, Jim collaborated with seven companies—including IBM and Microsoft—to create the hugely successful USB standard. His recent contributions include launching SNIA’s Persistent Memory Technology Initiative, chairing the Compute Express Link (CXL) Consortium, driving formation of Universal Chiplet Interface Express (UCIe), and serving as President of Ultra Accelerator Link (UAL) for AI scale-up architectures.
“For over 30 years, Jim Pappas has played a pivotal role in creating a number of the most important standards and industry organizations which have been critical in the dramatic growth of the memory and storage industries,” Coughlin noted during the award presentation.
Having worked directly with Jim, I can attest that his influence extends far beyond technical standards. He understands that true innovation happens through collaboration and ecosystem building—principles that shaped not just technologies like USB and PCI, but entire generations of technologists who learned from his example.
Record-Breaking Innovation Recognition
FMS 2025 concluded with the presentation of its Best of Show Awards, with the program receiving a record-breaking number of nominations in its 19th year. The awards showcased the breadth of innovation across memory and storage technologies, particularly highlighting solutions addressing AI infrastructure challenges.
Celebrating Women in Technology
AMD’s Rita Gupta earned the 2025 SuperWomen of FMS Award, sponsored by Hammerspace and Pure Storage. As a Fellow in AMD’s Server System Architecture team and CXL End-End Architect, Gupta leads advanced CXL memory system architectures for current and next-generation EPYC platforms including Genoa, Turin, and Venice.
Her impact extends beyond AMD as co-chair of the CXL Consortium Memory Systems Workgroup, where she’s helped shape industry standards by authoring JEDEC CMC01 and JESD325 specifications and contributing significantly to CXL 2.0 and 3.0 development. Gupta’s work exemplifies the collaborative, standards-driven approach that Jim Pappas championed throughout his career.
Innovation Across the Storage Spectrum
The Best of Show Awards highlighted breakthrough innovations across multiple categories:
- Pure Storage earned recognition with DirectFlash QLC winning the Most Innovative Hyperscaler Implementation award, showcasing leadership in enterprise flash storage optimized for large-scale deployments. The technology represents a significant advancement in QLC NAND deployment for enterprise workloads requiring massive capacity and cost efficiency.
- Solidigm won the Most Innovative Technology award for its Liquid Cooled Hot Swappable NVMe SSD in the SSD Technology category, addressing critical thermal management challenges in high-performance AI and HPC environments. This innovation enables continuous operation at peak performance levels while maintaining system reliability through advanced cooling integration.
- VAST Data secured the Most Innovative Artificial Intelligence (AI) Application award for its collaboration with the NHL® in the Media and Entertainment Solution category, highlighting the intersection of AI and entertainment technology. The platform demonstrates how AI-driven storage solutions can transform real-time sports analytics and fan engagement experiences.
- Verge.IO claimed the Most Innovative Startup Company award for VergeIQ in the Virtualization IT Infrastructure category, demonstrating the continued evolution of virtualized infrastructure solutions. Their platform showcases how next-generation virtualization can simplify data center operations while reducing infrastructure complexity.
Additional notable winners included Micron for 1-Gamma Node LPDDR5X LPDRAM, Samsung for PM1763 16-Channel PCIe Gen6 SSD, KIOXIA for LC9 Series 245.76 TB SSD with BiCS FLASH generation 8 Memory, and Western Digital for Advanced Rare Earth Material Capture Program.
Standards as Innovation Enablers
A significant theme throughout FMS 2025 was the critical role of industry standards in enabling the AI revolution. Multiple awards recognized standards organizations, including the CXL Consortium for CXL 3.X Specifications, UALink Consortium for UALink 200G 1.0 Specification, and various SNIA technical work groups.
These standards ensure interoperability and scalability as the industry races to meet exponentially growing AI workload demands. The emphasis on standardization reflects industry maturation and recognition that collaborative approaches—the kind Jim pioneered with USB and PCI—remain essential for addressing complex technical challenges.
The TechArena Take
As FMS 2025 concluded, it became clear that the memory and storage industry has firmly embraced its role as a foundation for the AI revolution. The convergence of advanced memory technologies, innovative storage architectures, and industry-wide standardization efforts positions the sector for continued rapid growth as delivery of data across an AI pipeline becomes pervasively critical to organizations.
The record-breaking attendance and award nominations demonstrate the vitality and innovation driving the industry forward. With AI workloads continuing to evolve and scale, the memory and storage ecosystem will remain at the forefront of enabling next-generation computing capabilities.
Reflecting on Jim Pappas’ recognition and the broader innovations showcased at FMS 2025, I’m reminded of those walks through Tokyo electronics markets years ago. Jim’s vision of how foundational standards could spark global creativity and innovation has proven remarkably prescient. Today’s AI revolution builds directly on the collaborative, standards-driven approaches he championed—USB ports powering development workstations, PCI Express connecting GPUs and accelerators, and newer standards like CXL enabling the memory architectures that make modern AI possible. With so much grappling on how standards keep pace for AI innovation, I think its prescient to remember how we all benefit from this collaborative innovation and not be swayed by a need for stovepiped custom designs for bespoke deployments.
My final takeaway is how memory and storage are climbing into the center of the AI conversation. Without innovation in this space, costly GPUs can spend time in idle waiting for data delivery and costing organizations wasted cycles and opportunity. FMS is part of this solution. As Coughlin noted, “FMS is the place where the entire ecosystem meets to solve these challenges head-on.” The 2025 event proved that this industry, built on foundations laid by pioneers like Jim Pappas, continues to rise and meet each new technological moment with collaborative innovation and unflinching determination.
I still remember walking through the bustling electronics markets of Tokyo and Hong Kong with Jim Pappas, marveling at the incredible diversity of devices and form factors surrounding us. As my manager early in my Intel career, Jim had a unique way of opening my eyes to the bigger picture—showing how the foundational work we were doing in semiconductor and standards development was sparking creativity and innovation across the globe.
This week, as the Future of Memory and Storage (FMS) conference concluded in Santa Clara, I was thrilled to see Jim receive the event’s most prestigious recognition—the 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award. As someone who witnessed firsthand his passion for the vibrant innovation that happens through standards delivery of technology, watching the industry honor his decades of foundational contributions felt like a full-circle moment.
Jim has had a tremendous impact on the industry throughout the trajectory of his career. Just imagine a world without a USB standard for a second...or without PCI and all its variants. These technologies that Jim and his collaborators helped define have formed a foundation for compute innovation. I was recently at a Tech Field Day event where I listened to the delegates sharing their Jim Pappas stories, how each of them had been impacted by his leadership over the years. One thing I was lucky enough to know is that beyond his technical brilliance, Jim’s approach to management was transformational. For me personally, he enabled me to take risks, provided incredible autonomy, and helped accelerate my career and set me up for success. To FMS: Well done on this recognition. To Jim: thanks for all that you did to propel a young Allyson forward. Your impact informs my work every day.
AI Takes Center Stage at FMS 2025
The conference that honored Jim’s legacy also marked a pivotal moment for the memory and storage industry, as AI dominated the conversations in Santa Clara. In fact, FMS 2025 featured AI in more than 60% of its keynote presentations and expert panel sessions—a clear signal that AI workloads are fundamentally reshaping the entire storage industry.
“Artificial intelligence is no longer just part of the conversation—it is the conversation,” said Tom Coughlin, Conference Chair of FMS. The three-day event brought together industry leaders to explore how innovations in DRAM, NAND, CXL, and computational storage are revolutionizing AI inference and training at scale.
Honoring Three Decades of Standards Leadership
Jim Pappas’s recognition with the Lifetime Achievement Award represents more than individual accomplishment—it celebrates the foundational standards work that enables the entire industry to thrive. His journey began in 1991 with establishing the PCI-SIG and PCI standard, work that later evolved into defining the PCI Express (PCI-e) standard that remains foundational to computing platforms today.
After joining Intel in 1994, Jim collaborated with seven companies—including IBM and Microsoft—to create the hugely successful USB standard. His recent contributions include launching SNIA’s Persistent Memory Technology Initiative, chairing the Compute Express Link (CXL) Consortium, driving formation of Universal Chiplet Interface Express (UCIe), and serving as President of Ultra Accelerator Link (UAL) for AI scale-up architectures.
“For over 30 years, Jim Pappas has played a pivotal role in creating a number of the most important standards and industry organizations which have been critical in the dramatic growth of the memory and storage industries,” Coughlin noted during the award presentation.
Having worked directly with Jim, I can attest that his influence extends far beyond technical standards. He understands that true innovation happens through collaboration and ecosystem building—principles that shaped not just technologies like USB and PCI, but entire generations of technologists who learned from his example.
Record-Breaking Innovation Recognition
FMS 2025 concluded with the presentation of its Best of Show Awards, with the program receiving a record-breaking number of nominations in its 19th year. The awards showcased the breadth of innovation across memory and storage technologies, particularly highlighting solutions addressing AI infrastructure challenges.
Celebrating Women in Technology
AMD’s Rita Gupta earned the 2025 SuperWomen of FMS Award, sponsored by Hammerspace and Pure Storage. As a Fellow in AMD’s Server System Architecture team and CXL End-End Architect, Gupta leads advanced CXL memory system architectures for current and next-generation EPYC platforms including Genoa, Turin, and Venice.
Her impact extends beyond AMD as co-chair of the CXL Consortium Memory Systems Workgroup, where she’s helped shape industry standards by authoring JEDEC CMC01 and JESD325 specifications and contributing significantly to CXL 2.0 and 3.0 development. Gupta’s work exemplifies the collaborative, standards-driven approach that Jim Pappas championed throughout his career.
Innovation Across the Storage Spectrum
The Best of Show Awards highlighted breakthrough innovations across multiple categories:
- Pure Storage earned recognition with DirectFlash QLC winning the Most Innovative Hyperscaler Implementation award, showcasing leadership in enterprise flash storage optimized for large-scale deployments. The technology represents a significant advancement in QLC NAND deployment for enterprise workloads requiring massive capacity and cost efficiency.
- Solidigm won the Most Innovative Technology award for its Liquid Cooled Hot Swappable NVMe SSD in the SSD Technology category, addressing critical thermal management challenges in high-performance AI and HPC environments. This innovation enables continuous operation at peak performance levels while maintaining system reliability through advanced cooling integration.
- VAST Data secured the Most Innovative Artificial Intelligence (AI) Application award for its collaboration with the NHL® in the Media and Entertainment Solution category, highlighting the intersection of AI and entertainment technology. The platform demonstrates how AI-driven storage solutions can transform real-time sports analytics and fan engagement experiences.
- Verge.IO claimed the Most Innovative Startup Company award for VergeIQ in the Virtualization IT Infrastructure category, demonstrating the continued evolution of virtualized infrastructure solutions. Their platform showcases how next-generation virtualization can simplify data center operations while reducing infrastructure complexity.
Additional notable winners included Micron for 1-Gamma Node LPDDR5X LPDRAM, Samsung for PM1763 16-Channel PCIe Gen6 SSD, KIOXIA for LC9 Series 245.76 TB SSD with BiCS FLASH generation 8 Memory, and Western Digital for Advanced Rare Earth Material Capture Program.
Standards as Innovation Enablers
A significant theme throughout FMS 2025 was the critical role of industry standards in enabling the AI revolution. Multiple awards recognized standards organizations, including the CXL Consortium for CXL 3.X Specifications, UALink Consortium for UALink 200G 1.0 Specification, and various SNIA technical work groups.
These standards ensure interoperability and scalability as the industry races to meet exponentially growing AI workload demands. The emphasis on standardization reflects industry maturation and recognition that collaborative approaches—the kind Jim pioneered with USB and PCI—remain essential for addressing complex technical challenges.
The TechArena Take
As FMS 2025 concluded, it became clear that the memory and storage industry has firmly embraced its role as a foundation for the AI revolution. The convergence of advanced memory technologies, innovative storage architectures, and industry-wide standardization efforts positions the sector for continued rapid growth as delivery of data across an AI pipeline becomes pervasively critical to organizations.
The record-breaking attendance and award nominations demonstrate the vitality and innovation driving the industry forward. With AI workloads continuing to evolve and scale, the memory and storage ecosystem will remain at the forefront of enabling next-generation computing capabilities.
Reflecting on Jim Pappas’ recognition and the broader innovations showcased at FMS 2025, I’m reminded of those walks through Tokyo electronics markets years ago. Jim’s vision of how foundational standards could spark global creativity and innovation has proven remarkably prescient. Today’s AI revolution builds directly on the collaborative, standards-driven approaches he championed—USB ports powering development workstations, PCI Express connecting GPUs and accelerators, and newer standards like CXL enabling the memory architectures that make modern AI possible. With so much grappling on how standards keep pace for AI innovation, I think its prescient to remember how we all benefit from this collaborative innovation and not be swayed by a need for stovepiped custom designs for bespoke deployments.
My final takeaway is how memory and storage are climbing into the center of the AI conversation. Without innovation in this space, costly GPUs can spend time in idle waiting for data delivery and costing organizations wasted cycles and opportunity. FMS is part of this solution. As Coughlin noted, “FMS is the place where the entire ecosystem meets to solve these challenges head-on.” The 2025 event proved that this industry, built on foundations laid by pioneers like Jim Pappas, continues to rise and meet each new technological moment with collaborative innovation and unflinching determination.
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