Memory allocation in embedded systems is one of the main challenges that electronic designers have to face. This part, rather difficult to handle is often left to the compiler with which automatic rules are applied. Nevertheless, an optimal allocation of data to memory banks may lead to great savings in terms of running time and energy consumption. This paper introduces an exact approach and a vns-based metaheuristic for addressing a memory allocation problem. Numerical experiments have been conducted on real instances from the electronic community and on dimacs instances expanded for our specific problem.