Arraid’s UK Subsidiary “SSDL” have been awarded a NATO Contract to Supply Solid-State Drives for AWACS Removable Media Assemblies.

Reading, United Kingdom –Solid State Disks Ltd (SSDL) and Arraid LLC, advanced storage systems design, development and integration specialists, have been invited to exhibit on the UK Pavilion stand at the International Air and Space Fair (FIDAE), in Santiago, Chile, between 9th and 14th April.

FIDAE is Latin America’s oldest and most widely recognized aerospace, defence and security exhibition. This year’s event will be a multi-sectorial event covering the following areas: civil and commercial aviation, defence, airport equipment and services, homeland security, aircraft maintenance and space technology.

“We’re delighted to have been invited to exhibit at this year’s FIDAE,” comments James Hilken, SSDL’s and Arraid’s Sales & Marketing Director. “Within many of the sectors the event covers, equipment is used that was designed decades ago and uses legacy data storage devices, such as early generation SCSI, IDE (PATA) hard disk and tape drives and even ESDI, Shugart, and IDC floppy disk drives. With their moving parts, these drives are starting to fail.”

Hilken goes on to say that users are discovering to their dismay that spare drives purchased when the host system was new are failing as soon as they are powered up. “These drives are meant to be regular use otherwise you get problems. In the case of a still-boxed hard disk drive that’s been sat in stores for decades, the heads will have dropped and now be in contact with the disk’s surface. Spinning it strips the surface of its magnetic material.”

SSDL and Arraid will be using FIDAE to showcase and discuss its solid-state, swap-in replacements for electromechanical drives. Being solid-state they have no moving parts, are high reliability, draw less power and are quieter. Moreover, security is improved and more can be done with solid-state drives, such as networking and memory management.

SSDL and Arraid’s invitation to exhibit at FIDAE was received at about the same time the company officially launched its SCSIFlash-Fast™ drive at Southern Manufacturing & Electronics in Farnborough, United Kingdom; a product launch that received much interest from (and coverage in) the technical trade press.

SSDL and Arraid have also been invited to an evening reception before FIDAE starts that will be hosted by Louise de Sousa, His Majesty’s Ambassador (HMA) to Chile. In attendance will be other exhibitors, leading members of the armed forces and VIPS in the region.

About SSDL

Established in 1989, Solid State Disks Ltd (SSDL) is the industrial division of the Reactive Group of companies and specialises in the design, development and integration of advanced storage systems for mil/aero, commercial and industrial applications as well as the distribution of solid-state Flash memory and DRAM technologies.

Arraid is a privately held Arizona, USA corporation, and forms part of the Reactive Group of companies. Reactive Group has its headquarters in the United Kingdom but operates worldwide specialising in the design, development and integration of advanced storage systems for mil/aero, commercial and industrial applications as well as the distribution of solid state flash memory technologies.

www.reactive-group.com

Southern Manufacturing & Electronics, Farnborough, United Kingdom – Solid State Disks Ltd. (SSDL), a leading manufacturer of solid-state-drives (SSDs) and a value-added reseller (VAR) of latest-technology Flash and DRAM solutions, has launched SCSIFlash-Fast™, a swap-in upgrade/replacement for electromechanical hard disk drives (HDDs) that use the SCSI interface.

Initially available with 68- and 80-pin connectors and write speeds of up to 80MB/s, SCSIFlash-Fast™ uses proven SCSI drive architecture and industrial CFast or M.2 SSD memory (with storage capacities ranging from 2GB to 1TB). The drive features configurable hardware, allowing the OEMs of (or those responsible for maintaining) legacy systems to replace or upgrade obsolete HDDs that were made in the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s, and improve system reliability and security.

James Hilken, SSDL’s Sales & Marketing Director, says: “There are several computer-based systems in use within aerospace, defence, manufacturing, medical, telecommunications and other sectors that were designed decades ago and were fitted with then state-of-the-art SCSI hard disk drives. With their moving parts, these long-obsolete drives are increasingly failing. Our SCSIFlash-Fast drive is a highly reliable swap-in replacement for virtually any SCSI hard disk drive that’s more than 20 years old.”

SCSIFlash-Fast™ is configured to order and can replicate the exact behaviour of the SCSI HDD it replaces, meaning no modifications need to be made to the host system; which in many cases must not be modified (i.e. its functionality has been certified) or it is simply not cost-effective to do so. With SSDL’s SCSIFlash-Fast™, the SCSI version is set to that of the host system (SASI, SCSI-1, SCSI-2 or Ultra3) and the disk sector size is set to 256, 512, 768, 1024, 2048 or 4096. Other configurations can also be applied, including the preloading of data.

“We have made it possible to remove an old-tech SCSI drive and insert a SCSIFlash-Fast and the host system will not detect the difference,” adds Hilken. “Also, because ours is a solid-state drive it is far more reliable than the drive it replaces, is more secure, draws less power and is quieter. It can also be networked, thanks to an optional Ethernet port, which means it can be accessed remotely for backs ups and system reboots, for example.”

Other SCSIFlash-Fast™ features include its ability to automatically detect 16- or 8-bit data operation, as well as single-ended (SE) and low voltage different (LVD) signalling. Also, more than one SCSI address and logical unit number (LUN) can be supported by a single unit, and its microcode is field upgradable via USB.

SCSIFlash-Fast™ requires a 5VDC supply and will consume just 0.8W (plus whatever power the storage media draws, which will vary depending on memory type). The form factor is an industry-standard 3.5” disk drive (102 x 147 x 25mm (W x L x H)).

SCSIFlash-Fast™ is available immediately and detailed datasheets of the two launch drives can be viewed and downloaded from www.solidstatedisks.com/legacy-tapes-drives.

Available with 68- (left) and 80-pin (right) connectors, Solid State Disks Ltd.’s SCSIFlash-Fast™ drive can replicate the exact behaviour of virtually any SCSI hard disk drive, thus restoring the reliability of (and user confidence in) computer-based systems design decades ago, still relied on today and which must provide several more years of service.

Media contacts:

James Hilken, Sales Director, Solid State Disks

Tel: +44 (0) 1189 323499. Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amanda Warrilow, Communications Officer

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Tel: +44 (0)1522 789000