Solid State Storage
Over the last couple of years the cost of flash memory has fallen dramatically enabling it to now be used for mass storage and replacing the need for traditional mechanical storage devices such as tape drives, hard disks or optical storage devices.
In addition to the low cost of memory it also has a number of other advantages over other storage media. The most obvious is that it uses no mechanical or moving parts in the process, storing or retrieving information. Other technologies such as DVD's, hard disks and tape all have moving components, something that makes them much less reliable and physically larger. In addition, it is difficult to install moving media in a vehicle, and hard disc life time is generally limited to a small number of years. NAND Flash overcomes all of these limitations.
Product Showcase – The DDS XM100
 Expandable Capacity |
We developed the DDS-XM100 to be a modern, solid-state data storage unit designed to replace out-dated magnetic tape systems such as those used within legacy telephony switching systems. The unit is designed to be 'plug and play' replacement for existing tape units and provides a range of connection interfaces including SCSI.
To provide a storage capacity of up to 48GB (or 96GB in RAID formation) the unit uses up to three custom designed memory modules. These modules use standard NAND flash chips and are stackable enabling a wide range of storage capacities. These NAND Flash modules and the DDS controller hardware could now be used in a range of new storage solutions.
The original DDS units were developed specifically for NEC NZ and Telecom NZ and used 3rd party external flash media such as xD or SD cards to provide the solid state storage. These cards are still used by the current DDS-XM100 unit but only for external storage and archiving. The DDS is prime example of how solid state memory can be used to provide a high capacity storage solution.
