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Category: Memory
Finalist: SiliconDrive II Blade SSD (SiliconSystems)
 In the past, OEM embedded-systems designers have been forced to choose from hard drives and PC Cards, CF, SD and MMC cards that were originally designed for consumer applications and not rugged enough for the long-term embedded system deployments. So designers have had to make a value judgment:
1. Use an environmentally inferior removable, upgradeable storage solution that requires a mounting solution so the application can be upgraded three to five years into a 10-year deployment, or
2. Use an embedded module that needs to be soldered down to meet environmental requirements but is not upgradeable.
To overcome these design obstacles, SiliconSystems invented the SiliconDrive II Blade. SiliconDrive II Blade combines a postage-stamp sized embedded storage system with a sturdy mating socket. While the connector locks down holding the SSD securely in place, SiliconDrive II Blade can be removed for upgrades throughout the system’s deployment lifecycle. The device is a quarter the size of a CF card, making it an ideal replacement for cards that need to be soldered to the board.
With rugged, scalable storage form factors, designers can rethink every aspect of the design. The innovative decision to have a 40-pin design provides support for multiple interfaces including USB, SD, MMC and SATA, enabling maximum design flexibility to select the optimal host system interface, or simply to run all interface signals simultaneously. With very little re-design; the same board could accommodate a different, upgraded or faster storage device. Also, there is nothing that limits using the connector for storage – any interface-compatible device could be used.
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