Western Digital buys SSD company

[Modelworks]

How long till we see some WD SSD drives ?

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001...newsEditorsPicksArea.0

Western Digital on Monday announced it has acquired solid-state drive maker SiliconSystems for $65 million.
The purchase will provide the current market leader in 2.5-inch drives with a way into the growing SSD market. Based in Aliso Viejo, Calif., SiliconSystems was established in 2002, and makes SSD products for communications, industrial, embedded systems, medical, military, and aerospace applications. SiliconSystems' product lineup includes SSDs with a variety of interfaces, including SATA, EIDE, PC Card, USB, and CF, in 2.5-inch, 1.8-inch, and CF.
The Fremont, Calif.-based Western Digital has a strong presence in the notebook industry with its 2.5-inch drives, but not the rapidly expanding Netbook segment. With the acquisition, Western Digital is now instantly a player in that market.
"SiliconSystems' intellectual property and technical expertise will significantly accelerate WD's solid-state drive development programs for the Netbook, client and enterprise markets," said Western Digital President and CEO John Coyne in a statement Monday.
SiliconSystems will be integrated into Western Digital right away. The new business will be named the WD Solid-State Storage business unit.

 

[aka1nas]

Nice. That just leaves Seagate as a hold-out. 🙂

 

[taltamir]

Originally posted by: aka1nas
Nice. That just leaves Seagate as a hold-out. 🙂

i am still waiting for seagate to make good on their threat. To quote:
interviewer: what is seagates intentions in regards to SSD
seagate CEO: SSD technology infringes on seagate patents in regards to storage technology.

 

[Nizbot]

Originally posted by: Modelworks
How long till we see some WD SSD drives ?

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001...newsEditorsPicksArea.0

Western Digital on Monday announced it has acquired solid-state drive maker SiliconSystems for $65 million.
The purchase will provide the current market leader in 2.5-inch drives with a way into the growing SSD market. Based in Aliso Viejo, Calif., SiliconSystems was established in 2002, and makes SSD products for communications, industrial, embedded systems, medical, military, and aerospace applications. SiliconSystems' product lineup includes SSDs with a variety of interfaces, including SATA, EIDE, PC Card, USB, and CF, in 2.5-inch, 1.8-inch, and CF.
The Fremont, Calif.-based Western Digital has a strong presence in the notebook industry with its 2.5-inch drives, but not the rapidly expanding Netbook segment. With the acquisition, Western Digital is now instantly a player in that market.
"SiliconSystems' intellectual property and technical expertise will significantly accelerate WD's solid-state drive development programs for the Netbook, client and enterprise markets," said Western Digital President and CEO John Coyne in a statement Monday.
SiliconSystems will be integrated into Western Digital right away. The new business will be named the WD Solid-State Storage business unit.

I'd say by Q4 of this year. You know they have been prep'n for this for sometime now, and now they finally have the additional resources. I'll be interested in what their price points will be.

 

[MerlinRML]

Originally posted by: Nizology

Originally posted by: Modelworks
How long till we see some WD SSD drives ?

I'd say by Q4 of this year. You know they have been prep'n for this for sometime now, and now they finally have the additional resources. I'll be interested in what their price points will be.

I'm actually confused by this acquisition. SiliconSystems didn't make a consumer-level or enterprise-level SSD when I was evaluating some of their their products a year ago. They make industrial quality drives and stuff for embedded systems. I remember thinking that they seemed to have a high quality product but the performance was really poor.

For that reason, I'd be a bit surprised if WD released a product from these guys any time this year. In fact, the best thing SiliconSystems has is probably some of the technology relating to SSDs. I think they had encryption, wear-leveling, and a few other neat little software pieces that I haven't seen on any other SSD. It's possible that WD bought them for their IP and will tack it onto their own SSD.

 

[aka1nas]

The Velociraptor is fast enough to eek out another year for them before the cost/GB on good SSDs starts to seriously threaten it. That's enough time to bring something to market if they move fast with the new acquisition.

 

[Idontcare]

Originally posted by: MerlinRML

Originally posted by: Nizology

Originally posted by: Modelworks
How long till we see some WD SSD drives ?

I'd say by Q4 of this year. You know they have been prep'n for this for sometime now, and now they finally have the additional resources. I'll be interested in what their price points will be.

I'm actually confused by this acquisition. SiliconSystems didn't make a consumer-level or enterprise-level SSD when I was evaluating some of their their products a year ago. They make industrial quality drives and stuff for embedded systems. I remember thinking that they seemed to have a high quality product but the performance was really poor.

For that reason, I'd be a bit surprised if WD released a product from these guys any time this year. In fact, the best thing SiliconSystems has is probably some of the technology relating to SSDs. I think they had encryption, wear-leveling, and a few other neat little software pieces that I haven't seen on any other SSD. It's possible that WD bought them for their IP and will tack it onto their own SSD.

When I read the PR my first assumption/impression is that it was all about the IP angle (I bolded in your post above).

They probably have IP plus critical cross-license agreements already in place that the WD legal team decided were most easily accessible by way of this purchase.