From our front-page news:
In talking to Western Digital in the past year or two - even as recent as CES - we could tell their vibe towards solid-state storage was rather "meh". But, given the obvious potential (and reality) of the technology, we knew it would be only a matter of time before they either created SSDs themselves, or acquired another company who already does.
Those common-sense predictions proved themselves correct as of this morning, as WD has announced the acquisition of SiliconSystems for $65 million in cash. SiliconSystems has been in the solid-state game for a while, although not with regular consumers. Their products targeted the integrated and business user, but now under WD's roof, we'll undoubtedly be seeing consumer and enthusiast-based products from them in the near-future.
Anyone who's ever taken a look at an SSD or read about them can probably tell you that they are a good thing. The major downside is longevity, especially with MLC-based products, but that's sure to be improved with time. Aside from that issue, they're far faster, more reliable, small and make absolutely no noise. It seems like a huge win/win from all perspectives. The pricing is still not perfect, but even that's looking better each and every month.
So where's other companies in this, such as Seagate? Well, at last check, the company was planning to begin their own SSD production sometime in 2009, although we haven't heard from them much since. That doesn't mean much though, as they could very well be tying up loose ends and preparing to ship their own product within the next few months. The market is too competitive, so it makes no sense to wait too long.
"We are delighted to have the SiliconSystems team join WD," said John Coyne, president and CEO of WD. "The combination will be modestly accretive to revenue and margins as a result of SiliconSystems' existing position as a trusted supplier to the well-established $400 million market for embedded solid-state drives. SiliconSystems' intellectual property and technical expertise will significantly accelerate WD's solid-state drive development programs for the netbook, client and enterprise markets, providing greater choice for our customers to satisfy all their storage requirements."
Source: Western Digital Press Release
Those common-sense predictions proved themselves correct as of this morning, as WD has announced the acquisition of SiliconSystems for $65 million in cash. SiliconSystems has been in the solid-state game for a while, although not with regular consumers. Their products targeted the integrated and business user, but now under WD's roof, we'll undoubtedly be seeing consumer and enthusiast-based products from them in the near-future.
Anyone who's ever taken a look at an SSD or read about them can probably tell you that they are a good thing. The major downside is longevity, especially with MLC-based products, but that's sure to be improved with time. Aside from that issue, they're far faster, more reliable, small and make absolutely no noise. It seems like a huge win/win from all perspectives. The pricing is still not perfect, but even that's looking better each and every month.
So where's other companies in this, such as Seagate? Well, at last check, the company was planning to begin their own SSD production sometime in 2009, although we haven't heard from them much since. That doesn't mean much though, as they could very well be tying up loose ends and preparing to ship their own product within the next few months. The market is too competitive, so it makes no sense to wait too long.
"We are delighted to have the SiliconSystems team join WD," said John Coyne, president and CEO of WD. "The combination will be modestly accretive to revenue and margins as a result of SiliconSystems' existing position as a trusted supplier to the well-established $400 million market for embedded solid-state drives. SiliconSystems' intellectual property and technical expertise will significantly accelerate WD's solid-state drive development programs for the netbook, client and enterprise markets, providing greater choice for our customers to satisfy all their storage requirements."
Source: Western Digital Press Release