14 DAY TRIAL // Western Digital has already launched a series of storage units aimed at the consumer segment, but it seems that the company aims to also address the industrial sector with its SiliconDrive N1x family of solid state drives. Unlike the MLC-based SiliconEdge Blue, these storage solutions are built with single-level cell (SLC) NAND Flash chips and come in capacities of up to 128GB. These drives have read and write speeds lower than those of their siblings, but will perform well in embedded system OEM applications, thanks to the extra reliability and long life provided by the use of SLC.
The SiliconDrive N1x use the same 2.5-inch form factor as the SiliconEdge Blue units and have read and write speeds of 240MB/s and 140MB/s, respectively. These devices also support native Command Queuing (NTQ) and the Windows 7 TRIM command, which maintain data integrity and performance over time. In addition, WD also included its Speed Assurance technology, which helps keep the drives' read and write speeds consistent.
"The WD SiliconDrive N1x SSDs are the newest addition to our SiliconDrive product family, which has shipped several million units since the first products were introduced. SiliconDrive SSDs have consistently met critical OEM application requirements for high reliability, high performance and long product deployment cycles," Michael Hajeck, senior vice president and general manager of WD's solid state storage business unit, said.
"Satisfying the challenging storage demands for a wide variety of OEM applications, WD has designed the WD SiliconDrive N1x and WD SiliconEdge Blue product families to facilitate SSD technology adoption in a multitude of existing and expanding new markets that can benefit from advanced storage solutions."
The range of applications that the SiliconDrive N1x-series drives are meant for include automotive, transportation, data-center, video-surveillance, industrial automation and communication-infrastructure applications. All the models in the line are backed by a five-year warranty and may be seen in detail on the company's website. Pricing and availability have not been mentioned.