Xceed SSDs

Each of the Solid State Drive offerings in the SMART Modular Technologies product line is prefixed with the "Xceed" brand name (a name shared by several of the other vendor's products as well). Multiple drives are available in the line, with interface choices including SATA, PATA, and SCSI and capacities ranging from 1 to 128 GB.

Each of the drives is based on Flash memory, and are designed to be drop-in replacements for standard internal hard drives. Both 1.8" and 2.5" form factors are available (3.5" in the SCSI drives). The vendor also boasts industrial grade temperature certifications for the drives (see vendor for model specifics).

Current lines in the product family include (all performance metrics are for sustained read/write performance unless otherwise noted):

- XceedLite, offered with 1.8" PATA and 1.8" SATA II interfaces. The PATA drives ship in capacities from 4 to 32 GB and list performance of 45 MB/sec and 25 MB/sec; while the SATA II drives ship in capacities from 4 to 64 GB with performance of 72 MB/sec and 55 MB/sec.

- XceedLite2, in 2.5" form factors, are also available with either SATA II or PATA interfaces. Capacities are 1 to 64 GB (PATA) and 4 to 64 GB (SATA), with performance of 40/23 MB/sec (PATA) and 72/55 MB/sec (SATA).

- XceedUltra2, offered in SATA II and now SCSI flavors. The 2.5" SATA II drive ships in capacities of 8 to 64 GB and performance of 135/105 MB/sec; while the new SCSI module is a 3.5" drive with either a 608 or 80-pin SCA SCSI interface and performance up to 55/50 MB/sec. Capacities of the SCSI drive are expected to range from 8 to 128 GB.

- XceedUltraX, 2.5" SATA and PATA drives with capacities of 32 to 128 GB and performance of 70/55 MB/sec.

- XceedUltraX2, now also offered in both SATA and PATA flavors. The SATA drive boasts performance of 100/74 MB/sec and capacities of 32 to 128 GB; while the 2.5" PATA drive is listed with performance of 70/50 MB/sec and also in capacities of 32 to 128 GB.

- XceedSCSI, offered in 3.5" narrow and wide formats as well as on a PC Card. Capacities are 1 to 32 GB (narrow) and 8 to 128 (wide), and performance is 12/9.4 MB/sec (narrow) and 31/30 MB/sec (wide). (Metrics for the PC Card format are listed as PC Card dependent.)

- XceedSecure2, available in 2.5" SATA or PATA, or 3.5" SCSI interfaces, and capacities of from 32 to 128 GB. The XceedSecure2 line features EraSure technology, which provides both an EraSure Clear function for quick data erasure and EraSure Sanitize for thorough data destruction (compliant with IRIG 106-07, chapter 10.8). Separate versions of the drive can be purchased with the vendor's additional ZAP technology, in which a hardware input can trigger the destruction of all flash chips on the drive, rendering it inoperable.

New to the vendor's EraSure technology is compliance with the NSA/CSS Storage Device Declassification Manual 9-12, and enhanced erase time performance (the vendor states that erase times are improved up to "several hundred percent" depending on the protocol used).

The new drives (XceedUltraX2 and XceedSecure2 PATA, XceedUltra2 and XceedSecure2 SCSI) are sampling now with general availability expected in 2Q/2009. Remaining drives are available now.

Contact the vendor for further information.