Western Digital Purchases SiliconSystems; Poised to Enter SSD Market

Falling flash prices have resulted in larger capacity solid-state drives than ever before, but another benefit of the flash revolution is that we’re seeing new players enter the market  A prime example is Western Digital, which announced that it purchased SiliconSystems, a supplier of SSDs for embedded systems, for $65 million. If you’ve never heard of SiliconSystems, it’s not surprising; the company’s been supplying high-end drives to the network-communications, industrial, medical, military, and aerospace markets since its inception in 2002. This includes 2.5-inch drives–the most common form factor in notebooks. According to Western Digital, the integration will begin immediately, and SiliconSystems will now be known as “WD Solid-State Storage.” Maybe, just maybe, if we cross our fingers and wish hard enough, WD-branded SSDs will be available in coming months to satiate our speedy notebook storage needs.