Western Digital buys SSD vendor

Jake Widman
Tuesday, 31 March 2009 02:35

Business IT - Technology

Hard disk manufacturer Western Digital has acquired SiliconSystems, a leading supplier of solid-state drives.

Western Digital is best known for its My Book and My Passport lines of external and portable hard drives. Up till now, however, all their products have used traditional spinning-platter technology.

Solid-state drives, which use non-moving flash memory, are becoming more attractive, especially for portable computers (laptops and netbooks). They can be faster on certain operations than traditional hard disks, because they don't require any spin-up time. But more importantly, with no moving parts, they are less subject to damage from motion or impact.

The acquisition of SiliconSystems enables Western Digital to move right into the SSD market. SiliconSystems has been around since 2002, selling its SiliconDrive products for embedded systems as well as for communications, military, medical, and aerospace applications. Western Digital intends to use its existing infrastructure and financial resources to grow Silicon's existing business. "WD's strong balance sheet, sales reach, and operations and logistics capabilities will allow us to greatly accelerate our penetration of our existing markets," said Michael Hajeck, a founder and CEO of SiliconSystems.

But more importantly, the acquisition helps Western Digital develop products for its existing markets. "We are delighted to have the SiliconSystems team join WD," said John Coyne, president and CEO of WD. "SiliconSystems' intellectual property and technical expertise will significantly accelerate WD's solid-state drive development programs for the netbook, client, and enterprise markets."

The acquisition cost WD US$65 million in cash. SiliconSystems is now the WD Solid-State Storage business unit. For further information, the company has made available an FAQ about the acquisition.