Reliable USB Flash Drive Solutions for Critical Industrial Applications
In an application such as transferring data from a critical design location to the machine shop or the use of a removable flash storage device in a rugged industrial environment, reliability should be more important than cost.
But, over the years, I’ve been surprised how many processes are created in these industrial & mission critical environments using the absolute cheapest USB Flash Drive available in the market.
Ironically, a $100,000 to $1M system is being run by a $2 flash drive. This $2 flash drive can bring down an entire operation forever if the data is permanently lost or for critical time periods while a backup of the data or program is located and reintroduced to the system.
Cactus Offers a Better Solution:
INDUSTRIAL GRADE – Most Reliable, based on SLC NAND, High Endurance & Data Retention.
USB Flash Drive that Do Not Fail:
Cactus has 2 Series of USB Flash Drives which are both in the Industrial Grade category. These USB Flash Drives are completely focused on reliability. If you are interested in the fastest USB Drive on the market, you should go buy a consumer USB from your local electronics store or elsewhere. Cactus is ALL ABOUT RELIABILITY with our Industrial Grade USB Flash Drives.
If you’ve seen a few of my posts, you know what is next.
Three Key Items to Consider When Purchasing Flash Drives:
- LOCKED-BOM – Why go through all the trouble testing a flash storage device for your OEM Systems when production units you receive will be different? Most manufacturers change the internal memory or controller silicon regularly and are constantly changing the firmware. A Locked BOM (Bill-Of-Material) signifies there is no change in the components and firmware the parts are built from without customer notification.
- LONG LIFE CYCLES – Consumer flash cards and SSD are constantly changing. The only thing guaranteed is that there is a certain form factor [Ex: 2.5” SATA SSD] and capacity point [Ex: 128GB]. What goes on inside the card or SSD packaging can be anything. For OEM Systems, it is an important consideration to make sure there is first a Locked-BOM and that this Locked-BOM is available for a long time. This long time is signified by Long Life Cycles. Cactus’ Industrial Grade products can have a 5 – 10 year life from launch to end of life with no changes to the product.
- EXTENDED LIFE CYCLES – A true supplier should have the ability to continue delivering the same Locked-BOM product for months to years after the End Of Life of a particular memory and controller configuration. Through bonding material against a specific customer demand, a quality supplier can extend the product life by months to years.
Final Thoughts:
Cactus Technologies focus is to make the most reliable Industrial Grade Flash Storage Devices based on SLC NAND memory, with a locked-BOM (Bill-Of-Material) to ensure the performance and reliability characteristics never change over the many years of production.
We also offer alternative OEM and Industrial MLC products to meet budget constrained applications. In addition, Cactus offers other interfaces to meet needs of embedded OEM application designers everywhere.
If you need assistance with an OEM design or needing special features, please contact us.
