JEDEC's subcommittee for Solid State Drives will target the development of standards for SSDs in applications beyond conventional disk drive form factors, following the growing demand for smaller consumer electronic devices. As a developer of standards for the microelectronics industry, JEDEC is encouraging interested companies to become involved with SSD standards development.

"Momentum for adoption of embedded SSDs continues to grow and with the right OEM support, Gartner believes that embedded SSDs could potentially out ship traditional SSD form factor usage in mobile PCs by 20131," according to Joseph Unsworth, Research Director at Gartner.

To answer the data storage market's demand for faster, more energy efficient solutions in a smaller footprint, the use of SSDs in alternative form factors may provide an answer for product design engineers. SSDs in module and/or package form offer the ability to meet the demand for a smaller form factor, z-height advantages, as well as potential cost savings over traditional hard drive form factors. However, in order to fulfill this potential, widely adopted industry standards are seen as essential tools to reduce market confusion, facilitate broad adoption and alleviate product quality and reliability concerns.

"Deploying the first generation of SSDs in disk drive form factors leveraged the existing ecosystem and helped ensure supply chain flexibility," said Mian Quddus, JEDEC Board of Directors Chairman. He added, "But with tablet PCs and ultra-thin portable notebooks emerging in Client as well as high-density Enterprise systems, there is a growing demand for SSDs in smaller form factors and an urgent need for related industry standards. I strongly urge all interested companies to participate in the development of solid state drive standards within JEDEC."