Fast Speed & Storage Security are Equally Crucial for Todays Moving Storage Media

Despite our expanding “internet of things”, and a myriad array of personal and business-related electronic devices that seem to be connected to the internet 24/7, many critical workflows still require that the storage device or appliance be physically moved from one location to another. Common examples include data centers, AV (autonomous vehicle) applications, smart/AI manufacturing and medical diagnostic devices.

In many instances, the storage device is part of a recording system. For example, visual data captured by HD cameras mounted to a robotic assembly unit (used for quality control purposes), is transferred to a storage appliance via a high-speed ethernet connection. After the production schedule comes to halt, the storage device is moved offsite, or to another department for analysis.

AV applications are another example. Data captured by a test vehicle’s sensor suite is transferred directly to an in-car storage appliance. After the test session is complete, this appliance is removed from the vehicle and transferred to a computing system for further analysis.

Need for Speed

AV and smart manufacturing applications require compact, removable high-speed storage devices, capable of capturing data in real-time, while keeping pace with high-speed 100+ GigE networking infrastructure. NVMe based appliances are becoming the solution of choice due to a combination of a rugged, compact form factor and blistering performance; a single Gen4 NVMe E1.S or M.2 SSD can deliver over 7000MB/s of transfer speed; and all of this performance is packaged into a device smaller than a stick of RAM!

Need for Security

Anytime storage is physically removed from its primary “native” environment, the risk of storage being lost due to misplacement, theft or interception increases exponentially. While this is a serious concern for any organization or business, the legal and ethical factors associated with AI, Media and AV applications raise the stakes even higher.

In an effort to protect IP and personal/business-related data, storage solutions associated with these applications may be required the employ SEDs (self-encrypting disks). Data written to SEDs is automatically encrypted; it cannot be accessed without a proper handshake between the software interface and hardware (commonly known as an encryption keys). This technology protects data against unauthorized access, and is ideal for these type of applications.