Seagate EE25.2 AAEON Technology (70K, PDF) - Page 2

AAEON Technology Device Maker Expands Business With Ruggedized Storage Solutions "We always want to make sure that any third-party components used in our machines are completely reliable in all environments, and we're convinced that the Seagate drives add the most significant value to the systems we offer." Rick Baeta, business development manager, AAEON USA with the highest reliability in the most extreme environments. Since investing in Seagate storage solutions, the company has achieved robust sales growth and successful penetration of new verticals. Hard Drive Reliability Is Mission Critical Through the support it provides to customers worldwide, AAEON Technology has come to appreciate just how critical hard drive reliability is to operational efficiency and mission accomplishment. Whether it is a mobile patient care system, an industrial display monitor or an embedded PC for use in a vehicle, the resilience of the hard drive in each system is critical to its long-term reliability and performance. "We're seeing more and more companies take the position that high failure rates for hard drives are just simply unacceptable because of the costs involved," says Rick Baeta, business development manager for AAEON. The effects of a drive failure can certainly be measured in hard numbers, such as the actual cost to repair or replace the device and the resources spent troubleshooting or working around the problem. However, there are additional costs associated with the loss of critical data; missed opportunities and decline in customer satisfaction can have a significant impact on profitability and performance. Reducing the Total Cost of Technology Ownership Although AAEON supplies solid evidence to support the value of installing ruggedized drives for applications that will operate in extreme environments, the higher price of these drives often raises concerns for consumers. "Our customers point out that ruggedized drives can be up to twice as expensive as regular drives," explains Baeta. "But when they see how expensive equipment failures can be in terms of down time, missed opportunities and repair costs, the value of a ruggedized hard drive becomes clearer." In 2003, AAEON delivered 250 embedded, single-board computers to a manufacturer based in the United States working on a transportation project in Mexico. The computers were installed in trains and buses in Mexico City. Within a short period of time, the computers began experiencing failure rates as high as 40 percent. Analysis showed that intense heat and vibration was causing the drives to fail. When AAEON substituted ruggedized hard drives for the original regular drives, the failure rate dropped by 90 percent. "To get this situation resolved, it cost the manufacturer a huge amount in services, technical support, time and energy, which ultimately wound up being nearly twice as expensive as it would have been to purchase the ruggedized drive up front," says Baeta. By implementing ruggedized drives to fix the problem, the manufacturer retained an important customer, met its contractual obligations and ultimately saved more than US$40,000. Since this solution proved so successful, the manufacturer awarded AAEON a contract to deliver 2000 systems per year for five years to complete the project. This meant that AAEON secured a contract totaling more than US$6 million dollars over five years for recommending ruggedized drives capable of performing under the most grueling conditions. Not All Ruggedized Drives Are Created Equal AAEON evaluated several other storage solutions before it investigated the line of ruggedized drives from Seagate. AAEON was impressed by the fact that the Seagate EE25 Series hard drives are engineered to withstand the widest range of extreme environmental factors, including temperature, altitude, depth and vibration. Many competing drives are designed only for a few of these factors. "We always want to make sure that any thirdparty components used in our machines are completely reliable in all environments, and we're convinced that the Seagate EE25 Series hard drives add the most significant value to the systems we offer," Baeta says.