SSDL Upgrades Drives Used by the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD)
A UK-based customer contacted us to support them on an MOD project, which involved replacing ageing Panasonic JU257A606P floppy disk drives.
The drives are used for system boot up, the information then being copied via DOS 6.2 and the files transferred to a Solaris desktop computer.
The host equipment, which was too expensive to replace, was experiencing operational reliability issues because the floppy disk drives were failing.
While we have an extensive library of legacy drives, the Panasonic JU257A606P one as not one we had emulated before; but replicating the behaviour of drives is something we take in our stride. Also, as with all upgrade projects we undertake, delivering form, fit and function was essential, as is transparency – the host system must be able to treat the replacement as if were the original drive as fitted.
The emulators we supplied were from our extensive FloppyFlash range, within which all products boast high reliability because of the solid-state memory employed.
The FLOPPYFlash is available with SLIM-26, FLAT-34, 5.25” & 8 Shugart edge connector interfaces with full height and half height frames.
The outcome of this project was that our customer and the MOD’s end users were spared any further inconvenience through failing floppy disk drives.