A solid-state drive (SSD) is a data storage device that uses solid-state memory to store persistent data.  An SSD emulates a hard disk drive interface, thus easily replacing it in most applications.  An SSD using SRAM or DRAM (instead of flash memory) is often called a RAM-drive, not to be confused with a RAM disk.

The original usage of the term ‘solid-state’ refers to the use of semiconductor devices rather than electron tubes, but in this context, has been adopted to distinguish solid-state electronics from electromechanical devices as well. With no moving parts, solid-state drives are less fragile than hard disks and are also silent and as there are no mechanical delays, they usually enjoy very fast access times and latency.

Computer systems and networks have increased exponentially in both speed and performance throughout the "Digital Age". Conversely, storage device speed - measured by seek time, operations per second , total bandwidth, and other mechanics - have remained relatively stagnant.

These storage limitations have created a significant bottleneck, resulting in a substantial performance gap over the years. In high-demand networks, this performance gap is painfully obvious - the fastest processors in the world are underutilised if the storage device can’t carry out it’s orders fast enough. And in situations where ‘hot files’ and databases are constantly read from or written to by multiple sources across a network, this bottleneck creates a crisis for the entire network infrastructure.

Bringing storage devices into the ‘Digital Age’, solid state disk technology removes the I/O bottleneck by replacing hard disk drives with high speed circuitry. Instead of a rotating disk, a solid state disk uses memory chips (typically SDRAM) to read and write data, resulting in full utilisation of existing processors and bandwidth. With an access time of only 20 microseconds, SDRAM delivers data 250 times faster than conventional disk drives. Uncompromised SDRAM data integrity is maintained through both battery backup and redundant disk drives, so your data is always protected on solid date disk.