Q1: What is SSD Form Factor Working Group?
A1: SSD Form Factor Working Group consists of Promoter and Contributor members. There are five Promoter members - Dell, EMC, Fujitsu, IBM and Intel. The Working Group was formed to promote PCIe* as an SSD interconnect through standardization. It will focus on driving PCIe storage standardization in three key technology areas: connector, drive form factor and hot-plug.

Q2: What is the goal of SSD Form Factor Working Group?
A2: The SSD Form Factor Working Group is dedicated to advancing technology in three areas:

• A connector specification - which will promote interoperability of several storage protocols, supporting SAS/SATA 3.0 as well as PCIe 3.0.This allows greater user choice and flexibility.
• A form factor-which builds upon the current 2.5" standard to enable enclosure flexibility while supporting the new connector definition, and expanding the power envelope in support of higher performance.
• The support for hot plug capability-creating high availability and serviceability benefits.

Q3: Who are the contributor members?
A3: Contributor members who participating in the definition of the specification are Amphenol, Emulex, Fusion-IO, IDT, Marvell, Micron, Molex, PLX, QLogic, SandForce, SmartModular, and STEC.

Q4: How is SSD Form Factor Working Group organized?
A4: There are five Promoter members - Dell, EMC, Fujitsu, IBM and Intel. Currently, twelve additional companies have signed up as contributors. We are expecting this number to grow subsequent to the announcement.

Q5: Can any company join as promoter?
A5: Promoters positions are offered upon a vote of the current promoters. At this time, the promoters are not considering growth of the list, but this may change over time.

Q6: How much does it cost for a company to join this group as contributor?
A6: Membership to join this group is free of charge to any company.

Q7: Who can join? Are any companies excluded from this group?
A7: Any company is welcomed to join to help and contribute in defining the specifications. This is a fully open working group.

Q8: Are there any limitations to join the group?
A8: No, there are no limitations to join the group, neither in terms of specific companies, nor in terms of the number of companies. This is a fully open working group.

Q9: What are licensing terms of technology being developed?
A9: Promoters have agreed that licensing will be reasonable, non discriminatory terms (often called RAND or RND). This is the most common form of IP licensing across a wide variety of organizations defining technology specifications.

Q10: Who do we contact to join?
A10: Please contact: info@ssdformfactor.org