PRESS RELEASE
· Enhanced endurance saves an estimated £20k over the PC lifecycle
· Cutting edge Kingston SSDNow drives reduces failures and improves productivity to deliver "impressive ROI"
· Kingston SSDNow drives save 500 man hours annually in comparison with hard disk drives (HDD)
Sunbury-on-Thames - 05 July 2010 -- Kingston Digital Europe Ltd, an affiliate of Kingston Technology Company Inc., the independent world leader in memory products, today announced that its state-of-the-art solid state drives (SSD) have helped increase reliability and reduce IT costs at global clean power systems provider, Intelligent Energy. The company is noted for having developed the world's first fuel cell motorbikes; the engine for the first manned fuel cell powered aircraft and most recently it launched the first zero emissions fuel cell-powered black cab in London. Now the company has replaced its hard disk drives (HDDs) with Kingston's SSDNow technology in its power system-testing desktops and executives' and sales executive's laptops.
Intelligent Energy works in some of the world's most demanding computing environments, including the transportation and aerospace industries. The company regularly runs 50 desktop computers for up to 10,000 consecutive hours to test the hydrogen fuel cell systems. Non-stop operation resulted in regular HDD failures, increasing costs and potentially impacting productivity. Demanding field assignments for executives and sales teams also caused laptop HDD failures and decreasing performance, requiring the company to replace machines every two years.
Stuart Gale, Global IT Services, Intelligent Energy says: "We experienced a number of HDD failures during our fuel cell testing, due to its non-stop, long term nature. We tried installing RAID controllers, even changing HDD manufacturers, but these approaches didn't work."
In 2009, Intelligent Energy upgraded its computing platform by replacing HDDs with Kingston's SSDNow V and V+ Series drives, ranging from 30, 64 and 128 GBs. Kingston SSDNow superior durability and performance - over eight times more shock resistant and outperforming HDDs by up to five times*-offered Intelligent Energy compelling advantages.
Gale says: "The transformation has been incredible. Our PC's performance and durability have greatly improved, enhancing our testing capability significantly. By using SSDNow in our travelling laptops, we've also extended the lifecycle by up to two years. The cost saving will be considerable, with a predicted increase in productivity. Overall, an impressive ROI."
Ann Keefe, Regional Director for UK and Ireland at Kingston said: "As our work with Intelligent Energy proves, Kingston SSDNow drives offer a strong performance upgrade capability for PCs. With a minimum failure rate compared to HDDs and the ability to load, switch and run multiple applications at the same time more effectively, SSDNow ensures less downtime and increased productivity."
* According to PCMark Vantage Score
About Kingston Digital, Inc.
Kingston Digital, Inc. ("KDI") is the Flash memory affiliate of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., the world's largest independent manufacturer of memory products. Established in 2008, KDI is headquartered in Fountain Valley, California, USA. For more information, please call +44 (0)1932 738888 or visit www.kingston.com/europe
About Intelligent Energy
Intelligent Energy is a clean power systems company, with a range of leading fuel cell and hydrogen generation technologies. The company is focused on the provision of cleaner power and low carbon technologies. Intelligent Energy partners with leading companies globally, and current partners and customers include Scottish & Southern Energy plc with whom the company has formed a joint venture to commercialise fuel cell combined heat and power (CHP) systems, and The Suzuki Motor Corporation. Intelligent Energy's successes in recent years include the development of the world's first hydrogen fuel cell motorbike and supplying the fuel cell system to Boeing which powered the world's first manned fuel cell aircraft. The company also recently supplied Airbus with a multi-functional fuel cell auxiliary power unit (APU) aimed at on-board power in future commercial airliners. In June 2010, Intelligent Energy and its partners unveiled a Fuel Cell Hybrid Taxi at London's City Hall; a zero emissions, full performance version of the iconic London Black Cab, with a 250 mile range and a refueling time of less than five minutes.
