Course Project Applied Information Technology Project Proposal

Problem Statement

Although traditional Hard Disk Drives (HDD) are commonly used throughout the industry, they are slowly but surely being replaced by the more rugged and faster Solid State Drive (SSD). A SSD is a disk drive that uses memory chips instead of rotating platters for data storage. Used in battery-powered handheld devices as well as laptop computers, solid state disks are faster than regular disks because there is zero latency (no read/write head to move). Due to the ruggedness, they offer greater protection in hostile environments. Tests have proven that SSDs are naturally more dependable than HDDs because they have no moving parts and can sustain up to 1,500 Gs of shock before sustaining damage or a drop in performance. (Computer Desktop Encyclopedia, 2011)

When it comes to read write performance the SSD is unrivaled compared to the HDD, studies have shown that the SDD has a faster boot time, response time and SSD handily beat the HDD for cold boots: 20 seconds to start up Windows XP for the SDD and 40 seconds for the HDD. The SSD also beat the HDD for restarts: 26 seconds versus 37 seconds. Data not available for the new operating system Windows 7 or Sever 2008 due t o time limit proposed for paper. (Mearian, Review: Hard disk vs. solid-state drive -- is an SSD worth the money?, 2009)

Given the amount of specialized software that United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) uses such as Government off the Shelf (GOTS) applications designed specifically for the organization high speed SSDs should be considered. One such application is Falcon View which is used for analyzing and displaying geographical data crucial to the war fighter. Other software applications like Arc GIS A geographic information system (GIS) that integrates hardware, software, and data for capturing, managing, analyzing, and displaying all forms of geographically referenced information. Both of these applications cause the typical HDD to spin beyond its capacity and use a lot of system resources, the SDD would definitely be a better source for data storage and applications processing over the standard HDD. (Bailey, 2012)

Projected Improvement of Quality

With the technology available in today's SSDs a particular global leader in advanced semiconductor technology solutions, announced that its SSD had attained Cryptographic Module Validation Program (CMVP) validation for conformance to the National Institute of Standards and Technologies (NIST) Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-2 based on the drives' heightened data security required by government entities.

This would be the Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, PM810 solid-state drives (SSDs). These drives attained the CMVP in a joint program between NIST and the Samsung's PM810 SSDs a set of robust and widely acknowledged cryptography requirements was the result of their ensuring a high level of data protection.

Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC) validation for NIST FIPS 140-2, is a set of robust and widely acknowledged cryptography requirements is the result of ensuring a high level of data protection. The SSDs' data security solution features is a self-encrypting drive (SED) technology that utilizes the 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) built into the a Samsung-developed controller hardware vs. the current software based encryption system used . Encryption Key management and security policies are implemented internally through the drive's firmware as opposed to software currently used by USSOCOM.

This heightened level of security is crucial for many, especially for business applications where rapid and thorough erasing of sensitive data is needed, such as when discarding worn computing equipment or switching storage drives. Enabling rapid, exacting data deletion, Samsung's SSDs make it easier for businesses or public offices to manage and even extend the life of large-scale computing systems and other networked PCs. The self-encrypting feature also protects the host device against unauthorized access when lost or stolen.

Samsung recently applied its distinctive security solution to its newest SSD which was introduced to the market earlier this year. The company intends to keep working on delivering even higher levels of data security with its high-performance SSD products in the future. (Samsung Electronics Co, 2001)

Business Process Approach

Government contracts are awarded to companies via a bidding procedure commonly to the lowest bidder. Although a lengthy process, there are many avenues that the participating companies can take to assist in obtaining help with it. It is very common for small businesses to have