Reactive Group Acquires Arraid

Reactive Group, an independent company specialising in the design, manufacture, sales and support of storage and networking products, has acquired Arraid Inc., based in Phoenix, AZ.

Arraid is a manufacturer of replacement storage solutions for ageing disk, tape and floppy drives on legacy computer systems and its acquisition is an extension of Reactive Group’s specialist engineering heritage in prolonging the life of legacy computer systems.
 
Reactive Group is also taking the opportunity to further improve the performance and reliability of the Arraid product line by revamping the complete range of Arraid replacement drives with solid state disk technology from its existing Solid State Disks Ltd subsidiary, which also manufactures solid state replacements for ageing disk, tape and floppy drives.
 
“The acquisition of Arraid expands our existing ‘Through Life Support’ capabilities with regard to ageing, obsolete and end-of-life disk, tape and floppy drives on legacy computer systems,” said James Hilken, director, Reactive Group. “Through Life Support is a phrase increasingly used for equipment that is in the later stages of life but still needs to be maintained and kept fully operational.”
 
Ageing, obsolete and end-of-life disk, tape and floppy drives are generally the weakest links in vital, legacy computer systems due to their mechanical nature and the failure potential of their moving parts. Arraid’s products are used in both commercial and government markets in applications including ATE, broadcast & video, healthcare, defence, power & utility, printing & publishing, process control, semiconductor manufacturing, simulation & training, and telephony. Typically, customers have incurred large investments in unique or non-portable software running on legacy computer systems which the original manufacturers (e.g. DEC, Encore, Honeywell, IBM, Wang, etc.) are no longer able or willing to support.
 
Integrating proprietary FPGA-based technology and industrial grade CompactFlash cards as the media, Arraid manufactures new drive replacements for SMD, HISI, HPIB, MAC, OMTI, Pertec and XMD protocols, and several other legacy drive replacements including SCSI-1 and SCSI-2 and floppy disk drives. Legacy computer systems see Arraid’s drives as if they are the original drives, enabling them to be field-replaced without the need for software changes.
 
“Arraid’s replacement drives extend the life of critical legacy computer systems, protecting valuable system software and reducing downtime. Additionally, they eliminate maintenance headaches and media problems as well as reduce operational costs,” concluded Hilken.