Foreword
The development work on this specification was done by the SFF Committee, an industry group. The membership of the committee since its formation in August 1990 has included a mix of companies which are leaders across the industry.
When 2 1/2” diameter disk drives were introduced, there was no commonality on external dimensions e.g. physical size, mounting locations, connector type, connector location, between vendors.
The first use of these disk drives was in specific applications such as laptop portable computers and system integrators worked individually with vendors to develop the packaging. The result was wide diversity, and incompatibility.
The problems faced by integrators, device suppliers, and component suppliers led to the formation of the SFF Committee as an industry ad hoc group to address the marketing and engineering considerations of the emerging new technology.
During the development of the form factor definitions, other activities were suggested because participants in the SFF Committee faced more problems than the physical form factors of disk drives. In November 1992, the charter was expanded to address any issues of general interest and concern to the storage industry. The SFF Committee became a forum for resolving industry issues that are either not addressed by the standards process or need an immediate solution.
Those companies which have agreed to support a specification are identified in the first pages of each SFF Specification. Industry consensus is not an essential requirement to publish an SFF Specification because it is recognized that in an emerging product area, there is room for more than one approach. By making the documentation on competing proposals available, an integrator can examine the alternatives available and select the product that is felt to be most suitable.
SFF Committee meetings are held during T10 weeks (see www.t10.org), and Specific Subject Working Groups are held at the convenience of the participants. Material presented at SFF Committee meetings becomes public domain, and there are no restrictions on the open mailing of material presented at committee meetings.
Most of the specifications developed by the SFF Committee have either been incorporated into standards or adopted as standards by EIA (Electronic Industries Association), ANSI (American National Standards Institute) and IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission).
The SFF Committee activities support the requirements of the storage industry, and it is involved with several standards.
If you are interested in participating or wish to follow the activities of the SFF Committee, the signup for membership and/or documentation can be found at:
http://www.chinasfp.com/
The complete list of SFF Specifications which have been completed or are currently being worked on by the SFF Committee can be found at:
http://www.chinasfp.com/
If you wish to know more about the SFF Committee, the principles which guide the activities can be found at:
http://www.chinasfp.com/
Suggestions for improvement of this specification will be welcome. They should be sent to the SFF Committee, 14426 Black
