The recent high profile data security problems we have witnessed in the UK have highlighted the issues involved in using high street consumer memory products in engineering applications. When building a house, we don’t use ice as the construction material; we go for bricks and mortar which will stand the test of time. Similarly, when selecting components for a new device we should choose those with a healthy lifespan, which will not ‘melt away’ before the product comes to market.
Each time I hear that a CD, USB memory stick or camera card full of customer data goes missing, I think about how easy it is to avoid the loss by choosing fit for purpose product. Equally, every time I encounter an application in which an industrial device is brought to market containing a consumer memory product, it makes me think of the inevitable re-design when the memory product ceases to be manufactured.
Moore’s Law makes it inevitable that this re-design will happen every time. While, the use of USB sticks shows an admirably intuitive approach to design, using products out of context will not produce an adequate outcome. The only way to get the right result is to choose a memory product that is specifically produced to meet the needs of the engineering designer. There are available on the market. It isn’t their availability that is the problem, but rather a lack of awareness of their existence in the engineering design community. Perhaps it’s time for steps to be taken to spread this awareness amongst design students, so that the next generation of engineers makes fewer mistakes?
