From Sun, Michael Cornwell to Lead Idema Global Standards Program

IDEMA (International Disk Drive Equipment and Materials Association), the trade association for the global data storage industry, announced that Michael Cornwell will lead its influential Global Standards Program for HDDs (hard disk drives) and SSDs (solid-state drives). Cornwell, Lead Technologist for Flash at Sun Microsystems, has a long history in storage technologies and collaboration between manufacturers and customers.

He spent 5 years with Quantum Corporation in various engineering and design roles. In 2002 Cornwell moved to Apple, where he was a lead storage architect on that company’s iPod digital content player. He joined Sun Microsystems in his current position in 2007 as Lead Technologist for Flash Memory, with the primary task of leading Sun toward broader utilization of SSDs with the company’s Open Storage Initiative.

“Michael is a great addition to IDEMA in these challenging economic times,” states Mark Geenen, IDEMA’s Chairman. “His broad experience in HDDs and SSDs and his enthusiasm will provide a boost of energy to our global Standards efforts. Additionally, he will revitalize IDEMA’s strategy of actively promoting Standards in slider formats, discrete track recording, advanced technologies and lithography.”

“IDEMA is the perfect vehicle for helping the industry to establish much needed standards around the enterprise Flash marketplace. I look forward to bringing together hardware and software partners to establish a platform for innovation around SSD and HDD technologies,” said Michael Cornwell, Lead Architect, Flash Systems, Sun Microsystems, Inc.

IDEMA, with global offices in Tokyo, Japan, Singapore, and Milpitas, CA, is the global trade association for the data storage industry. With over 300 members worldwide, IDEMA hosts dozens of symposia, trade shows, and education classes, and is the lead source of technical standards.