(1) (
Solid
State
Array) A group of solid state drives (SSDs) built into a single unit, which may be configured as a RAID system (see
RAID). Also called a "drive array" or "storage array," SSAs are widely used in datacenters. See
storage array and
JBOD.
(2) (
Serial
Storage
Architecture) An earlier fault tolerant storage interface from IBM that supported up to 128 disk drives. Introduced in 1990, SSA used SCSI commands, allowing existing software to command the drives. Based on a ring architecture, if one drive failed, the others would keep running. SSA spanned 25 meters over copper and 2.4 km over fiber. Designed as a Fibre Channel alternative, SSA was not widely used. See
SAS and
SCSI.
(3) (
Social
Security
Act) See
healthcare IT.