During the development of a ruggedized Sun server system, Teknologic needed to reduce the size and weight of the CD / DVD drive bay components. The solution was found in notebook computer drives, which are extremely compact and built tough for the abuses of portable use. However, the notebook drives utilize a compact 50-pin connector that will not accept a standard 40-position IDE ribbon cable connector. Although some notebook drive manufacturers supply a slim IDE adapter board with their drives, our client's brand did not. Other drive vendors sell these adapters separately, but only in large quantities. So Teknologic began manufacturing its own IDE / Slim IDE Adapter boards, which are now available to you. If you wish to reduce the size and weight of your next ruggedized or commercial computer system, use slim notebook drives with the Teknologic IDE / Slim IDE Adapter board.