It was probably an easier decision than you think because there's almost no negatives involved.

They're selling the modules for the same price as the x-rack offerings but obviously with reduced functionality as the 500 series is a vastly inferior format to the X-rack format. So why not, if they can sell less capable modules for the exact same price. It's good business.

I assume it's easier to manufacture since there's no total recall involved. That means they don't have to bother with the more expensive pots and programming. For all intents and purposes these are "dumb" modules compared to the x-rack ones so they don't have to use the same components so it's probably cheaper to make these than the x-rack ones.

Ditto on the outputs. X-rack modules have their own outputs which is why SSL can do inventive things like offer sidechaining or stereo inputs and outputs on a single width module. With the 500 series they don't have to bother with this as 500 series modules have no outputs on the card. So again, good savings on the build.

More people own 500 series than X-rack so they'll probably sell a ton of these. This translates as huge sales for modules that retail for the same as the x-rack ones but are probably cheaper to build because of the reduced functionality and amount and type of parts needed. It's a massive win-win for SSL. When they crunched the numbers I'm sure it wasn't as hard a decision as you might think.

Not to mention the elimination of total recall, which is probably complicated technology. That means that there's less of a chance for things to go wrong in these modules so SSL saves again in regards to repairs and customer support expenses. So they sell a huge amount of modules with practically no increase in customer support expenses.

Great business move for SSL as I can see pretty much no negatives for them in this move.

I still with they'd come out with an X-rack filters module and I wish they'd come out with a desktop x-rack with 4 spaces and total recall!

Regards,
Frank