This is cool and all, but it's a bummer that it's for IFUs only.
Though lots more work and cost, the best solution would be a replacement for both the drive and the IFU. A robot can dream.
I was under the impression that this didn't need an IFU. All you need is a base PCE system that has a proper EXT port.
EDIT: Bah nevermind, I think this will indeed require an IFU. When I think about all the extra hardware the IFU provides, like save ram, SCSI like interface, etc, it would be a lot of work to replicate it.