OCZ history: from RAM to SSD at a speed of 2.7 GB / s
Hi, Geektimes! Sometimes it is useful to take a break from hardware, firmware and benchmarks, close the lid of the system unit and read something interesting about the history or technology. Recently, we made a cycle of 4 articles about the history of drives ( once > two > three > four ), and today we would like to plunge you into the history of OCZ for a few minutes - starting with the release of RAM and ending with powerful SSD capable of providing speeds of up to 2, 7 GB / s. Sit back.
OCZ has been around for 14 years, and the history of such companies is usually of particular interest. Agree, it is curious to find out how it all began, and how we managed to come to what you are seeing now in our computers every day. In any story, of course, there are both interesting and boring moments - we will try to tell only the most important and briefly run through the drives that stormed the market not so long ago, just like now Trion 150 does .
As befits all successful technology corporations, OCZ was founded in California (San Jose) in 2002. Here found their home and opened the headquarters of many other companies, including Adobe and eBay. At that time, the company was not called OCZ Storage Solutions, but the OCZ Technology Group, and specialized mainly in the release of RAM not only for ordinary consumers, but for corporate purposes - DDR memory with speeds from PC-2100 to PC-5000, including Macintosh computers. Already in June 2006, the company held an IPO and entered the London Stock Exchange - at the same time the boom of DDR2 memory lines occurred. Since 2007, OCZ has launched DDR3 memory, which is still used in many computers and servers.
Operational memory is, of course, good, but over time, many manufacturers began to retrain and threw themselves on the production of SSD drives. It is worth noting that OCZ soon succeeded in this direction: the company's goal was to create affordable and reliable SSDs that almost everyone could afford (in fact, now you can see for yourself). Back in 2004-2006, the cost of 128 GB solid-state drives left much to be desired - however, given the complexity of the development, this was not surprising.
And in March 2008, OCZ bursts into the SSD market with its Solid Series 2.5-inch drive and SATA II interface, expanding the list of global SSD manufacturers to 70 at that time. This SSD was equipped with an MLC memory module and had a record for those times, speed indicators: 150 MB / s for reading and 90 MB / s for writing. But the most interesting thing is that in Russia he then cost about eight thousand rubles - that was how much you had to pay for the 120 GB version. Many users began their acquaintance with the world of SSD from this particular drive, since at that time it was quite affordable and had impressive technical characteristics. Needless to say that the demand was appropriate.
2010 turned out to be incredibly intense for OCZ Technology Group. In April, the company was listed on the American NASDAQ under the OCZ index. Being on this exchange is a momentous moment for any company. In November of the same year, OCZ acquired the intellectual property of Solid Data Inc., the amount of the transaction amounted to 950 thousand dollars. In the modern technological world without such “purchases”, mergers and acquisitions can not be.
Earlier in 2010, the OCZ Z-Drive p84 drive became available in Russian retail as much as a terabyte. As an interface, PCI-Express 8x was used, and the SSD itself provided almost 900 MB / s and 800 MB / s for reading and writing, respectively, based on SLC (256 MB of fast cache). That's where the records were - the truth, and the price was rather big. However, it was foolish to expect the opposite with such capacity and speed indicators.
And in September, OCZ announced RevoDrive, a PCE-E enthusiast's drive, which could boast a speed of 540 MB / s for reading and 480 MB / s for writing. Super fast SSD for any needs. At the same time, the High Speed Data Link (HSDL) interface with a hybrid PCIe / SAS interface was introduced.
But not only drives of this type became available from OCZ in 2010. OCZ Enyo 128 GB became an external SSD with USB 3.0 support. At speeds of 260 MB / s for reading and 200 MB / s for writing, the price from seven to eight thousand rubles did not seem so big. Yes, the capacity was not 1 TB, but then many only dreamed of an external SSD.
2011 began for the company with purchases - this time the transaction took place with Indilinx Co, because patents are not superfluous. Following this, PLX Technology has taken over. In early 2011, OCZ announced that it was going to curtail the production of RAM. The company decided to throw all the forces on the solid-state drives, and it was the right decision.
A little later, OCZ presents a drive with SATA 6 Gb / s interface called Vertex 3. 550 MB / s for reading and writing made it a real “monster” among solid-state drives. The new platform supported capacity up to 1 TB and had a DDR3 DRAM cache interface with support for up to 512 MB.
You can not ignore the OCZ Deneva - high-speed and reliable SSD with SATA II interface based on the SandForce SF-1222 controller and MLC. Soon the novelty was chosen in corporate use, as a result, it settled in many servers.
In 2012, OCZ absorbed SANRAD Inc. for 15 million dollars - the latter became the company's office in Israel.
A little later, the company announced the appearance of Vertex 4 and Vector. The first one “issued” 560 MB / s for reading and 510 MB / s for writing, had a SATA 6 Gb / s interface, supported TRIM. Vector speeds were about the same (550 MB / s and 530 MB / s for reading and writing, respectively), the same thing seemed to be an interface. But as a controller, Indilinx Barefoot 3 was already used.
In 2013, OCZ made a deal with Toshiba, a “daughter” of which is to this day. By the way, few people know that OCZ also produces the Neural Impulse Actuator sensor for nerve impulses to transform human activity into cursor movements.
As OCZ Storage Solutions, under the wing of Toshiba, the company seemed to be reborn and began to release new drives. In 2014, new Vector with a 19 nm memory, manufactured under the Toshiba brand, appeared. A little earlier, OCZ entered the market with AMD.
The corporate segment was once again happy with the appearance of the Saber 1000 SSD , which was specially created to constantly read data and work with demanding applications. Separate attention deserves the exit to the scene of drives with NVMe interface - for example, OCZ Z-Drive 6000.
2015 OCZ Storage Solutions started with new products - at CeBIT in Hannover in March, the company introduced the SSD Vector 180 , which replaced the Vector 150. It has a form factor of 7 mm, an SATA 3 interface, and OCZ Indilinx Barefoot 3 is used as a controller M00. As for speeds, it is 550 MB / s for reading and 530 MB / s for writing. The maximum storage capacity was 960 GB.
Within the framework of the same exhibition, the Intrepid 3700 SSD with eMLC memory was announced. Capacity up to 1920 GB, high speed performance, five-year warranty - he immediately became a star among corporate clients .
In February 2015, OCZ began to cooperate with the company Levyx.
A little later, in June, at the Computex 2015 exhibition, OCZ presented the Trion 100 , a completely new drive with a Toshiba Alishan controller. Up to 960 GB, Toshiba TLC NAND memory and up to 550 MB / s for reading.
In the same year, by the way, the SSD Guru utility for managing drives from OCZ became available to users. You can not only monitor the status of the disk, but also update the firmware, activate TRIM, and so on.
In December 2015, OCZ launched the ShieldPlus warranty program , which is valid now. Within its framework, the company sends you a new drive instead of a defective one, if something suddenly happens to the disk.
Well, at CES 2016 , which was just a couple of months ago, the company introduced the Trion 150 - the successor to the Trion 100. An honest review is already on our blog (550 MB / s for reading and 540 MB / s for writing), so all the advantages you can see for yourself.
Also at CES 2016, the RevoDrive 400 NVMe saw the light - it was he who demonstrated a record speed of 2.7 GB / s. The real pride of the line for enthusiasts. In addition to drives for ordinary consumers, CES also showed solutions for corporate purposes - the Z-Drive 6300 AIC Series, Saber 1000, Intrepid 3700 and others.
Now the central office of OCZ Storage Solutions is still located in San Jose, and the company also has several offices around the world, employing hundreds of people. They are working to ensure that our drives are even faster, more reliable.
We hope you find it interesting to make this small excursion into the history of our company. Write in the comments, what else would you like to read in our blog.
OCZ has been around for 14 years, and the history of such companies is usually of particular interest. Agree, it is curious to find out how it all began, and how we managed to come to what you are seeing now in our computers every day. In any story, of course, there are both interesting and boring moments - we will try to tell only the most important and briefly run through the drives that stormed the market not so long ago, just like now Trion 150 does .
As befits all successful technology corporations, OCZ was founded in California (San Jose) in 2002. Here found their home and opened the headquarters of many other companies, including Adobe and eBay. At that time, the company was not called OCZ Storage Solutions, but the OCZ Technology Group, and specialized mainly in the release of RAM not only for ordinary consumers, but for corporate purposes - DDR memory with speeds from PC-2100 to PC-5000, including Macintosh computers. Already in June 2006, the company held an IPO and entered the London Stock Exchange - at the same time the boom of DDR2 memory lines occurred. Since 2007, OCZ has launched DDR3 memory, which is still used in many computers and servers.
Operational memory is, of course, good, but over time, many manufacturers began to retrain and threw themselves on the production of SSD drives. It is worth noting that OCZ soon succeeded in this direction: the company's goal was to create affordable and reliable SSDs that almost everyone could afford (in fact, now you can see for yourself). Back in 2004-2006, the cost of 128 GB solid-state drives left much to be desired - however, given the complexity of the development, this was not surprising.
And in March 2008, OCZ bursts into the SSD market with its Solid Series 2.5-inch drive and SATA II interface, expanding the list of global SSD manufacturers to 70 at that time. This SSD was equipped with an MLC memory module and had a record for those times, speed indicators: 150 MB / s for reading and 90 MB / s for writing. But the most interesting thing is that in Russia he then cost about eight thousand rubles - that was how much you had to pay for the 120 GB version. Many users began their acquaintance with the world of SSD from this particular drive, since at that time it was quite affordable and had impressive technical characteristics. Needless to say that the demand was appropriate.
2010 turned out to be incredibly intense for OCZ Technology Group. In April, the company was listed on the American NASDAQ under the OCZ index. Being on this exchange is a momentous moment for any company. In November of the same year, OCZ acquired the intellectual property of Solid Data Inc., the amount of the transaction amounted to 950 thousand dollars. In the modern technological world without such “purchases”, mergers and acquisitions can not be.
Earlier in 2010, the OCZ Z-Drive p84 drive became available in Russian retail as much as a terabyte. As an interface, PCI-Express 8x was used, and the SSD itself provided almost 900 MB / s and 800 MB / s for reading and writing, respectively, based on SLC (256 MB of fast cache). That's where the records were - the truth, and the price was rather big. However, it was foolish to expect the opposite with such capacity and speed indicators.
And in September, OCZ announced RevoDrive, a PCE-E enthusiast's drive, which could boast a speed of 540 MB / s for reading and 480 MB / s for writing. Super fast SSD for any needs. At the same time, the High Speed Data Link (HSDL) interface with a hybrid PCIe / SAS interface was introduced.
But not only drives of this type became available from OCZ in 2010. OCZ Enyo 128 GB became an external SSD with USB 3.0 support. At speeds of 260 MB / s for reading and 200 MB / s for writing, the price from seven to eight thousand rubles did not seem so big. Yes, the capacity was not 1 TB, but then many only dreamed of an external SSD.
2011 began for the company with purchases - this time the transaction took place with Indilinx Co, because patents are not superfluous. Following this, PLX Technology has taken over. In early 2011, OCZ announced that it was going to curtail the production of RAM. The company decided to throw all the forces on the solid-state drives, and it was the right decision.
A little later, OCZ presents a drive with SATA 6 Gb / s interface called Vertex 3. 550 MB / s for reading and writing made it a real “monster” among solid-state drives. The new platform supported capacity up to 1 TB and had a DDR3 DRAM cache interface with support for up to 512 MB.
You can not ignore the OCZ Deneva - high-speed and reliable SSD with SATA II interface based on the SandForce SF-1222 controller and MLC. Soon the novelty was chosen in corporate use, as a result, it settled in many servers.
In 2012, OCZ absorbed SANRAD Inc. for 15 million dollars - the latter became the company's office in Israel.
A little later, the company announced the appearance of Vertex 4 and Vector. The first one “issued” 560 MB / s for reading and 510 MB / s for writing, had a SATA 6 Gb / s interface, supported TRIM. Vector speeds were about the same (550 MB / s and 530 MB / s for reading and writing, respectively), the same thing seemed to be an interface. But as a controller, Indilinx Barefoot 3 was already used.
In 2013, OCZ made a deal with Toshiba, a “daughter” of which is to this day. By the way, few people know that OCZ also produces the Neural Impulse Actuator sensor for nerve impulses to transform human activity into cursor movements.
As OCZ Storage Solutions, under the wing of Toshiba, the company seemed to be reborn and began to release new drives. In 2014, new Vector with a 19 nm memory, manufactured under the Toshiba brand, appeared. A little earlier, OCZ entered the market with AMD.
The corporate segment was once again happy with the appearance of the Saber 1000 SSD , which was specially created to constantly read data and work with demanding applications. Separate attention deserves the exit to the scene of drives with NVMe interface - for example, OCZ Z-Drive 6000.
2015 OCZ Storage Solutions started with new products - at CeBIT in Hannover in March, the company introduced the SSD Vector 180 , which replaced the Vector 150. It has a form factor of 7 mm, an SATA 3 interface, and OCZ Indilinx Barefoot 3 is used as a controller M00. As for speeds, it is 550 MB / s for reading and 530 MB / s for writing. The maximum storage capacity was 960 GB.
Within the framework of the same exhibition, the Intrepid 3700 SSD with eMLC memory was announced. Capacity up to 1920 GB, high speed performance, five-year warranty - he immediately became a star among corporate clients .
In February 2015, OCZ began to cooperate with the company Levyx.
A little later, in June, at the Computex 2015 exhibition, OCZ presented the Trion 100 , a completely new drive with a Toshiba Alishan controller. Up to 960 GB, Toshiba TLC NAND memory and up to 550 MB / s for reading.
In the same year, by the way, the SSD Guru utility for managing drives from OCZ became available to users. You can not only monitor the status of the disk, but also update the firmware, activate TRIM, and so on.
In December 2015, OCZ launched the ShieldPlus warranty program , which is valid now. Within its framework, the company sends you a new drive instead of a defective one, if something suddenly happens to the disk.
Well, at CES 2016 , which was just a couple of months ago, the company introduced the Trion 150 - the successor to the Trion 100. An honest review is already on our blog (550 MB / s for reading and 540 MB / s for writing), so all the advantages you can see for yourself.
Also at CES 2016, the RevoDrive 400 NVMe saw the light - it was he who demonstrated a record speed of 2.7 GB / s. The real pride of the line for enthusiasts. In addition to drives for ordinary consumers, CES also showed solutions for corporate purposes - the Z-Drive 6300 AIC Series, Saber 1000, Intrepid 3700 and others.
Now the central office of OCZ Storage Solutions is still located in San Jose, and the company also has several offices around the world, employing hundreds of people. They are working to ensure that our drives are even faster, more reliable.
We hope you find it interesting to make this small excursion into the history of our company. Write in the comments, what else would you like to read in our blog.