OCZ has a new SSD interface

Computex 2010: And lots of drives

OCZ logoOCZ IS MOVING toward enterprise SSDs in a hurry, but they didn’t stop there. The company showed off everything from PCIe SSDs to a new proprietary interface for drives.

OCZ 1.8 inch drives

Two small drives

The first new product is actually a pair of drives, one with an Indilinx controller called Onyx, and the other a Sandforce based Vertex2. The interesting part is that both are 1.8″ form factor parts, all of the speed, none of the bulk. Makers of thin and light notebooks are going to be really happy about these.

Next up is not really a product, but more of a pat on the back from LSI and Adaptec. Several OCZ models are now qualified for both company’s RAID setups, so they are now ‘safe’ for the enterprise. This should give OCZ a lot of credibility, not to mention sales, in the business world.

From there we have a new line of drives from OCZ called Deneva and you will probably never see one. Deneva drives have firmware custom made for each client to their specs, and that is not sold to anyone else. Basically, if you need drives optimized for a certain task, drives with certain data protection algorithms, or just want the SSD BIOS to read out “Bob is great” every time your computer boots, Deneva is for you. It will cost you though, but for many, this is a small price to pay to get the performance they need.

OCZ dual card

Sandyforce Bridged

The next one is so new that it doesn’t have a name, but it is fast. Put two Sandforce controllers on a card, add 120GB of flash, put a PCIe interface on it, and there you go. It is basically two raided SSDs without the SATA2 bottleneck, along with a daughtercard for expansion. How fast is it? About 540MBps read and 530MBps write, both peak, and around 75K IOPS. The best part is the drive should cost around $450, and it is bootable.

OCZ interface

The future of SSDs?

Last up, we have a new interface for SSDs that OCZ is calling HSDL. It is non-standard, but will support RAID and other features that SSDs do well. Given that this is OCZ’s own standard, they also make the cards for it, both single and four port models were shown off. It is described as a high speed data link, but nothing else was disclosed.S|A

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Charlie Demerjian

Roving engine of chaos and snide remarks at SemiAccurate
Charlie Demerjian is the founder of Stone Arch Networking Services and SemiAccurate.com. SemiAccurate.com is a technology news site; addressing hardware design, software selection, customization, securing and maintenance, with over one million views per month. He is a technologist and analyst specializing in semiconductors, system and network architecture. As head writer of SemiAccurate.com, he regularly advises writers, analysts, and industry executives on technical matters and long lead industry trends. Charlie is also available through Guidepoint and Mosaic. FullyAccurate