OCZ Technology to Showcase Next-Generation Enterprise Storage Solutions at CeBIT 2013

OCZ to Unveil Upcoming ZD-XL Accelerator Optimized for SQL Server Database Applications

SAN JOSE, CA—February 25, 2013—OCZ Technology Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:OCZ), a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, today announced that it will preview a variety of enterprise storage solutions at next week’s CeBIT 2013 conference in Hannover, Germany. As a renowned global forum, CeBIT represents a great opportunity for attendees to be the first to see and experience the latest innovations in solid-state storage from an industry leader in enterprise SSDs, virtualization, and caching software. OCZ offers a complete suite of storage solutions that address VMware, Linux, and SQL Server platforms, and invites IT decision-makers who are evaluating or implementing solid-state storage in the data center to visit the Company’s exhibit in Hall 2, Stand E43, from March 5th through 9th.

OCZ will unveil the next-generation ZD-XL SQL Accelerator, a culmination of enterprise hardware and software converging as one tightly integrated and optimized solution. The ZD-XL Accelerator addresses SQL Server database applications to not only ensure that the data for this implementation is right, relevant, and readily available on SSD flash when the SQL Server needs it, but also that the data is accessed with the highest possible I/O performance. For simple deployment and ease of use, this tightly integrated, optimized solution features ‘implementation wizards’ to guide DBAs so they can optimally manage data cached to the flash. While showcasing the ZD-XL solution OCZ will invite enterprise customers to become beta testers for this exciting solution.

Also included in OCZ’s exhibition at CeBIT will be demonstrations to preview the upcoming VXL 1.3 Virtualization Software and LXL Acceleration Software with OCZ’s innovative Direct Pass Caching Technology, which not only addresses VMware but is also optimized for Linux applications. OCZ is one of the few SSD providers with a robust portfolio of virtualization and caching software that combine the power of flash acceleration with the power of storage virtualization. This enables multiple virtual server loads to run concurrently on a single physical host, not only increasing CPU and memory resource utilization, but also simplifying deployment, high availability (HA), and maintenance of the server loads.

The next-generation of workstation PCI Express (PCIe)-based SSDs will also be available soon as part of the Company’s award-winning Vector Series. These drives reside directly on the PCIe bus and will support four PCIe Gen2 lanes providing lower latency to data, faster file transfers and system boot-ups, expanded storage capacities, and an even quicker, more responsive experience over the already blazingly fast SATA 3.0-based Vector Series. The Vector PCIe Series will feature an advanced suite of flash management tools that deliver enhanced drive endurance and data, making it ideally suited for power computing, content creation, and workstation applications.

Join OCZ Technology at CeBIT 2013, Hannover, Germany, March 5th through 9th, Hall 2, Stand E43 from 9:00am to 6:00pm (local time).

OCZ Vertex 4 series, the fastest SSD available on the market, just became even faster with the latest 1.5 firmware release. The higher capacity drives have a significant increase on sequential writes which now reaches up to 510MB/s.

Physical
Usable Capacities (IDEMA)	64GB, 128GB, 256GB, 512GB
NAND Components	2Xnm Synchronous Multi-Level Cell (MLC)
Interface	SATA III / 6Gbps (backwards compatible with SATA II / 3Gbps)
Form Factor	2.5 Inch
NAND Controller	Indilinx Everest 2
DRAM Cache	Up to 1GB
Dimensions (L x W x H)	99.8 x 69.63 x 9.3 mm

It has been reported that a few brands of SSDs doesn’t seem to work very well with Intel Z77 boards. According to reports online, OCZ SSDs seems to be affected. In some instances, it cannot be recognised in the BIOS or it could only be recognised at the first instance and disappear on reboot.

In our case, we experienced weird installation issues on our Kingston SSDNow V series on an ASRock Z77 board. The Windows 7 USB stick is able to install on two HDDs with an older BIOS but fails with the latest. As for the SSD, it sometimes can be detected and sometimes disappear on reboot.

So is this an isolated case ? Will a BIOS fix solve the problem?

Post your comments below or in the forum at http://forums.ocworkbench.com

OCZ has been working closely with SandForce and they have provided us with a new firmware drop (2.08) that addresses a number of the outstanding issues. We are recommending that all customers update to this latest firmware. We encourage any customers that are experiencing any issues to please come directly to us, and if you have any issues updating also come to us and we will be happy to support you. We can also continue to confirm that the OCZ SSD proprietary hardware design does not exhibit any of the hardware issues observed on other competitor drives and we thank all our valuable customers and are committed to providing timely updates and continuing to address this and any issues head on.

FW 2.08:

New version of Toolbox as well:http://www.ocztechnology.com/files/s…lbox_v2_37.zip

I recommend you reboot after flashing the firmware and you now also have to reboot after doing a Secure erase.
This is VERY important.

We look to have found a bug with secure erase with 2.06 and 2.08, its simple to work around but you need to be specific when you run an SE.

When you SE a drive, it needs to complete a cycle to properly complete the SE. That cycle can either be a power off then power on, or a reboot of the machine you SE’d on. The important part here is that it is on the same machine, you don’t want to SE, then power off, then move the drive.
So, if you boot into Windows or Linux and SE, once the SE is done, simply reboot back to that same OS before you start installing Windows or moving the drive to another machine (if you had to switch machines).
so windows..:

1 run SE on the drive as spare with toolbox
2 once complete, reboot back to the same boot drive with the ssd still connected as a spare
3 check SE has wiped the drive
4 if drive is clean, power off, remove OS drive and install to SSD normally (although my method is fool proof as everything gets loaded in the correct order) make sure to run WEI after all drivers and power options in windows are set, this is most important.

DO NOT:
Run SE then unplug and attach to another platform
You do this, you will password lock the drives and there is no way back without an RMA

Within Linux:

1 boot to live CD
2 Run HDparm secure erase
3 once confirmed, close HDparm, reboot back to the same linux CD
4 check HDparm sees the ssd BUT it should not show as a drive on the desktop as its not partitioned
5 if all is ok power off, remove Linux live CD and install OS normally

These are my recommendations to ensure things are clean. You do not HAVE to follow any of this, this is just how I insure a level playing field on my installs and SE’s.

If you just want to update the drive and not reinstall:
Boot into Windows with the SSD as a secondary (if you are using the Toolbox).
Open toolbox and update the drive.
Close toolbox
Go to Start > restart the computer
Boot back into the same Windows install (do not boot to the SSD).
After you get to desktop, you can then shutdown and boot back to the SSD.

If you want to go fresh after this update:
Boot into Windows with the SSD as a secondary (if you are using the Toolbox)
Open Toolbox and SE the drive
Close toolbox
Restart the computer back into the same Windows install.
Open Toolbox and update the Firmware
Close Toolbox
Restart the computer back into OS.
After desktop, you can shutdown and then begin OS install to SSD.

New OCZ HSDL Eliminates the Bandwidth-Saturation of Current Interfaces to Deliver Unparalleled SSD Performance for Both Enterprise and Consumer Clients

SAN JOSE, CA—September 29, 2010— OCZ Technology Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:OCZ), a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) and memory modules for computing devices and systems, has unveiled a proprietary interface called “High-Speed Data Link” (HSDL) to accelerate the progression of solid-state storage. Unsatisfied with existing interface options, OCZ developed HSDL to eliminate I/O bottlenecks and enable SSD technology to operate at its full potential. With this initiative, OCZ aims to enhance high performance computing (HPC) and I/O-intensive infrastructures for its clients.

“Solid State Drive throughput speeds are increasing at a rate in excess of what current storage buses can support, and as a result, storage protocols are quickly becoming the bottleneck to storage subsystem performance,” said Ryan Petersen, CEO of OCZ Technology. “Designed for both high-performance computing and enterprise storage applications, our new High Speed Data Link interface addresses this issue and revolutionizes data storage by significantly outperforming other current interfaces delivering performance at levels that saturate most CPU busses.”

Capable of running up to 20Gbps of data bandwidth per channel, HSDL significantly outperforms existing storage interfaces such as Serial ATA (SATA) and Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) which only offer 3Gbps/6Gbps data rates. Furthermore, multiple HSDL channels can be combined for maximum bandwidth to increase productivity levels in both consumer and enterprise applications.

OCZ’s new HSDL interface is the driving force behind the “OCZ IBIS,” an upcoming 3.5-inch SSD to be launched under the new HSDL initiative. As the first solution to make use of the HSDL interface, the OCZ IBIS Series has the potential to redefine storage and surpass the limitations currently placed on hard drives as well as other SSDs.

HSDL is an open standard and allows other devices to leverage this high-speed internal interconnect technology. OCZ is diligently working with platform partners for mass HSDL adoption, and in the meantime, single port adapter cards will ship with every HSDL solid-state drive such as the IBIS Series, while quad port cards for multiple drive configurations will also be available to clients seeking even greater storage and bandwidth.

You probably know about the OCZ RevoDrive which has amazing IOPs. At the Sandstorm booth at IDF technology Showcase, the latest RevoDrive x2 is sighted at the Sandforce booth.

The new OCZ RevoDrive X2, which is a PCI Express-based SSD that features four Sandforce controllers in what’s essentially a 4-way RAID configuration looks just like the the existing RevoDrive, but with a daughterboard attached with two additional controllers and some additional NAND. The RevoDrive X2 also sports Intel NAND flash memory. The device offers a max read speeds in the 740MB/s range with writes approaching 730MB/s. Using IOMETER, 4K random writes are rated at up to 120,000 IOPS.

Source

OCZ Vertex 2 E 60GB OCZSSD2-2VTXE60G Review
bluetooth 15 Aug 2010

HDD used to be the bottleneck for performance. This has been partially solved with higher SATA interface speed. As HDD goes speedier, it is still unable to saturate the interface.  SSD came and slowly take over as the preferred choice as storage media as it is speedy and could take advantage of the higher speed SATA II interface. As not all SSD are made equal, some SSD gives amazing read speeds but bad write speeds. OCZ Vertex II 60GB, the extended version inherits the original version with a bigger capacity and push the limits in both sequential and random read/write. As spec, it is able to do a max read and write up to 285MB/s and 275MB/s respectively. 4K random write (aligned) should be able to attain 50,000 IOPS. by virtue of the SandForce controller.

Built with SATA 3Gb/s, the Vertex 2 Series easily integrates into today’s mobile and desktop platforms and features TRIM support to optimize performance over the drive’s lifespan as the ultimate Windows 7 notebook or desktop upgrade.

The OCZ Vertex II 60GB comes with a metal bracketl 2.5” to 3.5” adapter so you can stick the SSD into a standard hard drive bay. Below is a video showing the package and the SSD.

Specifications

Max Read: up to 285MB/s
Max Write: up to 275MB/s
Sustained Write: up to 250MB/s
4k Random Write (Aligned): 50,000 IOPS
Seek Time: 0.1 MS
Power Consumption: Idle: 0.5Watts Active: 2Watt
Performance Optimization: TRIM (requires OS support)

OCZ Technology Announces Vertex 2 and Agility 2 Solid State Drives

Company Unveils Cutting-Edge 2.5-Inch Solid State Drives for the Consumer Market 

 SAN JOSE, CA—April 8, 2010—OCZ Technology Group, Inc. (OTCBB: OCZT), a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory and flash-based storage as an alternative to hard disk drives (HDDs), today unveiled the Vertex 2 and Agility 2 SATA II 2.5″ Solid State Drive (SSD) Series. These are new enthusiast-class SSDs designed for consumers who are seeking unprecedented speed and reliability with the goal of enhancing both their daily computing experience and long-term productivity.

“OCZ’s original Vertex Series of solid state drives have become a top seller due to the product’s exceptional performance and reliability,” said Ryan Petersen, CEO of OCZ Technology Group. “The new Vertex 2 and Agility 2 SSD lines continue that tradition by incorporating the latest controller and firmware technology. They are an excellent solution for customers who are looking for improved transfer rates and best-in-class input/output per second (IOPS) for a wide range of uses, ranging from entertainment to workstation and tier 2 storage applications. Additionally, this new product line highlights our continuing determination to be the market leader in the high reliability memory and flash-based storage market.”

Building on the features that distinguished their highly acclaimed predecessors, the Vertex 2 and Agility 2 incorporate a cutting-edge new controller design that delivers superior performance across the board. As the higher-end option, the Vertex 2 excels in 4KB random writes up to 50,000 IOPS and features transfer rates up to 285MB/s read and 275MB/s write. For the value-conscious enthusiast, Agility 2 provides similar performance at a lower price point and delivers identical read/write rates and 4KB random writes up to 10,000 IOPS.

OCZ Vertex 2 and Agility 2 SSDs not only provide a faster, more responsive PC experience, but also promote cooler, quieter and more energy-efficient conditions compared to traditional mechanical hard drives. Built with SATA 3Gb/s, the drives easily integrate into today’s mobile and desktop platforms and feature TRIM support for Windows 7 systems. Available in 50GB, 100GB, 200GB, and 400GB capacities*, Vertex 2 and Agility 2 will begin shipping in the next few weeks through OCZ’s extensive global channel. Both series come backed by a three-year warranty and OCZ’s dedicated technical support for ultimate peace of mind.