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OCZ buys Indilinx, probably has designs on building its own SSD controllers
Indilinx, the company responsible for designing the Barefoot SSD controller, has today agreed to hand its future over to the capable lads and ladies of OCZ Technology in exchange for $32 million in common OCZ stock. The companies have announced a definitive agreement for the chipmaker's acquisition, which OCZ is performing in order to gobble up a set of 20 yummy patents and patent applications while also expanding its presence in embedded, hybrid storage and industrial markets. Indilinx will continue its current operations, including providing controllers and firmware to other OEMs, and OCZ too will continue to use others' wares, namedropping its long-term partner SandForce as among the outside companies that will be supplying it with SSD goodies. So it's business as usual unless and until this partnership spawns some lightning-fast combination of software and hardware that forces us to hear that cursed "exclusive" word again. Ah well, best of luck of luck to them.
OCZ's Agility 2 SSD reviewed: despite limits, SandForce SF-1200 drive performs well
Contrary to popular belief, one solid state drive isn't the same as another solid state drive necessarily. OCZ's new Agility 2 is proof of that, boasting the final (v3.0.5) version of SandForce's SF-1200 firmware. The issue here is that Corsair's recently released Force series of SSDs are shipping (and continue to ship) with v3.0.1 installed, which -- according to SandForce -- will never be viewed as the final version ready for mass consumption. As the story goes, v3.0.1 may experience a reliability issue with a power management state, but v3.0.5 caps small file random write performance as to better separate the SF-1200 drives from the pricier SF-1500 drives. Our compadres over at AnandTech were able to put the (factory limited) Agility 2 SSD through its paces, and for the most part, it came out looking pretty decent. Critics found 5- to 10-percent performance gains when compared to Intel / Indilinx offerings, but unless you have to have the absolute best, paying extra for that bump may not be the most intelligent move. The other point here is that while the Agility 2 may be capped with the v3.0.5 firmware, at least its upgrade path is a lot clearer than the aforementioned Force; if you ever take v3.0.1 away from that unit, you can kiss that extra performance goodbye. Hit the source link for the full, drama-filled look.
Corsair cranks with Extreme Series X32, X64 and X128 SSDs
Corsair's no stranger to the wild, nimble and reliable world of solid state storage, but its latest line of 2.5-inch SSDs takes that whole "speed" thing to another level. The aptly-titled Extreme Series is comprised of the X32, X64 and X128, which pack 32GB, 64GB and 128GB of capacity, predictably and respectively. Built using Samsung MLC NAND flash memory and an Indilinx Barefoot controller, these drives have been tested to reach read rates of up to 240MBps and write rates of 170MBps. Corsair even notes that these are upgradable via future firmware updates, meaning that the upcoming TRIM command for Windows 7 will be but a download away. Per usual, the company's mum on pricing and release details, but unless something has changed since last week yesterday, the whole lot will be a bit too rich for our blood.
Indilinx and Mosaid aim to squeeze 600MB/s out of SSDs
Indilinx just recently caught eyes with its Barefoot solid state drive controller, which has reportedly shown a read speed of 230MB/sec. Merely days later, it's already talking about the next best thing. Said firm, along with Mosaid, is preparing for a third-generation of the controller for the SATA 3 interface, which will provide a mind-boggling 600MB/sec. Unfortunately, no other details were provided, but just in case you were terrified that the internal drive you purchase in 2013 wouldn't transfer files any faster than the one you're using now, at least you've one less worry on your mind.[Thanks, Johnny]
Indilinx trumpets SSD controller with 230MB/sec read speed
With SSDs, there really is no "fast enough." In the never-ending quest for more speed, Indilinx has just introduced its Barefoot solid state drive controller with 90-nanometer process technology. Said device has reportedly shown the "fastest read speed (230MB/sec) of all the products currently available in the market and supports the capacity up to 512GB with multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash." Additionally, it plays nice with SATA 2.0 and flash memory from Samsung, Toshiba, Hynix and Intel / Micron. Sadly, mass production isn't scheduled until Q4 of this year, so now you can sit on that vanilla HDD even longer as you wait for the future to arrive. Ugh, what a tease.
