OCZ Storage Solutions Re-emerges as Toshiba Subsidiary

By Kevin Parrish
published

OCZ will now be called OCZ Storage Solutions.

On Tuesday, Toshiba Corporation announced that it has completed the acquisition of OCZ Technology's assets and will make the SSD maker a wholly owned subsidiary. Effective immediately, OCZ will operate independently as OCZ Storage Solutions, providing Toshiba with its enterprise and client SSD businesses.

According to Toshiba, making OCZ a subsidiary means that the established brand will continue in full force with a current portfolio. The deal also means OCZ will take advantage of Toshiba's NAND and combine it with OCZ's proprietary controllers, firmware and software for client and enterprise-based solutions.

"The acquisition of OCZ further expands our solid-state storage capabilities and represents Toshiba's commitment to this high-growth area," said Mr. Seiichi Mori, Vice President of Toshiba's Semiconductor and Storage Company and Corporate Vice President of Toshiba. "Our goal is to offer a leading edge portfolio of solid state solutions to address the storage challenges faced by both client and enterprise customers, and the acquisition of OCZ is an ideal addition to our team in realizing this strategy."

The acquisition deal was first made known back on December 2. The transaction would be completed through a sale and auction process pursuant to Section 363 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. The announcement arrived after OCZ said that it had defaulted on a loan agreement after it was unable to land enough NAND to ship its SSDs.

OCZ's revenue had fallen to $33.5 million USD in its most recent quarter, down from $88.6 million USD in the same quarter one year earlier. Yet somehow the company managed to reduce its losses, shrinking down to $26.1 million from $33.2 million seen in the same quarter last year.

"We are very excited to be part of the Toshiba family where we will continue to develop new and unique solid-state storage technologies that position the new entity as a market leader," said Ralph Schmitt, CEO for OCZ Storage Solutions.

Toshiba's announcement said that OCZ Storage Solutions will remain in San Jose, California, with strategic design centers located in Irvine (California), Tel Aviv (Israel), and Abingdon (UK). The financial details of the acquisition were not provided.

Kevin Parrish
7 Comments Comment from the forums
  • weilin
    To be honest, this was probably the best case scenario for OCZ... I'm curious about their PC Power & Cooling brand though...
    Reply
  • ssd_pro
    I have always stuck to Samsung and OCZ SSD's. After owning a couple dozen drives between the two I can't say one is more reliable that the other. I can however say Samsung's reputation pegs them as more reliable. The biggest difference between the two is the support. People at OCZ act like people, the people at Samsung act like bots. I like that OCZ has a forum you can go ask a quick question and get a quality, informed answer. I also think some of OCZ reliability reputation issues come from NAND used. You have to think the wafers they got weren't always the best because they had to get it from competitors. I think this partnership with Toshiba is going to be hugely beneficial to everyone: OCZ, Toshiba, and enterprise and consumer customers.
    Reply
  • realworld
    except for the fact they stole shareholders money for two years, lying, cheating, and forging documents, how could anyone want to support a company like that? I burned my drives. and luckily I didn't own anything with Toshiba memory.
    Reply
  • xiinc37
    Indilinx controllers + toshiba nand sounds good to me. I think the new OCZ may be something good in the future.
    Reply
  • loosescrews
    The article doesn't state whether they will still be honoring the old warranties.
    Reply
  • xyriin
    OCZ is the number one SSD brand...for returns and failures.http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-reliability-failure-rate,2923-3.htmlWhy would you buy OCZ when they have three times the failure rate of other brands like Samsung, Intel, and Crucial. Oh yeah, you don't that's why they went under.
    Reply
  • djridonkulus
    My first dive into the SSD realm was when I purchased a Vertex 2 SSD. It died within months, was replaced, and died again, then replaced again. When I say "died", I mean bios could no longer detect a drive installed even though all connections I checked were okay. My third Vertex 2 seems to be fine, it's been running 2-3 years now (knock on wood). My point is, yes their reliability was kinda bad, but the plus was definitely their customer service. Prompt, courteous, and free of charge (all replacements done totally free as their depot was close by to me).
    Reply