OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, reports its fourth quarter (Q4'12) and year-end results for the fiscal year 2012, (FY'12), which ended on February 29, 2012.

Financial Highlights

- Fiscal year 2012, net revenue increased 92% to $365.8 million compared with fiscal year 2011 net revenue of $190.1 million. Net revenue in Q4'12 was a record $110.4 million, and increased 71% compared with net revenue of $64.6 million reported in Q4'11.
- Fiscal year 2012, SSD revenue was $338.9 million, up 154% compared with $133.2 million in fiscal year 2011. Q4'12 SSD revenue reached a record $103.2 million; an increase of 77% compared with Q4'11 SSD revenue of $58.2 million.
- Fiscal year 2012 gross margins increased to 22.5% compared to 12.7% with fiscal year 2011. Q4'12 gross margin increased to 25.0% compared with 16.6% in Q4'11, and 22.5% in Q3'12.
- Net loss for Q4'12 was $10.9 million or $0.19 loss per share compared with a net loss of $9.3 million or $0.27 loss per share in Q4'11.
- Non-GAAP net loss for Q4'12 was $6.0 million or $0.11 loss per share as compared with a non-GAAP net loss for Q4'11 of $0.8 million or $0.02 loss per share.

OCZ Technology Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:OCZ), a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, today announced that its SAS-based Talos 2 SSDs have been selected by HyVE (Hybrid Virtualization Engine) Systems for implementation within three high-compute platforms targeted for virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) academic and corporate end user compute solutions. Providing stellar read/write input/output operations per second (IOPS) performance, high reliability and availability of stored data and desktop applications, the ability to grow with the HyVE Systems platforms, and cost-effectiveness were the key attributes that aided in the selection of OCZ Talos 2 drives.

Combining proven virtualization solutions with state-of-the-art, best-of-breed hardware products that support next-generation cloud requirements, the HyVE System VDI platform provides a cost-effective, high-performance environment that scales to the needs of their customers while providing an extremely low cost per desktop without jeopardizing quality, reliability or performance. A typical HyVE System VDI solution has a fixed cost of approximately $200 per desktop which is significantly lower than traditional virtual solutions that typically start at $1,500 per desktop, and scale down cost to approximately $700 per desktop, depending on infrastructure costs.

For those who thought with the Indilinx buyout and release of Everest and Kilimanjaro series NAND flash controllers, OCZ is on course of becoming a largely self-sufficient SSD industry player, here's a revelation. Its new Everest series silicon, used in recently-launched SSD families (such as Octane and Vertex 4), is essentially a re-badged Marvell controller (found on SSDs such as Crucial M4, Intel SSD 510), with custom firmware developed by OCZ. This discovery by Anandtech was confirmed by OCZ (Indilinx).

The Indilinx Everest (Octane and Petrol series) and Everest 2 (Vertex 4 series), are both re-badged Marvell chips with Indilinx firmware. Although it doesn't change anything, it perfectly explains how OCZ could come up with two "new" SSD controllers (Everest and Everest 2) almost instantly, after the Indilix acquisition. Everest 1 is essentially a higher-clocked Marvell 88SS9174, while Everest 2 could very well be a re-badged Marvell 88SS9187, according to the source.

OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, today introduced Indilinx Everest 2, its next-generation SSD platform that delivers an industry-best performance of 120,000 random input/output operations per second (IOPS) for SATA-based drives.

In addition to this unprecedented transactional performance, the Everest 2 features the most advanced flash management capabilities which can significantly extend NAND flash life and enhance SSD reliability. This innovative controller platform will debut in OCZ's new Vertex 4 SSD product line.

The Indilinx Everest 2 family of solid state drive processors establishes a new computing and storage paradigm by delivering breakthrough performance and uncompromising reliability to next-generation SSDs. Combining a 400M Hz dual-core CPU, 6 Gbps SATA Revision 3.0 interface, and support for the latest, most advanced NAND flash memory technology available, Everest 2 exceeds the needs of the most demanding SSD environments.

OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, today introduced the Vertex 4 SATA III SSD series featuring the company's advanced Indilinx Everest 2 controller platform.

The Vertex 4 delivers the industry's highest input/output operations per second (IOPS) performance for SATA-based drives across a wide variety of application workloads making this fourth generation flagship product line ideally suited for demanding computing and workstation environments. It consistently accomplishes superior real world performance over the long term regardless of whether the data streams are in compressed or uncompressed formats.

OCZ Technology Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:OCZ), a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, is pleased to announce the Deneva 2 Series SSDs will be used as the storage device of choice in a pending 'Data-Scope' research project at The Johns Hopkins University (JHU) to create servers for scientific data processing. This initiative to maximize data processing power is spearheaded by Dr. Alexander Szalay, Alumni Centennial Professor in the university's Department of Physics and Astronomy and Director of the JHU Institute for Data Intensive Engineering and Science.

With the goal of creating an affordable, powerful computational environment that can be used as a blueprint for future science applications, the JHU project comprises a system of nearly one hundred servers using hundreds of OCZ Deneva 2 SSDs combined with regular hard disk drives with two tiers for storage and computing. These powerful yet inexpensive systems also serve to expose students and researchers to leading-edge technology at an early stage.

OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, today announced that the company's enterprise class Deneva 2 solid state drives will be deployed within the newest NuVola Private Cloud Platform Solution Appliance - SAN Velocity powered by Fujitsu, which also utilizes Assurance Storage's ApplicationSmart software.

The SAN Velocity powered by Fujitsu appliance combines Assurance Storage's ApplicationSmart software with Fujitsu's server hardware, and delivers significant benefits of intelligent, autonomic data cache and tier management used to optimize the performance of I/O intensive applications. Customers using the SAN Velocity appliance gain the benefits of aligning the value of data with the value of OCZ Deneva 2 SSD storage and Assurance Storage's software, to improve performance for a variety of business critical applications such as OLTP, database applications and storage cache management.

OCZ released the Arowana Flash Translation Layer (FTL) firmware update for SSDs running Indilinx Barefoot controllers, and 34 nm NAND flash. The update was announced in May, 2011, and released for the OCZ Vertex Plus family, but it's only now that users of the original Barefoot-controlled drives get a firmware to update their drives with. The new 3.55 firmware significantly improves sequential and random-seek performance. The screenshots below (in order) are of a Barefoot-driven OCZ Vertex drive with the old firmware (IDE), new firmware (IDE), and new fimware (AHCI). To learn more about the update, and how to go about do it to your drive, visit this page. Like most other SSD firmware updates, the process erases everything on your drive, so be sure to make a backup.

OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, today announced that Colfax International will deploy OCZ Z-Drive R4 PCIe SSDs into Colfax's new lines of enterprise servers based on Intel's recently announced dual socket Sandy Bridge-EP platform.

Providing a compact, power-efficient solid-state solution that fits directly into a system's PCI Express (PCIe) slot, OCZ's Z-Drive R4 dramatically increases server application performance while delivering fast and reliable access to data without burdening host CPU and memory resources. OCZ's combination of high-performance, low latency, and high storage capacity make the Z-Drive R4 ideally suited for the new Colfax Sandy Bridge EP-based servers targeted towards demanding enterprise applications that include cloud computing, server virtualization and consolidation, high-performance computing (HPC), and Online Transaction Processing (OLTP).

OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, today announced that Drobo will utilize the OCZ Talos SAS SSD Series for integration into its B1200i iSCSI SAN solutions for business environments. Drobo, makers of award-winning data storage products for businesses and professionals, has chosen to provide customers with even faster and more robust storage systems by complementing the sophisticated feature set of the B1200i with the superior performance, energy efficiency, and maximum endurance of Talos SSDs.

Ideal for small-and-medium businesses (SMBs), the Drobo B1200i provides reliable, high-performance, and self-optimizing storage for server virtualization, email, and data protection and features seamless integration with existing infrastructures as an iSCSI SAN device. With innovative automated data-aware tiering, the B1200i delivers a level of automation and technical sophistication that is easier to use and less costly to deploy than typical enterprise solutions. The B1200i is the first Drobo product to leverage the benefits of SSDs for increased bandwidth, lower power consumption, and instantaneous access times.

OCZ is also working on a high-capacity SSD line, targeting data-centers that seek higher performance and capacity, called Chiron. Built in the 3.5-inch form-factor with a 6 Gb/s serial interface (not sure if it's SAS or SATA), the Chiron is a complex SSD, which consists of multiple SSD sub-units, each driven by OCZ-Indilinx Everest controllers, maintained in an abstract RAID configuration by a localized RAID controller. The drive is available in capacities as high as 4 TB, and provides sequential performance as high as 560 MB/s, with 4K access performance of 100,000 IOPS.

As a leading SSD vendor, OCZ sure has a strong engineering muscle to flex. Flex it did, with the AEONDrive DRAM SSD. This drive uses DRAM as its primary storage medium (as long as there's a constant power source). The device is thus ideal for those parts of the datacenter which hold "hot data". Unlike similar solutions such as FusionIO drives, the AEONDrive utilizes SAS 6 Gb/s interface. SAS is a low-overhead protocol since it allows exchange of larger numbers of simultaneous host commands than ATA. As for the performance OCZ claims the AEONDrive provides 140,000 IOPS 4K, and 540,000 IOPS 512. Since DRAM is a much lower-density medium than NAND flash, one should expect AEONDrives to be available only in relatively low capacities such as 64 GB (still big enough for pain databases). Not much more is detailed about the drive. It would be great if the AEONDrive could back itself up onto NAND flash before turning itself off.

As promised, OCZ Technology is showing off at CeBIT 2012 its newest Vertex Series solid state drive, the Vertex 4. Pictured below, the upcoming SSD is based around the Indilinx Everest 2 platform, it features synchronous MLC NAND Flash memory (SLC can be used for enterprise-oriented models), and is capable of transfer speeds of up to 550 MB/s and up to 90,000 IOPS.

The Vertex 4 drive on display at CeBIT has a 2.5-inch form factor, a SATA 6.0 Gbps interface, and, according to the live demos, it delivers sequential read/write speeds of 367/305 MB/s and up to 80,000 IOPS for 4k random reads.

OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a worldwide leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, will showcase its innovative client and enterprise SSDs at this year's CeBIT tradeshow in Hannover, Germany. OCZ's latest products and technology demonstrations will be on display at the event in Hall 17, Booth D31.

With new cutting-edge technology in the client space, OCZ will display the upcoming Vertex 4 SSD Series based on the SATA 6 Gbps Indilinx Everest 2 platform, revealing industry-leading performance and superior data management for all file types and sizes.

While Vertex 3 is OCZ's flagship SATA 6 Gb/s SSD based on the SandForce SF-2281 processor, Agility 3 is its performance-mainstream variant that uses the same SF-2281, but with async NAND flash memory. Reviews have found the drive to offer high price-performance. OCZ has traditionally kept Agility 3 reserved for lower capacities, reserving higher capacities for its other product families., however two new variants hit the radar in the Japanese markets today, the 180 GB (AGT3-25SAT3-180G), which is not even listed on OCZ's global site, and a 360 GB variant (AGT3-25SAT3-360G).

The 180 GB variant offers sequential speeds of up to 525 MB/s read, and 500 MB/s write, with 35,000 IOPS 4K random write performance; while the 360 GB variant offers sequential speeds of 525 MB/s read, 495 MB/s write, and 35,000 IOPS 4K random write performance. Like all other drives in the Agility 3 series, the two are built in the 2.5-inch form-factor, with SATA 6 Gb/s interface. The Agility 3 180 GB is priced at 19,000 JPY (US $256), and the 360 GB variant at 36,000 JPY (US $447).

OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a worldwide leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) and power supplies for computing devices and systems, today announced the availability of the Fatal1ty 1000 Watt power supply, the latest high-performance PSU targeted at gamers and enthusiasts that demand maximum wattage, high efficiency, and a modular cabling configuration.

Dedicated to delivering premium power solutions, OCZ's latest PSU was co-developed with twelve-time world champion Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel to meet the specific needs of fellow gamers in performance, stability, and ease of integration to reduce system downtime. Featuring individually-sleeved modular cables, the Fatal1ty Series eliminates unnecessary wire clutter for a cleaner overall presentation and superior airflow in high end systems that are packed with components.

OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, today announced the immediate availability of the OCZ-SANRAD VXL enterprise storage accelerator, delivering flash caching and VMware acceleration for virtualized environments including VMware ESX and Citrix Xen.

OCZ-SANRAD VXL drastically alters the available options for storage in the enterprise datacenter by allowing any PCIe-based OCZ Z-Drive R4 model including the newly introduced Z-Drive R4 CloudServ, to be utilized as a accelerator for traditional iSCSI and FC storage. This eliminates the need for costly tier-1 SANs in a wide range of enterprise IT infrastructures from application virtualization to virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI).

OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, today announced the Z-Drive R4 CloudServ PCI Express (PCIe) flash storage solution, designed to dramatically accelerate cloud computing applications and significantly reduce operating expenses in the data center. The new Z-Drive R4 CloudServ features monumental data throughput, and raises the bar in performance and capacity.

"The Z-Drive R4 CloudServ PCIe solid state drive delivers game-changing performance and enables clients to process massive data-sets with up to 16 TB of storage capacity on a single, easy-to-deploy card," said Ryan Petersen, CEO of OCZ Technology. "With this new solution, system architects are able to design more efficient and dynamic cloud computing infrastructures while simultaneously reducing system complexity and the high maintenance costs associated with traditional infrastructures."

In its CeBIT invitation circular, Patriot Memory unveiled names of three new client SSD product lines, which it will launch in Hanover. These include new high-performance client SSD lines, the Wildfire Pro, and Wildfire SE; and a new mainstream client SSD line called Magma. With no other details, we're left to only speculate. Patriot's flagship SandForce SF-2281 driven Wildfire series features among some of the highest performing SATA 6 Gb/s client SSDs. The Wildfire Pro and SE, in all probability, could be higher-performing parts, with higher sequential speeds, and random access performance. With Magma, Patriot could design a client SSD using a controller of another make than SandForce; probably Marvell, or even OCZ-Indilinx.

OCZ Technology Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:OCZ), a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, today announced the release of new enhanced IOPS firmware (v1.13) for the Octane SATA 3.0 Series SSDs. The random write performance has been significantly improved, in some capacities over double that of the previous specifications, for users looking to push their SSD performance to new heights.

For all Octane SATA 6Gb/s models, the improved IOPS made possible by this new firmware allow for greater transactional performance, especially during small file and random access speeds in everyday computing applications. When compared to the previous revision, random write IOPS performance doubles across nearly all capacities when tested in IOmeter 2008:

OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, today announced it has acquired SANRAD Inc., a privately held provider of flash caching and virtualization software and hardware.

"This transaction is an important step in OCZ's enterprise solid state drive strategy," said Ryan Petersen, CEO of OCZ Technology Group. "It significantly enhances the ability for customers to increase datacenter performance and efficiency by putting more virtual machines (VM) on a server without slowing down the VM's ability to access stored data, thus substantially lowering the overall cost of deployment. SANRAD's VXL has the ability to optimize caching strategies based on the application and support for VMware's vMotion, which sets the solution apart from others in the industry, allowing enterprises to finally realize the benefit of running a single unified virtualized environment," concluded Mr. Petersen.

The OCZ Technology Group has just announced that, in the third quarter of fiscal year 2012 (the three-month period ended November 30th), its revenue reached a record $103.1 million, up 94% on-year and up 31% sequentially. As expected, the company's bread and butter were once again solid state drives as they alone generated sales of $95.5 million (up 130% on-year and up 34% over Q2 FY 2012).

Despite the boost in revenue, OCZ still reported a net loss of $0.9 million for the quarter, but it's an improvement compared to Q3 FY 2011 when the company's losses were of $8.3 million.

Indilinx, a leading provider of solid state drive (SSD) processors and a subsidiary of OCZ Technology Group, announces OCZ Indilinx SSDs based on the acclaimed Everest Series SATA 3.0 (6 Gbps) platform are shipping in LG Electronics' thinnest notebook yet, the Super Ultrabook Z300 based on the Intel Ultrabook initiative.

"We are excited to continue our partnership with LG Electronics and provide our Indilinx Everest based OEM SSDs for integration into the company's exciting new Super Ultrabook Z300," said Ryan Petersen, CEO of OCZ Technology. "These custom OEM Indilinx SSDs are the ideal solution for the Z300's ultra slim and stylish form factor, and help deliver a superior overall computing experience for customers with quicker transfer speeds and faster boot up."

OCZ seems to have put SSD chip development in overdrive since it's already showing off the Everest 2 controller although the first-gen Everest silicon has barely been out for a few months. Codenamed IDX400M00-BC, the new Everest chip is supposed to deliver sequential read/write speeds of up to 550/500 MB/s, up to 90,000 4 KB random write IOPS, and significantly improved small block performance.

The first solid state drives based on the Everest 2 are expected at the end of Q2.

No, it's not a fancy graphics card by OCZ that's pictured below, don't let the PCI-Express x16 interface and cooling assembly with vents and heat pipes sticking out fool you. This monstrosity is OCZ's R4, a complex PCI-Express solid-state drive (SSD) which packs 16 (!) SSD subunits, each driven by a SandForce SF-2200 controller. Each of the subunits is part of a very large RAID array, which is abstract to the host machine. The host only sees the cumulative capacity into a single volume.

At the heart of the beast is a spanking new VCA 2.0 processor, which provides each of those subunits a SATA 6 Gb/s link, and connects to the host over PCI-Express 2.0 x16. The sequential transfer speed of the R4 is up to 6,656 MB/s (megabytes per second). It will be offered in various capacities, 3.2 TB looks like a possible capacity option.