Need for Speed: SSD Technology Puts Computer Users in the Fast Lane

Online, July 26, 2010 (Newswire.com) - Whether you're heading back to school this September, or busy building a career as a videographer, graphic designer or IT specialist, or already in a top job in the computing field, one thing is clear: fast, robust storage solutions should be on the top of your want list. Speedy, ample storage is essential for smart computing in the classroom and in the ever-changing world of business.

No matter what your specific computing needs, solid state drive (SSD) technology-which beats traditional hard drives in terms of speed and power consumption-is an essential tool of the trade, and a must-have for those seeking the "best in breed" in computing.

Leading the speed revolution is OCZ Technology, a company headquartered in San Jose that designs, manufactures and distributes high-performance SSDs and premium computer components. In June, the company released the RevoDrive PCI-Express SSD, which operates at up to 80,000 input/output operations per second (IOPS), nearly twice the speed of other consumer SSDs. OCZ is billing it as "the world's fastest consumer solid state drive," and notes that its price-as low as $3 per gigabyte-gives it the biggest bang for the consumer's buck. Prior the the introduction of the RevoDrive PCIe SSD technology was too expensive for the majority of consumers to adopt. The RevoDrive is the first PCIe SSD designed specifically for consumer applications that can be called affordable.

In contrast to the RevoDrive, which can supercharge your computer tower, OCZ also released in June two products for smaller-scale, but still lightning-fast, computing: two 1.8-inch SSDs that are ideal for use in ultrathin notebooks, netbooks and nettops. Both the Vertex2 and Onyx 1.8-inch SSDs deliver high performance and high speeds at reasonable costs. Once again, the numbers impress: for example, the Vertex2 performs at up to 50,000 IOPS, while the cost effective Onyx retails for only $2.30 per gigabyte and consumes only 1 watt of power even during intensive computing making it a great solution for mobile applications where extending battery life is critical.

The speed of such products is just part of their attraction. "The flash memory utilized within solid state drives (SSDs) is faster and uses significantly less power than conventional hard drives," says Ryan Petersen, President and CEO of OCZ Technology. "This is due to the fact that there is no need to drive physical moving parts within the drives. Because SSDs allow users to access their data electronically rather than mechanically-considerably reducing the time required-they also eliminate the need for a large, costly storage area network. Without such a massive array, there are colossal power savings."

With their increased performance and lower overall power consumption, SSDs-such as those being developed at OCZ Technology-are helping consumers move into the fast lane in computer efficiency. Visit www.ocztechnology.com to learn more.