OCZ will continue to use third-party SSD controllers

OCZ CEO Ralph Schmitt revealed that the company will continue to rely on third-party controllers for its SSDs. Due to OCZ's limited resources, the company can only develop one controller at a time and the prime focus of OCZ's next-generation own-brand controller will be the more profitable enterprise market.

“I do not think we can ever fully cover the entire market with our own silicon, given the size of company what we are and the ability of our R&D spent. So, we will always have one controller in development at a time. The next controller we come out with, which will be later this year, will really be more enterprise focused than the controller, Barefoot 3, which came out three months ago,” said Ralph Schmitt, chief executive officer of OCZ Technology, at Stifel Nicolaus technology conference.

Usage of own controller allows OCZ to take advantage of innovative types of NAND flash memory without waiting for third-party controllers. Developing SSD firmware for own controller is also easier since OCZ knows everything about its silicon and how it should perform and with which type of memory in different situations, which gives OCZ flexibility to adapt different types of NAND flash for its drives. The latter provides the company ability to improve performance or have better business positions.