X-bit labs

Interview: OCZ Reveals New PSU Market Strategy

Category: Editorial

by Anna Filatova , Ilya Gavrichenkov

[ 06/14/2007 | 09:19 AM ]

OCZ Technology has recently announced acquisition of the well-known power supply unit developer – PC Power & Cooling, which aroused a lot of questions regarding the future of the "new" company, its strategic approach to the PSU business, the effect on other market segments they work in. We decided to ask these questions to the company CEO and executive VPs.

Table of contents:

OCZ Technology Company has been increasing the variety of solutions that are being sold under their brand name very rapidly over the past few years. OCZ Technology that has earned its great reputation due to high-performance memory for computer enthusiasts is currently offering broad range of computer components, such as power supply units, CPU coolers, graphics adapters (Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTX), flash-memory and computer peripherals. And starting this year the company started entering new regional markets, namely Asian-Pacific regions.

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Proving that they are good at whatever they do, OCZ Technology has recently announced acquisition of the well-known power supply unit developer – PC Power & Cooling (see our news story for details). This company was know for its low-noise and powerful PSU series.

However, this acquisition aroused a lot of questions. And these questions were caused not only by the fact that OCZ Technology and PC Power & Cooling pursue different approaches to PSU development. The thing is that like most other companies, PCP&C doesn’t have any production of its own, but places orders with their partners. Today PCP&C gets the PSUs manufactured by FSP, Seasonic and Win-Tact Electronics. OCZ Technology also has its PSU’s made by third parties, such as FSP. So, the advantages of this acquisition may not seem evident at first glance.

That is why we decided to dig into this matter and ask these questions to the OCZ Technology officials Ryan Petersen – CEO of OCZ Technology Group, Alex Mei – Executive VP & CMO, and Bob Roark – VP of Operations Power Management Division. The interview below will answer numerous questions regarding future OCZ strategy in the PSU market as well as some other exciting topics.

X-bit labs: Thank you very much for the opportunity to talk to you about the big news that has drawn a lot of attention from the computer users and industry members all over the world recently. Could you please introduce yourself and your colleagues to our readers before we start?

Ryan Petersen: First of all thanks to Xbit for the opportunity to talk about the recent acquisition of PC Power and Cooling, and what it means in the future for consumers. We will each be answering questions based on the pertinence to management, product design, and branding. I am the CEO of the OCZ Technology Group, Bob Roark was the President of PC Power & Cooling under CEO Doug Dodson, and is now the VP of OCZ’s Power Management division while Doug transitions his role to CTO. Alex Mei is the Chief Marketing Officer of the entire Group.

Left to right:
Bob Roark – VP of Operations Power Management Division, OCZ Technology Group
Alex Mei – Executive VP & CMO, OCZ Technology Group;
Ryan Petersen – CEO, OCZ Technology Group.

X-bit labs: Why did OCZ decide to get into the power supply business in the first place? OCZ has been very successful on the memory front and as a manufacturer of solutions for enthusiasts could have taken any other direction for horizontal expansion of the product range. Why power supplies?

Ryan Petersen: In regards to entering the PSU market, we saw a need in the power supply space for solutions that had more cutting edge features, and units that could properly scale with the changing power requirements demanded by the latest GPU’s. As with many new OCZ products if we see a need we will invest in the technology to deliver a solution that surpasses the expectations of consumers.

X-bit labs: Why did OCZ Technology choose PCP&C? Why this particular company was of such special interest and value?

Ryan Petersen: We have always respected PC Power & Cooling’s products and technical expertise when it comes to premium power supplies. But having top notch products is just one part of the equation. After talking with Doug and meeting the team at PC Power and Cooling we found a company that shared the same vision regarding uncompromising quality, superior customer service, and an emphasis placed on innovation. Both Doug and myself felt that the two organizations had very similar ideals and cultures, and that together we could even better serve the enthusiast community.