X-bit labs

Interview: OCZ Reveals New PSU Market Strategy (page 3)

Category: Editorial

by Anna Filatova , Ilya Gavrichenkov

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

X-bit labs: Will any changes touch upon the personnel of PCP&C after the acquisition? Will there be any lay-offs within the PCP&C or personnel transfers to OCZ Technology?

Ryan Petersen: None whatsoever. We acquired PC Power and Cooling for the company’s human resources as well, and are actually already expanding the team. Doug’s transition to the role of CTO for our power management division gives him authority over all PSU’s, both PCP&C and OCZ lines. Ryan Edwards, who was previously the Marketing Manager for PC Power and Cooling is now a member of OCZ’s Global marketing team and will be based at corporate.

X-bit labs: Are you going to restructure the engineering team working in the power supply division now that you’ve got PCP&C personnel onboard? What changes can we expect?

Ryan Petersen: Now that Doug is our dedicated CTO for the division we are expanding the team with additional engineering personnel based both in San Diego and in Sunnyvale. We have also made investments in more Chroma testers, and are basically giving Doug the freedom and resources to design his dream PSU’s. You can expect an acceleration in the development of all lines, wattages, and even the introduction of new lines. 

X-bit labs: My vision is that currently OCZ has two main types of business models: “development and manufacturing” (memory, power supply units are being engineered and manufactured by OCZ or upon OCZ’s request) and “marketing” (graphics cards are being branded by OCZ but engineered and manufactured by a third party). Is the acquisition of PCP&C going to change this situation in any way? Will you continue developing both business models by driving more resources obtained through PCP&C acquisition to the “marketing” type or eliminate one of them now?

Alex Mei: We consider all our products to be “design” oriented so we can push the envelope in terms of innovation. It is only in this way that we can truly provide added value to the consumer. Even with the video cards we bin the memory and the entire GPU to provide more overclocking headroom to our customers. All OCZ products are designed and built to our exacting standards, and the PC Power & Cooling products will be no different.

X-bit labs: How are you going to improve and enlarge your power supply product range now that you have acquired a well-known player like PCP&C? In what direction will the development go and what new technologies can we expect to see in this market in the near future?

Ryan Petersen: We will expand the product range, and are working on a number of key technology areas including higher efficiency, more effective cooling, and even digital regulation. There is equal emphasis placed on quality and innovation.

X-bit labs: Are you expecting the power consumption levels of contemporary computer systems to continue growing further? Are you going to continue setting capacity records for PSUs and offering more powerful products to the market?

Ryan Petersen: While we believe that there is a short term need for greater maximum power that will eventually be replaced by other factors including making the PSU’s far more efficient as well as lowering acoustic noise.

X-bit labs: Any plans to enter the server power supply segment?

Ryan Petersen: It is something we are indeed working on currently, and with the technical expertise from Doug and his team we will bring a solution to market if we are positive that we can offer a superior solution.

X-bit labs: What about system cases with preinstalled power supplies? Any plans to go in that direction also?

Alex Mei: Ok Anna, we know you have a hidden camera in our office, you know way too much. =) Seriously though, OCZ is all about making the best component products, regardless of what category. In fact if you look at our products at the platform level we are the only company to offer a complete cobranded offering both in the SLi ecosystem and Crossfire certification programs. This would be a natural evolution for OCZ and we are currently working on it.