In a bid to further strengthen its positions on the market of off-the-shelf solid-state drives (SSDs), OCZ Technology Group this week unveiled its first single-level cell-based SSDs that it aims at servers as well as other professional applications with improved reliability. The new Vertex EX drives also offer unprecedented performance and have chances to become popular among performance enthusiasts.

OCZ Vertex EX solid-state drives will be available in 60GB and 120GB capacities with 64MB onboard cache and will offer up to 260MB/s read speed as well as up to 200MB/s or 210MB/s write speed, respectively. OCZ Technology also declares 0.1ms seek time as well as 100MB/s sustained write speed. But the main advantage of new SSDs is not performance, but reliability thanks to single-level cell flash chips.

“The new OCZ Vertex EX is designed to deliver unparalleled performance and reliability, featuring the latest-generation architecture and SATA interface utilizing single-level cell NAND flash memory for unmatched overall system responsiveness and stability for enterprise grade server solutions,” said Alex Mei, chief marketing officer of OCZ Technology Group.

OCZ Technology used to produce Titanium-series DDR memory modules aimed at servers, but over time the brand has been forgotten and the company has not promoted the fact that its products could be installed into whitebox servers as well. Therefore, server-oriented Vertex EX family comes as a surprise. Nevertheless, considering that OCZ Technology Group also runs Hypersonic manufacturer of premium systems for gamers and has ties with other leading makers of personal computers, Vertex EX may easily find home inside boxes aimed at enthusiasts looking for ultimate storage solutions.

Prices of SLC-based SSDs have not been announced, but they are unlikely to be low.

Tags: OCZ, SSD, Flash