OCZ Technology Group on Tuesday introduced its long-awaited Vector-series solid-state drives based on the company’s own Indilinx Barefoot 3 controller. The new family of SSDs delivers very high sequential read and write speeds as well as leading-edge IOPS [input/output operations per second] performance.

The Vector SSD series is available in 128GB, 256GB and 512GB capacities, and delivers read bandwidth of up to 550MB/s, write bandwidth of up to 530MB/s, random read performance of up to 100 000 IOPS. OCZ Vector family is the first series of SSDs that features new controller chip and firmware developed completely in-house by the company. OCZ claims that Vector provides enhanced reliability and endurance, as well as a host of differentiated features to empower high performance laptops, desktops, and workstations with superior storage capabilities.

"The development of the Indilinx Barefoot 3 controller architecture is a crowning achievement in our company's history, being our first controller silicon and firmware completely designed in-house from start to finish using all of the OCZ technology development teams. These are the first SSD products delivered under the new OCZ and leverages cutting-edge controller technology to deliver a groundbreaking level of sustained performance and reliability for customers seeking a superior SSD for their high performance computing applications,” said Ralph Schmitt, CEO for OCZ Technology.

Endurance was a major priority in the design of the Vector series, and the highly intelligent Barefoot 3 controller includes an advanced suite of flash management tools that can analyze and dynamically adapt to increasing NAND vulnerabilities as flash cells wear or process geometries get smaller. Thanks to usage of MLC NAND flash memory made using 25nm process technology and Barefoot 3 controller, the drives are specified to deliver 20GB host writes per day for 5 years. OCZ also provides 5-year warranty on its Vector drives.

OCZ Vector comes in 2.5”/7mm form-factor and can be installed into a wide variety of PCs, from ultra-think laptops to fully-fledged desktops. Each Vector SSD is also bundled with a 3.5” desktop adapter bracket and Acronis True Image cloning software to enable quick and easy data transfer from hard disk drive (HDD) storage to Vector SSD.

Tags: OCZ, Vector, SSD, Indilinx, Barefoot, 25nm, NAND, Flash