OCZ Technology
More info
- Released
- 2002–2014
- Type
- SSD maker
- Creator
- Ryan Petersen
- Successor
- Acquired by Toshiba
The SSD brand that bought its own controller maker, grew fast on aggressive marketing, and went bankrupt about as fast.
Founded in 2002 by Ryan Petersen, the company started out selling overclocker-friendly memory modules and power supplies to enthusiasts. Around 2009 it pivoted the whole business to SSDs, and the Vertex and Agility lines became some of the first consumer drives ordinary buyers could actually afford.
To avoid depending on other people's silicon, OCZ bought controller maker Indilinx in 2011 while also shipping drives built on SandForce chips. Buggy firmware and an accounting scandal wrecked the brand's reputation, and by late 2013 the cash was gone. Toshiba scooped up the remains in 2014 and kept the name alive on its own drives for a couple of years before letting it fade out.