OCZ files for bankruptcy, will sell assets to Toshiba

[Shawn Knight]

OCZ Technology has received an offer from Toshiba to acquire all of the company’s assets as part of a bankruptcy proceeding. In a press release on the matter, OCZ said they have completed negotiations for said purchase at an undisclosed price. The agreement is of course subject to various conditions and no timeline for the completion of the deal was given.

OCZ was founded in 2002 as a provider of enthusiast memory. The company branched out into a number of different product lines over the years and was one of the pioneers of solid state drive technology starting around 2009 or so. In early 2011, OCZ abruptly exited the memory modules business to focus their efforts on producing solid state drives and power supplies.

News that OCZ was in trouble first started circulating in July of 2012 when sources suggested the company was in acquisition talks with Micron and Seagate. It’s unclear exactly what happen but many speculate founder and CEO Ryan Petersen was unable to seal the deal and as a result, he resigned a couple of months later in September.

We don’t know exactly why OCZ ultimately when under but again, some speculate that a shortage in NAND flash memory combined with stiff competition from Samsung and other heavyweights likely factored into it. Furthermore, OCZ had a lot of product lines at one point (perhaps too many) and their SSD reliability was called into question in recent years.

If the two parties are unable to close the deal, OCZ said they expect to file a petition for bankruptcy and liquidate.

Update: OCZ has since issued the following statement in relation to product warranties.

With the recent news OCZ wants to reassure all our valued customers that the Company is honoring all product warranties. If any customers require support they are encouraged to contact our customer support and forum support teams who will be more than happy to assist. OCZ will be operating in a business as usual mode during these proceedings.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/54844-ocz-files-for-bankruptcy-will-sell-assets-to-toshiba.html

 

[cliffordcooley]

I hate hearing this but at the same time, I was also somewhat anticipating this outcome. Surely there are not too many cooks in the kitchen, cooking SSDs. I personally think their initial mistake was dropping the production of memory modules. But then I am certainly not in a position to judge either.

 

[oldikes]

I only knew of OCZ for their reputation of failing SSDs. thats all I ever heard about them.

 

[Raoul Duke]

I bought my first OCZ DDR-1 memory, very fast and lasted until I dismantled the system a yr. or so ago. Bought more than a few, fast low latency memory modules from them. All excellent. Would have likely bought my first SSD from them, but that is when they started getting the reputation for either working well or bricking. Shame, too few companies controlling too much of the market.

 

[EClyde]

We will never know

 

[Eddo22]

Shoot. I hope Toshiba offers warranty on Ocz products. I just bought an OCZ FATAL1TY 1000W psu last year and still have some Lifetime warranty DDR2 ram.

 

[Jad Chaar]

Wow, the SSD pioneer has reached its end...

 

[VitalyT]

Holly S.!!!! They are the major player on the SSD market and to go down the toilet just like that?

As of right now they list 117 products on NewEgg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100008120 50001550&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&Order=RATING&PageSize=20

That's twice as many as its next competition - Crucial and Kingston. With this kind of product variety, how did they manage to flop like that?... must be some pi$$-poor management...

 

[Darth Shiv]

Bit disappointing but sadly predictable. They forged ahead with products in a market where the rest of the industry was sitting back and watching. Ironed out the kinks in poor hardware support for specs - Intel SATA 3 power saving bungles, shoddy drivers (issues which to a degree still exist) and SandForce controller issues which are actually largely resolved now.

Ultimately they didn't handle the bad PR of the issues well and when Intel and Samsung etc came to the party, they came in with market leading products and without a PR nightmare. Seemed like OCZ was doomed at the time... it's a pity... SATA 3 SSD advancement happened at such a pace because of these guys.

Hopefully Toshiba rebuilds the company and gives Samsung some competition - seems like the 840 Pros are everywhere now.

 

[captainawesome]

What about my 5 year warranty on my Vertex 4

 

[Xtreme gamer]

The only SSD I've ever seen fail for a customer was a OCZ 3 64GB. I was so surprised. I thought all SSD,s were tough as nails just like RAM is.
Anyway got a refund in full.

 

[Darth Shiv]

The only SSD I've ever seen fail for a customer was a OCZ 3 64GB. I was so surprised. I thought all SSD,s were tough as nails just like RAM is.
Anyway got a refund in full.

The flash isn't usually the problem. Usually the controller.

Hopefully Toshiba will pickup the warranty support so customers aren't affected. The deal needs to be approved though so not all in Toshiba's court.

 

[BMfan]

The controller that gave issue's was sandforce,yet they are still doing fine.
I had problems with my 64gb adata Sata3 drive back then.
Been using the Vertex 4 for about a year now with no problems even while it's been running in my PS3.

 

[nismo91]

Wow... the laptop im using now is running a cheap 128GB agility 2.. I hope it doesnt fail so I dont have to even worry about the warranty... one thing for sure, they're one of the pioneers in SSD industry.

 

[MrAnderson]

Wow... I had no idea. Well this is the next age of consolidation... A lot of players in a matured market... the disrupters tipping a few colossal cows... when they fall, they just get eaten-up (gobble-gobble??) Happy Thanksgiving and Chanukah to those that are inclined. =)

 

[9Nails]

Just got a Vector 512 this year. I wasn't aware that their SSD's had high failure rates. Right now it's working great, but what about it's 5-year warranty?!

 

[baN893]

The only SSD I've ever seen fail for a customer was a OCZ 3 64GB. I was so surprised. I thought all SSD,s were tough as nails just like RAM is.
Anyway got a refund in full.

My Mushkin 120GB Chronos Deluxe also bricked after about two years. However, the RMA process was very pleasant. I shipped the SSD back and they sent me a new one NEXT DAY DELIVERY from Texas all the way to British Columbia. SSDs break, but Mushkin sure knows how to deal with RMA's. I can only recommend them, especially for their service.

 

[DarKSeeD]

I only knew of OCZ for their reputation of failing SSDs. thats all I ever heard about them.

I still own a perfectly working OCZ dual channel PC2 6400 Gold Edition memory kit and a 3 years old SSD Agility 3. But maybe I'm one of the lucky owners of OCZ (fingers crossed).

 

[cliffordcooley]

I still own a perfectly working OCZ dual channel PC2 6400 Gold Edition memory kit and a 3 years old SSD Agility 3. But maybe I'm one of the lucky owners of OCZ (fingers crossed).

Same here. Although the OCZ DDR2-800 is now in a different PC, I am currently running 60GB OCZ Agility 3. The only two OCZ products I've ever bought, they were both good and have continued to be.

 

[Darth Shiv]

Just got a Vector 512 this year. I wasn't aware that their SSD's had high failure rates. Right now it's working great, but what about it's 5-year warranty?!

The Sandforce drives were the ones with the major issues so not your drive. Also it was only for specific firmwares that had the problems. Typical issues I heard of was they would "panic" which would lock the drive and could only be undone by the returns people and not by end users.

And I am the owner of 2x Vertex 3's. They are Sandforce based drives that did have the reported issues but personally they have been flawless for me. I did know what settings to avoid using and also had the right firmwares but many people didn't know and were bitten.

To be fair OCZ didn't really make it well known what the known issues were but the issues were all talked about on forums. People just picking up a shiny SSD from their online retailer because it was popular wouldn't have a clue about all that stuff (nor should they) so it wasn't particularly well handled.

 

[Boilerhog146]

Shoot... I have a 240 gig vertex 2 on rma now , hope I don't loose it..

still have lots of ocz kit ,flex 1200 MHz ddr2 ,flex 2 DDR 3. titanium alpha kit.gold gamer kits,spec ops kit. , some psu's as well. oh well .I heard bad stuff about their drives,,**** happens...