OCZ Technology has unveiled the successor to their popular Vertex 3 solid state drive at CeBIT in Hanover, Germany. Officially known as the Vertex 4, the fourth generation SSD utilizes an Everest 2 controller and synchronous MLC flash memory that’s reportedly good for speeds up to 550MB/s read and 500MB/s write and up to 90,000 IOPS (4K Random Write).
We first saw this Everest 2-based solid state drive at CES 2012 although it wasn’t called the Vertex 4 at that time. OCZ demoed the SATA 6GB/s drive for us in January using IOmeter, CrystalDiskMark and AS SSD and it performed as advertised, consistently outperforming current-generation drives like the Patriot Pyro and Corsair Force 3.
OCZ announced that they were exiting the memory game in early 2011 citing a weakness in the global DRAM industry and rapid growth in the solid state drive market. The company then acquired South Korea-based Indilinx who they previously collaborated with on the original Vertex SSD.
The Vertex 4 is the second drive to utilize technology from the acquisition and the first to use the Everest 2 platform. OCZ launched the Octane SSD in October 2011 featuring the original Everest controller and was notably the first SSD to achieve up to 1TB capacity in a 2.5-inch form factor.
OCZ hasn’t published an official release date for the Vertex 4 but we expect to see units making their way to retailers within the next few months. The drive will be available in capacities up to 2TB.
https://www.techspot.com/news/47680-ocz-showcases-vertex-4-solid-state-drive-at-cebit.html
I do however see this as a sign that prices may start to come down soon, ie in the next 12 months we may see a small drop. It is the first SSD drive that has focused on an increase in size but no significant increase in speed. It is only when the focus shifts to drive size rather than other improvements that drive prices are likely to drop.
