In a rather unexpected move, WarpDrive maker LSI has announced that it has signed an agreement to purchase SSD flash processor maker SandForce for $322 million and will also assume $48 million in employee stocks and shares.
SandForce processors form the backbone of many modern SSDs from a variety of manufacturers such as Corsair, OCZ and G.Skill and so this purchase leaves us a little unsettled as to the future of such products; though certainly we don’t expect LSI to stop selling SandForce processors anytime soon as they contribute the bulk of SandForce’s revenue.
We are concerned for products such as OCZ’s SandForce-powered Z-Drives, which are enterprise PCIe solutions directly competing with LSI’s own WarpDrive. We strongly suspect LSI will keep all of the goodies to itself in this area.
Perhaps it was a good sign then; that we recently reported on OCZ’s promising new in-house Everest technology and associated controllers stemming from its recent purchase of SSD flash processor maker Indilinx. It looks like OCZ may already be researching the creation of new enterprise solutions designed with a non-SandForce foundation.
What does all this spell for the future of the SSD market? Let us know your thoughts.
