OCZ Unveils Its ‘JetExpress’ Next-Generation NVMe SSD Controller at CES

OCZ Storage Solutions is gearing up to debut its new solid-state drive controller, codenamed JetExpress. JetExpress will make the first SSD controller designed in-house by OCZ since its acquisition and major restructuring by Toshiba Group, so it will be intriguing to watch OCZ’s future products that will utilize this controller.

As the JetExpress name alludes, it will be a single controller capable of natively supporting both SATA and PCI Express interfaces and is expected to ship in M.2, 2.5” SATA, andSFF-8639 form-factors. Even more importantly, JetExpress brings with it support for both the AHCI and NVMe protocols. NVMe is a new protocol optimized specifically for solid-state drives that promises significant CPU overhead reduction during SSD activity. It is important for a wide variety of other reasons too, but probably of most interest to enthusiasts is that it will allow for much higher performance targets over the upcoming SATA Express interface and PCIe capable M.2 ports.

Toshiba has long been a NAND manufacturer and a major player in the SSD market with a favorable reputation, so great things should be in store with JetExpress, which is planned to become the foundation of OCZ’s future product line. It is unknown if Toshiba will adopt the controller in products outside of OCZ’s branding but OCZ is already announcing the Vector 180 series for launch this quarter as the first to feature JetExpress. (Addendum: The Vector 180 isn’t the first JetExpress-equipped drive, after all. It sticks to Barefoot. Apologies for the misinformation.)

JetExpress is reported to offer something called PFM+, an onboard Power Failure Management Plus feature, in order to increase drive reliability. Other drives featuring JetExpress are on display at OCZ’s CES suite. An SSD can only be as good as the interface and protocol that it supports, so with JetExpress’ incredible flexibility and support for the upcoming NVMe standard, it has a very promising future indeed.