OCZ, Indilinx Develop "Garbage Collecting" SSD Firmware

Yet another issue is that as SSDs have more and more files stored on them, some of the data becomes orphaned and takes up space on the drive reducing performance. As you can imagine reading the data in the cell, combining the data with new data going to the cell, and then writing the new data back to the cell adds to the time the SSD needs to complete write operations. This problem is especially time consuming when a drive is older and has had numerous files written to and from the drive.

Also from Daily Tech:

Enterprise SSD Prices Drop by a Third with OCZ's Agility EX Series

Jansen Ng (Blog) - August 27, 2009 2:28 PM

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SSDs are looking even more attractive to the enterprise market

The prices of Solid State Drives using Multi-Level Cell NAND flash have dropped a lot recently. This is mostly due to Intel incorporating flash memory using 34nm technology in its newest generation of X25-M SSDs. This process was first introduced late last year by IM Flash Tech, its joint venture with Micron Technologies, but IMFT was only recently able to overcome mass production problems in order to meet the quantities that Intel needed.

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OCZ has been having a lot of success with its Vertex series of SSDs using the Barefoot flash controller. Made by Korean upstart Indilinx, the controller provides random read and write performance that surpasses most of the rest of the market. The Vertex EX series pairs the Barefoot controller with SLC flash to compete against Intel's X25-E in the enterprise market. Recently, OCZ began using MLC flash from second tier manufacturers along with the Barefoot controller to introduce slightly slower SSDs in its Agility series at a much lower price.

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New firmware will be offered for all Vertex SSDs

SSDs are looking even more attractive to the enterprise market