SSD-spearheading company OCZ has signed an agreement with SandForce that will see it use the latter's controllers for its "next-generation" mainstream and enterprise solid state drives. Future OCZ SSD will make use of SandForce's SF-1500 and SF-1200 controllers as well as MLC (multi-level cell) and SLC (single-level cell) NAND flash memory in order to deliver a top-notch mix between high performance, reliability, endurance, and power efficiency.

"OCZ is committed to delivering SSD solutions to our enterprise clients and also has a strong following for our consumer solid state products; partnering with SandForce enables us to offer an even more robust offering to both these markets," said Ryan Petersen, CEO of the OCZ Technology Group. "Together with SandForce we are focused on making enterprise-class MLC-based SSDs which offer excellent reliability and performance coupled with superior total cost of ownership for all our customers."

The SandForce-powered OCZ SSDs, which are set to be announced in the weeks leading up to CES 2010 (which is in early January), will come in 50GB to 400GB capacities and in SATA 3.0 Gbps and SAS (Serial Attached SCSI) 6.0 Gbps flavors. It remains to be seen what this move will mean for OCZ's partnership with Indilinx (designer of the Barefoot controller).