LSI Announces Agreement to Acquire SandForce

[Face]

Pending the typical closing conditions and regulatory approvals, LSI will acquire SandForce for $322M in cash plus assume another $48M in unvested SF stock options. LSI isn't much of a player in the consumer space but it hopes to use SandForce's controllers in a go at the enterprise market. A look back at the Vertex 3 in our Intel SSD 710 review shows just how strong SandForce's architecture can be in database server workloads. As I've written before, the enterprise space is where the high margin sales are and as a result many players in the SSD space are focusing on it.


http://www.anandtech.com/show/5017/l...uire-sandforce

[bamtan2]

this is probably big news folks. we won't know the full impact for years

[M.Beier]

HMm, this isnt for the best of the consumer :-/

[Darakian]

So the players in the SSD controller market are now
Intel
Micron
Marvell
LSI
OCZ
Samsung
and
Jmicron

Am I missing any? Of them LSI, Jmicron, and Marvell sell to third parties.

[xlink]

You forgot Samsung.
I wouldn't say that OCZ is a big player with respect to development though, they haven't done anything that special.

[M.Beier]

Afraid of asking stupid here...

Micron
JMicron...

Isnt JMicron just Microns division for this?

[M.Beier]

Afraid of asking stupid here...

Micron
JMicron...

Isnt JMicron just Microns division for this?

[bamtan2]

HMm, this isnt for the best of the consumer :-/

Afraid of asking stupid here...

Micron
JMicron...

Isnt JMicron just Microns division for this?

no and no.

this isn't two competitors merging. its a small company getting money and new management. it is LSI's theory that sandforce will only get better. that means more competition. how long do you think intel will sit around buying third party controllers?

I see samsung, intel, and ocz making their own SSDs and controllers. LSI sandforce is the best right now, and they are all racing each other to be the best. I suspect this news is good

[eXa]

How is sandforce the best?

[TheBlueChanell]

no and no.

this isn't two competitors merging. its a small company getting money and new management. it is LSI's theory that sandforce will only get better. that means more competition. how long do you think intel will sit around buying third party controllers?

I see samsung, intel, and ocz making their own SSDs and controllers. LSI sandforce is the best right now, and they are all racing each other to be the best. I suspect this news is good

Intel's only outsourced their controller for one line, and it's being replaced by their own 1st party controller in Q4 of this year.

[Darakian]

You forgot Samsung.
I wouldn't say that OCZ is a big player with respect to development though, they haven't done anything that special.

Updated my list. Thanks

[gumballguy]

HMm, this isnt for the best of the consumer :-/

What sandforce is missing is QA procedures.

I was under the impression that LSI products were reliable. Hopefully they'll enforce that the hole in sandforce is plugged.

[gumballguy]

HMm, this isnt for the best of the consumer :-/

What sandforce is missing is QA procedures.

I was under the impression that LSI products were reliable. Hopefully they'll enforce that the hole in sandforce is plugged.

[Vassili]

Am I missing any? Of them LSI, Jmicron, and Marvell sell to third parties.

OCZ does sell there Indilinx controllers too! 4th paragraph

[Tony]

You forgot Samsung.
I wouldn't say that OCZ is a big player with respect to development though, they haven't done anything that special.

LOL what do you know?

LOL...you have no idea what we are upto...no one does

[naokaji]

^
Ocz is working on a Everest 2 Controller which will make the just launched Everest controller look like tech from the last decade and stick it in a SSD called Vertex 4?

just a random stab in the dark of course.

[m^2]

So the players in the SSD controller market are now
Intel
Micron
Marvell
LSI
OCZ
Samsung
and
Jmicron

Am I missing any? Of them LSI, Jmicron, and Marvell sell to third parties.

http://www.storagesearch.com/ssd-socs.html
The market is big.

[EniGmA1987]

I wouldn't say that OCZ is a big player with respect to development though, they haven't done anything that special.

OCZ owns Indilinx now, so technically they develop the Indilinx controllers and do the testing for them.
Also helped a little bit with Sandforce, although not as much as PR wants people to believe otherwise we would have had the many major problems fixed long ago.

[mursaat]

http://www.storagesearch.com/ssd-socs.html
The market is big.

Wow what a fugly site design from 1990 lol

Anyway thanks for the link!

[[XC] hipno650]

more money going towards a PROMISING company is always good. note I never said good due to some of the issues they are still having but there is allot of promise.

[zalbard]

SandForce for enterprise market... Hmm, strikes me as an odd choice.

[zads]

I was pretty sure it wouldn't be Intel buying up Sandforce. Intel already has their own IP and flash controller team, adding Sandforce's IP/designers/engineers would only confuse things internally.
I was guessing it would be Seagate or WD, but LSI is actually one of the best parent companies SF could have.

SandForce for enterprise market... Hmm, strikes me as an odd choice.

Enterprise was their goal from the outset. They just got distracted and somewhat diluted by the demand from consumer side/retail..

[Computurd]

Intel does receive products from LSI though (rebadged RAID and whatnot) so still could be a go for SF on the next intel?

[Levish]

SandForce for enterprise market... Hmm, strikes me as an odd choice.

With development / validation / QA it could absolutely be a good choice. The performance is there for sure.

[deathman20]

How is sandforce the best?

This is what I would love to know.

With development / validation / QA it could absolutely be a good choice. The performance is there for sure.

Yeah though big question to raise is reliability. They can't be having the issues that the consumer market is having with the current controller otherwise performance won't mean squat.