Alex Mei, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of OCZ Technology

DRAMeXchange: Does this bad economy affect Overclocking memory product sales strongly?
Alex: While the macro-economic effect of the economy certainly affects everyone we continue to see robust sales and demand for our products in multiple categories. OCZ products are premium offerings and because our overclocking products are a priority buy for high end consumers we are still seeing strong sales.

DRAMeXchange: In your opinion, is gaming market still promising in the future? Does OCZ have any killer item to catch high-end consumers’ eyes?
Alex: The gaming market continues to be strong overall and for us as gaming is still a relatively cheap form of entertainment. There has been acceleration in graphics intensive 3D titles and the need for high density memory has never been greater. We offer a line of memory products that cater to everyone from the casual gamer to the professional, and also design and build products for high end gaming system integrators like our Flex (flexible air or water cooling modules).

OCZ DDR2 PC3-16600 / 2000 MHz / Flex EX XLC / 4GB Dual Channel
http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/memory/ocz_ddr3_pc3_16000_flex_ex_series

In addition to this OCZ also has a complete line of gaming peripherals including PSUs, keyboards, gaming mice, and our innovative nia (neural impulse actuator). The nia allows gamers to use a headband interface that reads a combination of muscle movements and brainwaves to further immerse themselves in the game. This exciting product allows gamers to experience games in a new way, and even reduce response time. The future for us to is to further refine this technology and continue to revolutionize the way in which gamers can interface and enjoy gaming.

nia - Neural Impulse Actuator :
http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/ocz_peripherals/nia-neural_impulse_actuator
 

DRAMeXchange: What is your core business in 2009? And will you adjust the percentage of efforts for each category for the bigger sales volume?
Alex: Memory continues to be the bulk of our business, while SSD and Flash are our fastest growing categories, and our complete range of peripherals, system solutions, and high end power supplies round out the remaining sales. OCZ also owns PC Power & Cooling a premium PSU brand that caters to enthusiast and commercial clients. We are continuing to see strong growth in SSD’s and more efficient power management solutions and will continue to focus on these areas in addition to our core memory business.

OCZ Fatal1ty Series Power Supply 700W
http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/power_management/ocz_fatal1ty_series_power_supply_700w

DRAMeXchange: Can you introduce our reader about your new announced products at CES 2009?
Alex: At the last CES show we introduced a number of new and exciting solutions including new faster and higher performing SSD drives called APEX and VERTEX series, SDHC flash cards optimized for professional photography and HD video, media docking stations, new gaming peripherals, and a number of new power management solutions. While most consumers know OCZ as a memory and power supply company we do have a very diverse product offering and our goal is to add value to high end computing users across the spectrum.

DRAMeXchange: Is OCZ planning to carry the product line of Netbook(small sized NB) soon?
Alex: This is a product area we continue to explore and consider. We believe that netbooks make sense as a secondary computing solution and we have invested a lot of resources into designing more cost effective SSD solutions that offer netbooks increased performance, better battery life, and superior reliability on the go. Don’t be surprised if you see an OCZ netbook in the future, we are exploring ways to give consumers the best of both worlds when it comes to portability and performance.

DRAMeXchange: Do you think DRAM is going to be overwhelmed by SSD Drive?
Alex: We will continue to introduce new SSD solutions, like recently launched APEX and VERTEX series but our core memory business will also continue to grow as new platforms become more affordable. The increase in growth of triple channel kits is very positive and while there is no doubt that SSD’s will continue to grow as part of our product offering we believe DRAM will also remain an important part of our offering. While we have thus far seen exceptional growth in the SSD category our memory sales have also continued to grow.

DRAMeXchange: Any emergent strategy changing to decrease the bad affects of economy to OCZ at this moment?
Alex: We are always proactively adapting and making adjustments to our product line to cater to the ever changing needs of consumers. A good example is our extremely rich line of SSD’s. We pushed aggressively with MLC solutions to offer high performing solid state drives at prices that made it possible for mainstream and value conscious consumers to enjoy the benefits of SSDs. We now have three distinct product lines, the Vertex for enthusiast high end gaming and commercial applications, the Core and upcoming Apex drives for mainstream users, and the Solid Series for value conscious consumers. Just like with our SSD line we will make products that make sense for consumers, and add more value so that customers need not to worry about upgrading.

OCZ Apex Series SATA II 2.5" SSD
http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/flash_drives/ocz_apex_series_sata_ii_2_5-ssd

DRAMeXchange: What is the key to be a successful brand in the DRAM market?
Alex: The main thing is to listen to customers, provide innovative solutions to meet their specific needs, and back that up with the highest level of service and support. We continue to diversify our offers so that we can offer our customers true “total solutions” rather than just traditional components, and we never rest until we are able to make sure our customers are 110% satisfied. This is why unlike other memory companies those offer 2 main lines, high performance and value; we have over ten distinct lines of memory. We believe every customer is unique and looks for something different. This is why we have Fata1ty gaming memory, Intel XMP triple channel kits, Reaper heatpipe memory, Flex water cooled memory, just to name a few.

DRAMeXchange: Any worldwide expansion plan?
Alex: Absolutely. Some of our fastest growing markets are overseas. APAC region is showing strong growth rates despite slowing economies. Gaming and overclocking is a popular pastime worldwide and we continue to invest in our global infrastructure to provide better delivery of our cutting edge solutions worldwide – this segment always was our focus. We also have set up phone and forum support teams worldwide to provide the highest level of support wherever our products are available.

DRAMeXchange: What’s your expectation for 2009?
Alex: We feel confident about 2009 and believe that there will continue to be growth in overclocking DRAM as the triple channel platforms mature, and also expect strong growth in the SSD market as mobile continues to ramp as a percentage of total systems sold worldwide.

Competition is a good thing for consumers, our customers can rest assured that we will continue to deliver products that our consumers in all regional markets ask for, and are continually looking for ways to offer better products at more aggressive prices. In this economy, added value becomes even more important, and we want to make sure that our customers receive the very best balance of premium product at the right price.