FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Owc Announces Mercury Extreme Enterprise Ssd As The Fastest, Most Reliable, And Longest Endurance 2.5" Sata Solid State Drive Available

SandForce® Processor based SSD offers best in class performance storage for Macs and PCs, made in U.S. and immediately available up to 200GB capacity starting at $229.99

January 26, 2010, Woodstock, IL -- Other World Computing (OWC®) http://www.macsales.com, a leading zero emissions Mac® and PC technology company, announced today the OWC Mercury Extreme Enterprise SSD™ as the fastest, most reliable, and longest endurance 2.5" SATA Solid State Drive (SSD) available on the market for Macs and PCs in single or multiple drive use including all RAID configurations. Designed and made in the U.S. from imported parts, the OWC Mercury Extreme Enterprise SSD is available for immediate ordering in capacities up to 200GB priced starting at $229.99.

Immediately Available For Macs and PCs
The new OWC Mercury Extreme Enterprise SSD is available immediately in three bare drive configurations that are compatible with Mac and PC computers that can utilize a 2.5" SATA 1.5/3.0Gb/s drive:
  • 50GB OWC Mercury Extreme Enterprise SSD with Five Year Warranty $229.99
  • 100GB OWC Mercury Extreme Enterprise SSD with Five Year Warranty $399.99
  • 200GB OWC Mercury Extreme Enterprise SSD with Five Year Warranty $779.99
With heavy ordering volume expected, OWC is planning same day shipping of Extreme SSD orders to begin on/around Friday, January 29th. For more information on the OWC Mercury Extreme Enterprise SSD, including Reseller inquiries, visit: http://macsales.com/ssd

The Fastest, Most Reliable Long Term Performance Available
Ordinary SSDs offer fast read/write performance during first initial uses, but then experience significant write speed degradation over repeated usage. The OWC Mercury Extreme Enterprise SSD with its SandForce Processor is able to provide sustained and consistent read and write times over 260MB/s with 0.1 ms latency and experience virtually no reduction in data transfer rate over the five year warranty life of the drive. This type of consistent, long term performance makes the OWC Mercury Extreme Enterprise SSD able to withstand demanding, mission critical enterprise level deployment, but the drive is also priced affordably so consumers can add the pinnacle of internal drive performance to their Mac or PC for near instantaneous data access.

Up To 100x Greater Data Protection
Utilizing SandForce DuraClass™ Technology, the OWC Mercury Extreme Enterprise SSD is able to provide up to 100x higher data protection than provided by ordinary SSDs as well as leading enterprise class Hard Disk Drives. By combining the highest level of Error Correction Code (ECC) and SandForce RAISE™ (Redundant Array of Independent Silicon Elements) technology, the OWC Mercury Extreme Enterprise SSD provides RAID like data protection and reliability without loss of transfer speed due to parity.

Up To 8.5x Longer Use Hours
With several DuraClass technologies working in tandem, the OWC Mercury Extreme Enterprise SSD
employs ultra-efficient block management, state-of-the-art wear leveling, and intelligent “recycling” for advanced free space management. These operational efficiencies enables the OWC Mercury Extreme Enterprise SSD to deliver best in class performance for 10 million operating hours…up to 8.5x longer use hours than ordinary SSDs.

First SSD Worthy Of The OWC Name
For the past 12 months, OWC engineers were driven to create a SSD that would continue the tradition of unrivaled performance and reliability established by the Mercury Elite hard drive based storage line. Until the recent introduction of the SandForce Processor, none of the SSD products OWC considered for development could offer that same consistent performance track record synonymous with its Elite-AL line. To remain the choice of A/V, digital photography, music, and graphics professionals’ data storage and backup, OWC knew it had to be patient and wait for just the right technology to enhance its highest quality components and manufacturing processes in order to deliver the best SSD on the market.

“With over 21 years of high performance memory and storage product development experience, we weren’t going to bring a SSD to market until we had a solution that would be worthy of wearing the OWC name,” said Larry O’Connor, CEO, Other World Computing. “Over one million customers around the world have come to expect the highest level of performance, quality, and reliability from us. And our customers expect those products to be real and shipping, not just preannounced, so they can immediately begin enjoying newfound performance,” continued O’Connor. “From faster boot times, app loading, and overall system responsiveness, our new SSD drive will make any Mac or PC better than new.”

About Other World Computing (OWC)
Other World Computing (OWC) has been providing quality hardware products and support to the computer industry since 1988 and features one of the largest online catalogs of computer, iPod, and iPhone enhancement products through its e-commerce portal www.macsales.com. As a Premiere Level Apple Developer Connection member, OWC also provides extensive US based technical support for Macintosh users around the world as well as Internet access via www.fastermac.net and www.owc.net

OWC’s industry awards and recognition include: Crain’s Chicago Business 2009 “Fast 50” List of 50 Fastest Growing Companies in the Chicago Area; Computerworld MagazineTop Green-IT Companies for 2008; BizRate’s Gold Circle of Excellence, 2004 to 2008; Inc. 5,000 Top 100 Computers & Electronics Companies 2007 to 2009; Reseller Ratings Elite Member 2009; and McHenry County Economic Development Corporation 2008 Business Champion Award. OWC corporate headquarters in Woodstock, IL, completed in 2008, is built to LEED “Platinum” requirements, the highest level given by the United States Green Building Council’s LEED program, for compliance with environmentally sound building methods which incorporate innovative use of “green” systems and materials. OWC continued its leadership role in environmental stewardship by activating an on-site wind turbine in October 2009 that cleanly generates more net energy than is consumed by OWC’s operations and datacenter.
Company Contact:
Bill Herring
512-412-4009
bherring@macsales.com
Agency Contact:
Andy Marken
408-986-0100
andy@markencom.com