Western Digital Introduces Storage Optimized for Public Safety, AI and Smart City Deployments

Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ: WDC), today addressed head-on the need to optimize storage for video and AI analytics at the network edge. The increased use of smart cameras and ever-rising video resolutions are driving the requirement for on-camera storage.  Western Digital introduced the WD Purple SC QD101 Ultra Endurance microSD card designed specifically for equipment makers, resellers and installers in the mainstream security camera market. In addition, the company announced a compelling new addition to the hard disk drive portfolio, WD Purple 14TB HDD for surveillance, which is compatible with wide range of security systems.

According to IHS Markit Technology², global professional video surveillance camera shipments are expected to grow from 140 million to 224 million between 2018 and 2023, and those with onboard storage are expected to grow by an average of approximately 17 percent per year.  4K-compliant cameras are expected to grow from 3.6 percent of all network cameras shipped in 2018 to over 24 percent by 2023, and the up to 5.7X increase in bits generated by 4K vs.1080p video illustrates a fast-growing demand for more storage.³

"Customers are looking for high-endurance, high-capacity, robust, on-camera storage for a variety of public safety and AI analytics use cases," said Stefaan Vervaet, senior director of Smart Video, Devices Group, Western Digital. "These new products deliver optimized storage technology to handle these exciting new and varied visual workloads at the edge."

Western Digital's WD Purple portfolio of storage devices are designed with specifically-chosen attributes to deliver reliable performance in mainstream security video systems that operate 24/7. These purpose-built solutions offer high quality and long-lasting storage for workloads that consumer microSD cards and desktop-grade hard drives are not specifically designed for.

WD Purple SC QD101 Ultra Endurance microSD Card

The WD Purple SC QD101 microSD card features Western Digital's advanced 96-layer 3D NAND technology, and delivers a cost-effective combination of ultra-endurance, high-performance storage, and a wide capacity range of up to 512GB¹ for the growing security video market.

• Designed for security system integrators and installers

• Ideal for mainstream recording and backup/failover on-camera storage

• In compatible cameras, the card health monitor provides installers and integrators with the ability to gauge the remaining endurance and preemptively service the card if needed

• Available in capacities of 32GB, 64GB, 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB

• Ultra endurance for long, continuous recording

WD Purple 14TB HDD Compatible with Wide Range of Security Systems

• The WD Purple 14TB drives, like Western Digital's other WD Purple hard drives are built for 24/7, always-on, high-definition security systems

• Features Western Digital's exclusive AllFrame technology driving improved video capturing while it helps to reduce errors, pixilation, and video interruptions that could happen in a video recorder system

• WD Purple drives have an enhanced workload rating that supports systems designed for 24x7 video recording with up to 64 cameras

Availability
The 14TB WD Purple HDD is available now from select resellers. The WD Purple SC QD101 microSD card is expected to be available in the first quarter of 2020.

Resources
Designing for the Edge – 5 Trends in Smart Security

About Western Digital®
Western Digital creates environments for data to thrive. As a leader in data infrastructure, the company is driving the innovation needed to help customers capture, preserve, access and transform an ever-increasing diversity of data. Everywhere data lives, from advanced data centers to mobile sensors to personal devices, our industry-leading solutions deliver the possibilities of data. Our data-centric solutions are comprised of the Western Digital®, G-Technology™, SanDisk®, and WD® brands.

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© 2019 Western Digital Corporation or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

¹As used for storage capacity, 1GB = 1 billion bytes and 1TB = one trillion bytes. Actual user capacity may be less depending on operating environment.
²IHS Market, Video Surveillance Intelligence Service – July 2019
³Based on our Surveillance Storage Capacity Estimator tool. Amount of increase can vary based on compression ratios, video formats and other factors. See tool for full details.

Western Digital, the Western Digital logo, G-Technology, SanDisk, WD, AllFrame, and WD Purple are all registered trademarks or trademarks of Western Digital Corporation or its affiliates in the U.S. and/or other countries. The microSD mark and logo are trademarks of SD-3C, LLC. All other marks are the property of their respective owners. Product specifications subject to change without notice. Pictures shown may vary from actual products. Not all products are available in all regions of the world.

Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains certain forward-looking statements, including the expected growth in video surveillance camera shipments and the expected availability, benefits, capabilities, capacity, performance and/or other features of the WD Purple SC QD101 microSD card and WD Purple hard drive products. There are a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause these forward-looking statements to be inaccurate including, among others: changes to specifications from standards organizations, volatility in global economic conditions; business conditions and growth in the storage ecosystem; impact of competitive products and pricing; market acceptance and cost of commodity materials and specialized product components; actions by competitors; unexpected advances in competing technologies; our development and introduction of products based on new technologies and expansion into new data storage markets; risks associated with acquisitions, mergers and joint ventures; difficulties or delays in manufacturing; and other risks and uncertainties listed in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), including the company's most recently filed periodic report, to which your attention is directed. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof, and the company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.