Western Digital Enables Artificial-Intelligence-Powered Video Surveillance With New High-Capacity Products

Full Edge-To-Core Surveillance Portfolio Adds 12TB Western Digital Purple Drive with The Ability to Apply Machine Learning and AI to Enhance Safety and Security

To help enable the surveillance industry’s evolution to increasingly higher resolution cameras and new applications requiring real-time edge analytics, Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ: WDC) has expanded its surveillance portfolio with the introduction of the industry’s highest capacity, deep-learning-capable, surveillance-class drive, Western Digital® Purple 12TB drive with exclusive AllFrame AI technology. The newest addition to Western Digital’s surveillance portfolio creates new possibilities in video surveillance by supporting the capture of multiple high resolution video streams while simultaneously accessing recorded video to support deep learning and analytics. This capability is purpose-built for emerging DVR and NVR systems with Artificial Intelligence (AI) capabilities in that it supports real-time detection of AI-triggered events at the point of capture with continuous background learning.

According to IDC, the amount of big data exabytes generated by surveillance solutions is expected to grow by 25 percent per year through 2021¹. This growth is driven by the installation of more complex cameras with vastly improved resolutions, increasingly intelligent applications and overall expanding use of video for analytics globally. Traditional video surveillance systems detect moving subjects without providing detailed analysis. New systems enable additional functions such as real-time edge analytics to better detect objects and reduce false triggers. Objects such as animals, leaves, and even light can cause false alarms. AI-enabled systems not only detect the moving targets, but can analyze them to help determine if they are a potential threat. 

In addition, deep-learning algorithms go beyond simple movement detection to enable advanced capabilities such as facial recognition and behavior prediction to drive advancements in the retail and entertainment industries.

"Network video recording systems are getting smart," said Brendan Collins, vice president product marketing, devices business unit, Western Digital. "AI-enabled NVRs are being architected for new GPUs and CPUs to improve overall deep-learning capability and to speed algorithms related to object recognition and facial recognition. NVRs with deep learning require greater storage capacity and more sophisticated processing, versus individual cameras, to perform more advanced analytics, such as location of an individual face image from weeks or months of stored video, or creation of traffic heat maps from hours of retail surveillance video."

"With the advancements in the capability of our surveillance solutions, the amount of storage required to capture, store, and analyze the video from the millions of cameras installed throughout the world for smart cities, intelligent transportation, and other surveillance applications is constantly growing," said Derek Yang, president, Hikvision Europe. "Western Digital’s 12TB surveillance drive and portfolio of surveillance products will enable us to provide optimized surveillance solutions for our clients."

The Western Digital Purple 12TB surveillance-class enable higher capacity storage for all compatible video surveillance systems. Western Digital Purple 10TB and 12TB capacities feature exclusive AllFrame AI technology designed specifically for AI-enabled systems. This allows the drives to support up to twice as many AI channels (16 AI channels/32 AI streams) than the competition and is future ready for more capable next generation systems to enable the on-going evolution of deep learning and video analytics in the surveillance market.

Availability
Western Digital Purple surveillance-class drives are available through Western Digital’s authorized reseller network worldwide. Manufacturers Suggested Retail Price in the United States is $399.00 (USD) for the 10TB (model #WD101PURZ) and $479.00 (USD) for the 12TB (model #WD121PURZ). The new products join the Western Digital Purple microSD™ card, purpose built for video surveillance cameras, for a complete portfolio to support edge-to-core surveillance solutions. For more information on the Western Digital Purple portfolio, visit the Western Digital booth at IFSEC International (Excel London UK - Stand #E200) or go to https://www.wd.com/solutions/edge-to-core.html.

About Western Digital
Western Digital creates environments for data to thrive. 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. Western Digital® data-centric solutions are marketed under the G-Technology™, HGST, SanDisk®, Tegile™, Upthere™, and WD® brands.

# # #

Western Digital, the Western Digital logo, and WD Purple are 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. Pictures shown may vary from actual products. Product specifications subject to change without notice.

*As used for storage capacity, one terabyte (TB) = one trillion bytes. Total accessible capacity varies depending on operating environment.

¹IDC Worldwide Hard Disk Drive 2017-2022 Forecast, May 2018, Doc #US43766218

Forward Looking Statements
This news release contains certain forward-looking statements, including the expected availability, benefits, features, pricing and performance of the Western Digital Purple surveillance drive. 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.