Western Digital Introduces Next-Level Storage Solutions for NAS Environments

Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ: WDC), today introduced an array of purpose-built storage solutions for small businesses and home offices leveraging NAS environments. The solutions include the first-ever WD Red® SSDs, which enhance performance and caching abilities in a hybrid NAS environment, as well as a 14TB capacity for the WD Red and WD Red Pro HDDs.

SSD Performance to Support High-Speed Connectivity
With the increase in virtualization, 10GbE (10 Gigabit Ethernet) and higher connectivity speeds are becoming an essential feature set in modern NAS systems. To help minimize a performance bottleneck, SSD speeds are crucial.

To fully support the requirements of these environments, storage device durability, speed and capacity remain heavily in demand. Building on the proven reliability of Western Digital's WD Red product portfolio, the solutions are built to transform pain points to profits for the end user. When utilized as a caching solution in a NAS system, the WD Red SA500 SSD helps to boost performance while the new higher capacity WD Red and WD Red Pro HDDs offer more storage space in the same NAS device.

"A boost in performance for NAS systems can translate to more content in less time, so creators or small businesses can work more efficiently to increase output and, as a result, potential income," said Ziv Paz, senior director, client computing segment marketing, Western Digital. "Our higher capacities coupled with optimized endurance in the WD Red portfolio are making room for larger files and reducing storage bandwidth-induced stress. For creators working on large projects over time, the latest WD Red SSD solution enables a hybrid NAS environment where the SSD can serve as a caching mechanism for both large and frequently accessed files."

"Working with Western Digital has proved increasingly beneficial in delivering premium storage for our NAS systems," said Meiji Chang, general manager, QNAP. "With the addition of today's WD Red SA500 SSD as a storage or caching solution, our customers can now take full advantage of dedicated SSD slots in our systems and benefit from faster network transfer speeds and optimal endurance."

"Whether it's editing video projects, backing up photos or developing software, the right storage platform not only protects your data, but lets you access it faster," said Patrick Deschere, marketing director, Synology America Corp. "By pairing Synology with Western Digital, you can optimize your NAS experience and get the best of the cloud while maintaining complete ownership of your data."

Product Details
New products introduced today are:

• WD Red SA500 NAS SATA SSD

  • Purpose-built for NAS enthusiasts, the latest WD Red SA500 NAS SATA SSD offers capacities from 500GB up to 4TB¹ (2.5-inch only) and creates an environment optimized for 10GbE networks as well as caching in NAS systems to rapidly access frequently used files. With superior endurance for heavy read and write loads demanded by NAS in a 24/7 environment, the drive supports OLTP databases, multi-user environments, photo rendering, 4K and 8K video editing.

• WD Red NAS Hard Drive

  • Complementary to the WD Red SA500 NAS SATA SSD, the latest WD Red HDD capacity increase to 14TB¹ is designed for use in NAS systems with up to 8 bays. Ideal for small-and-home-office 24/7 environments, the drive supports up to a 180 TB/year workload rate*.

• WD Red Pro NAS Hard Drive

  • Built like the WD Red HDD with a boost for professional NAS workloads and up to 14TB¹ capacity, the WD Red Pro HDD supports up to 24 bays. With 3D Active Balance Plus technology and error recovery controls with NASware™ 3.0 technology, the drive operates with enhanced reliability.

Pricing and Availability
The WD Red SA500 SSD comes in capacities of 500GB up to 2TB for the M.2 form factor and ranges in price from $72.00 up to $297.00 (MSRP USD) in the U.S. The 2.5-inch form factor of the WD Red SA500 SSD comes in capacities of 500GB up to 4TB and ranges in price from $75.00 to $600.00 (MSRP USD) in the U.S. Both form factors of WD Red SA500 SSDs are currently available in limited quantities at the WD store in the U.S. and will be available globally in November at select Western Digital retailers, e-tailers, resellers and system integrators. The WD Red NAS HDD in 14TB capacity is priced at $450.00 (MSRP USD) in the U.S. and the WD Red NAS Pro HDD in 14TB capacity is priced at $525.00 (MSRP USD) in the U.S. These 14TB HDD products will be available globally in November at select Western Digital retailers, e-tailers, resellers, system integrators and at the WD store.

The new WD Red products join Western Digital's portfolio of HDD and SSD solutions that are purpose-built for a range of applications in enterprise, client and gaming markets. For enterprise customers, Western Digital recently enhanced its WD Gold Enterprise Class HDD storage solution, now available in capacities up to 14TB¹.

Enabling the possibilities of data, Western Digital offers one of the industry's broadest portfolio of products and solutions to help people capture, preserve, access and transform their content. For more information, visit our website: www.westerndigital.com

Resources

• Pull quotes:

  • Western Digital: "A boost in performance for NAS systems can translate to more content in less time, so creators or small businesses can work more efficiently to increase output and, as a result, potential income," said Ziv Paz, senior director, client computing segment marketing, Western Digital.

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.

© 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.

*Workload Rate is defined as the amount of user data transferred to or from the hard drive. Workload Rate is annualized (TB transferred ✕ (8760 / recorded power-on hours)). Workload Rate will vary depending on your hardware and software components and configurations.

Western Digital, the Western Digital logo, G-Technology, SanDisk, WD, NASware, WD Gold, and WD Red are all registered trademarks or trademarks of Western Digital Corporation or its affiliates in the U.S. and/or other countries. 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.

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Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains certain forward-looking statements, including the expected availability, benefits, capabilities, capacity, performance and/or other features of the WD Red SA500 NAS SATA SSD, WD Red HDD and WD Red Pro HDD. 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.