WD's Continued Investments in Technology Result in Capacity Leadership for the Mobile Market
LAKE FOREST, Calif. – October 31, 2007 - Western Digital Corp. (NYSE: WDC) today announced it is now shipping its new WD Scorpio® 320 GB 2.5-inch Serial ATA (SATA) hard drives for notebook computers and portable storage devices.
WD uses advanced head and media technology to achieve the world's highest capacity 2.5-inch, slim, 9.5mm form-factor hard drive and includes proprietary features that make the drive extraordinarily quiet while running at cool operating temperatures. The WD Scorpio 320 GB hard drives deliver high performance with 3 Gb/s transfer rate and are destined for use in OEM notebook platforms that offer the highest storage capacities to the worldwide market.
"In today's market, new notebook systems are increasingly targeting heavy duty applications in the office and in the home,” said Jim Morris, WD's vice president and general manager of notebook storage. "As system manufacturers improve performance and add data hungry features, high-capacity hard drives become a key ingredient that allows users to fully benefit from the latest computing technologies.”
"Consumer demands for high capacity storage are stronger than ever. WD is again leading the industry by delivering high quality, high capacity product to the market with the introduction of its new WD Scorpio 320 GB hard drive,” said Campbell Kan, vice president of mobile computing business unit, Acer Inc. "WD understands the increasing storage requirements of the notebook market, allowing Acer to introduce high-capacity notebook solutions that meet customer's ever-growing demands.”
The WD Scorpio 320 GB SATA hard drive is a direct result of the significant investments WD has made in proprietary head technologies. With the introduction of its latest-generation WD Scorpio drives, WD continues to offer mobile computing and portable storage customers the same outstanding quality, reliability and performance that have earned the company a leadership position in the desktop PC market.
The new WD Scorpio drive further expands the company's breadth of 2.5-inch, 5400 RPM, mobile hard drive offerings to capacity points up to 320 GB.
WD Scorpio Exclusive Features WhisperDrive(TM) - WD's exclusive WhisperDrive technology combines state-of-the-art seeking algorithms to yield the WD Scorpio 320 GB as one of the quietest 5400 RPM, 2.5-inch drives available.
ShockGuard(TM) - Leading-edge ShockGuard technology combines firmware and hardware advancements to protect the drive mechanics and platter surface to meet the highest combined shock tolerance specifications required for mobile and notebook applications.
IntelliSeek(TM) - Another unique WD Scorpio 320 GB feature is its IntelliSeek technology, which calculates optimum seek speeds to lower power consumption, noise and vibration. For a demonstration on IntelliSeek, visit the WD Web site at http://www.wdc.com/en/flash/index.asp?f ... ntelliseek.
Availability
WD Scorpio 320 GB drives (model WD3200BEVS) are available on the company's online store (http://www.westerndigital.com). More information about WD Scorpio mobile drives may be found on the company's Web site at http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=377.
About WD
WD, one of the storage industry's pioneers and long-time leaders, provides products and services for people and organizations that collect, manage and use digital information. The company produces reliable, high-performance hard drives that keep users' data accessible and secure from loss. WD applies its storage expertise to consumer products for external, portable and shared storage products.
WD was founded in 1970. The company's storage products are marketed to leading systems manufacturers, selected resellers and retailers under the Western Digital and WD brand names. Visit the Investor section of the company's Web site (http://www.westerndigital.com) to access a variety of financial and investor information.
This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements relating to expected increase in the pace for demand of mobile 2.5-inch hard drives. These forward-looking statements are based on current management expectations, and actual results may differ materially as a result of several factors, including: supply and demand conditions in the hard drive industry and business conditions generally; and other risks and uncertainties listed in WD's recent SEC filings, including its form 10-K for fiscal year 2007. WD undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect new information or events or for any other reason.