DOCSLIB.ORG

2016 Annual Report and Form 10-K

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
2016 Annual Report and Form 10-K Corporate Headquarters Stock Exchange Listing Delivering the possibilities of data Western Digital Corporation Western Digital’s common stock trades 3355 Michelson Drive, Suite 100 on The NASDAQ Global Select MarketSM Irvine, California 92612 under the symbol WDC. 949.672.7000 Investor Relations Worldwide Websites investor.wdc.com westerndigital.com [email protected] investor.wdc.com 800.695.6399 hgst.com sandisk.com wd.com Transfer Agent and Registrar Independent Registered Public American Stock Transfer & Trust Company, LLC Accounting Firm Operations Center - 6201 15th Avenue KPMG LLP 2016 Annual Report Brooklyn, New York 11219 amstock.com 800.937.5449 and Form 10-K Financial and investor information is available on the company’s Investor Relations website at investor.wdc.com. Forward-Looking Statements This Annual Report contains forward-looking statements, including but not limited to, statements relating to the expectations regarding: the growth of digital data and demand for digital storage; the anticipated benefits of Western Digital’s acquisition of SanDisk Corporation and of the integration of the HGST, SanDisk and WD businesses; Western Digital’s positioning and opportunities in the storage industry; Western Digital’s investments in and development of new technologies; and Western Digital’s goal to pay down debt, attain investment grade status and continue paying dividends. These forward-looking statements are based on Western Digital’s current expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements, including: volatility in global economic conditions; challenges associated with the integration of SanDisk and HGST; business conditions and growth in the storage ecosystem; pricing trends and fluctuations in average selling prices; dependence on business ventures and strategic partnerships for future product development, sales growth and supply; the sufficiency of available liquidity to meet debt and dividend needs; the availability and cost of commodity materials and specialized product components; actions by competitors; the development and introduction of products based on new technologies and expansion into new data storage markets; and other risks and uncertainties listed in Western Digital’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended July 1, 2016, 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 Western Digital undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances. Western Digital, WD, the WD logo, My Cloud and G-Technology are trademarks of Western Digital Technologies, Inc. and/or its affiliates. Western Digital Technologies, Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Western Digital Corporation. HGST trademarks are intended and authorized for use only in countries and jurisdictions in which HGST has obtained the rights to use, market and advertise the brand. All other trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. © 2016 Western Digital Technologies, Inc. All rights reserved. 2278-001005-A12 Sept. 2016 The Company Corporate Information The power of data is undeniable—creating a world that’s more predictive, more productive and Board of Directors more personal, enabling smarter decisions, breakthrough discoveries and deeper connections. At Western Digital, we believe in the promise of data. We’re redefining how the world keeps and Matthew E. Massengill Len J. Lauer leverages data. We power the technology and develop the solutions that shape our lives. At every Chairman of the Board Lead Independent Director step, we innovate with purpose to deliver the possibilities of data. Former President and Chief Executive Officer Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Western Digital Corporation Memjet Western Digital is the world’s largest data storage solutions provider. Our innovative storage Martin I. Cole Sanjay Mehrotra solutions that provide customers with high capacity, flexibility and speed are at the heart of many Former Chief Executive Former President and Chief Executive Officer of the world’s largest datacenters, and embedded in advanced smartphones, tablets, and PCs. Accenture plc Technology Group SanDisk Corporation Our consumer products are available at hundreds of thousands of retail stores worldwide. Whether marketed under the WD, HGST or SanDisk brands, our storage solutions power the Kathleen A. Cote Stephen D. Milligan Chief Executive Officer markets and companies that shape our lives—enabling possibilities for the cloud, enterprise and Former Chief Executive Officer Worldport Communications, Inc. Western Digital Corporation sophisticated infrastructures everywhere. Henry T. DeNero Paula A. Price Western Digital employs more than 70,000 people in locations worldwide, designing, Former Chief Executive Officer Senior Lecturer of Business Administration developing, manufacturing and marketing our solutions for the data-driven world. Homespace, Inc. Harvard Business School Michael D. Lambert Former Senior Vice President Dell, Inc. WD has been a technology standard-setter in the industry’s highest volume markets. WD’s hard drives are deployed in personal computers, enterprise computing systems, consumer electronics and digital video applications, as well as in its external storage, personal cloud and business Executive Officers storage solutions portfolios. WD empowers people around the world to easily save, protect, share and experience their content on multiple Stephen D. Milligan Steven G. Campbell connected devices. For more information about the WD brand, please visit Chief Executive Officer Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer wd.com. Michael D. Cordano Jacqueline M. DeMaria President and Chief Operating Officer Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer HGST helps organizations harness the power of data to unlock the greater Mark P. Long business potential through a broad portfolio of storage solutions. HGST’s President WD Capital, Chief Strategy Officer Michael C. Ray smarter storage solutions are everywhere, touching lives and enabling and Chief Financial Officer Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer possibilities for cloud, enterprise and sophisticated infrastructures, and and Secretary powering the markets and companies that shape our lives. HGST is trusted and relied upon by people who are moving the world forward with innovation. For more information about the HGST brand, please visit hgst.com. SanDisk provides trusted and innovative flash storage products that have transformed the electronics industry. SanDisk’s quality, state-of-the-art solutions are at the heart of many of the world’s largest datacenters, and embedded in advanced smartphones, tablets and PCs. SanDisk’s consumer products are available at hundreds of thousands of retail stores worldwide. For more information about the SanDisk brand, please visit sandisk.com. A Message from the CEO Dear Fellow Shareholders, This was a transformative year for our company. In fiscal 2016, we successfully completed the acquisition of SanDisk, commenced the integration of substantial portions of our WD and HGST businesses and embarked on a joint venture with our strategic partner Unis in China. These significant developments have laid the foundation for us, as the world’s largest data storage solutions provider, to make the promise of data a reality and Steve Milligan Chief Executive Officer deliver on its possibilities. Western Digital Corporation We are continuing to execute the vision we laid out several years ago to provide a full spectrum of storage solutions to our customers across three key categories: Datacenter Devices and Solutions, Client Devices, and Client Solutions. Given our rich heritage of operational excellence, broad R&D capabilities and extensive product and technology assets, we’re excited about our path ahead as a truly broad-based developer, manufacturer and provider of storage solutions. In addition to achieving the transformative milestones of the past year, we have also made significant progress on our key initiatives to drive value creation: • We completed the alignment of our product and technology roadmaps involving legacy WD, HGST and SanDisk products. • We celebrated the opening of the New Fab 2 wafer manufacturing facility in Yokkaichi, Japan with Toshiba, underscoring the continued strength of our 16-year NAND partnership. • We announced our next-generation 3D NAND technology, BiCS3, with an industry-leading 64 layers of vertical storage capability. Pilot production of BiCS3 has commenced, and we expect meaningful commercial volumes in the first half of calendar 2017. • We are on target to achieve our synergy goals from the integration activities that are underway. • We remain focused on investing in our business and technology to ensure that we can adapt quickly to address shifting customer needs and industry developments. We, along with our customers, are immersed in and responding to the new and emerging drivers of growth and innovation. These include changes in the methods of storage in client devices, new product cycles in mobile devices and PCs, as well as increasing digital content being stored and managed on hard drives and SSDs in the cloud environment. Not only are we seizing the opportunity in mobile and cloud, but we are also benefiting from SSDs penetrating further into
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Flash Performance for Oracle RAC with Pcie Shared Storage
    Flash Performance for Oracle RAC with PCIe Shared Storage A Revolutionary Oracle RAC Architecture Authored by: Estuate & Virident | HGST Table of Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................................................. 1 RAC “Share Everything” Architecture ........................................................................................................... 1 Oracle RAC on FlashMAX PCIe SSDs ............................................................................................................. 3 RAC cluster with Virident | HGST FlashMAX ................................................................................................ 4 ASM and Oracle files .................................................................................................................................... 6 The Architecture Advantage ........................................................................................................................ 6 The Write Advantage (50% less I/O traffic through the network) ............................................................... 7 The Read Advantage (100% reads from local PCIe, Zero traffic through vShare network) .......................... 8 High Availability ............................................................................................................................................ 8 Performance ................................................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Western Digital Acquires Virident
    Western Digital Acquires Virident Whopping $685 Million Purchase Price Disk drive maker Western Digital Corp announced on 9 September 2013 that it is buying Virident Systems, Inc. which will be merged into HGST, a wholly- owned subsidiary of Western Digital.. Virident will be acquired for approximately $685 million in cash, consisting of about $645 million in enterprise value, net of Virident’s estimated cash balance. Virident believes its integration with HGST will strengthen its marketing by leveraging HGST’s strong brand, extensive channel relationships, and global customer reach. Who is Virident? Virident is a small independent manufacturer of very high end PCIe SSDs. The company has, from the beginning, had a relentless focus on consistency of performance, which is one aspect of SSDs that has received very little attention until recently. Virident started out as a manufacturer of two high-performance dedicated appliances, one for running MySQL database software, and the other to support the open-source memcached storage network caching software. Virident and competitor Schooner both entered this market at the same time. Both found that data centers were moving away from dedicated hardware and toward virtualization, forcing both companies to revise their plans. Schooner focused on software optimization and was recently acquired by SanDisk. Virident migrated to NAND flash-based PCIe SSDs similar to, but faster than, those pioneered by Fusion-io. It was able to do this because its original appliances were based on NOR flash, a very badly-behaved technology when it comes to write cycles. Virident applied its superior understanding of flash write cycle management to NAND and achieved superior results.
    [Show full text]
  • 4U60 Storage Enclosure Site Requirements Document
    Site Requirements Document 4U60 Storage Enclosure G460-J-12 November 2015 1ET0164 Revision 1.1 Long Live Data ™ | www.hgst.com Site Requirements Document Copyright Copyright The following paragraph does not apply to the United Kingdom or any country where such provisions are inconsistent with local law: HGST a Western Digital company PROVIDES THIS PUBLICATION "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. Some states do not allow disclaimer or express or implied warranties in certain transactions, therefore, this statement may not apply to you. This publication could include technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. Changes are periodically made to the information herein; these changes will be incorporated in new editions of the publication. HGST may make improvements or changes in any products or programs described in this publication at any time. It is possible that this publication may contain reference to, or information about, HGST products (machines and programs), programming, or services that are not announced in your country. Such references or information must not be construed to mean that HGST intends to announce such HGST products, programming, or services in your country. Technical information about this product is available by contacting your local HGST representative or on the Internet at: support.hgst.com HGST may have patents or pending patent applications covering subject matter in this document. The furnishing of this document does not give you any license to these patents. © 2015 HGST, Inc. All rights reserved. HGST, a Western Digital company 3403 Yerba Buena Road San Jose, CA 95135 Produced in the United States Long Live Data™ is a trademark of HGST, Inc.
    [Show full text]
  • Virtual Desktop Scalability and Performance with Vmware View 5.2 and Virident Flashmax Ii Storage
    VIRTUAL DESKTOP SCALABILITY AND PERFORMANCE WITH VMWARE VIEW 5.2 AND VIRIDENT FLASHMAX II STORAGE Whether you are planning to make the move to desktop virtualization or are looking to expand your existing virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), it is important that you choose the right software and storage for your enterprise environment. It is also vital to be able to add hardware and predictably scale your environment so that you know how many users you can expect to support as your VDI needs grow. Choosing VMware View 5.2 software with a fast and reliable internal storage solution, such as Virident FlashMAX II™ storage devices, can maximize performance, reduce latency, and scale predictably as you add users. In the Principled Technologies labs, we found that a single server running VMware View 5.2 virtual desktops with two low-profile Virident FlashMAX II storage devices could support 162 virtual desktops with nearly no latency to provide an excellent experience for end users. To verify how predictably and linearly this solution scales, we had only to add another server; two servers, each with two Virident devices, scaled perfectly to support 324 users. We also ran a storage-intensive recompose job on the desktops and found that Virident FlashMAX II devices could handle heavy maintenance jobs without sacrificing end-user performance. JANUARY 2013 A PRINCIPLED TECHNOLOGIES TEST REPORT Commissioned by VMware, Inc. and Virident Systems, Inc. MANY USERS, VERY LOW LATENCY, AND PREDICTABLE SCALABILITY The success of a virtual desktop environment is dependent on the number of enterprise users your solution supports, the performance and response times it provides for your users, and the ability to predict the number of users you can expect to support when you scale your hardware.
    [Show full text]
  • Perfect Devices: the Amazing Endurance of Hard Disk Drives Giora J
    T TarnoTek Perfect Devices: The Amazing Endurance of Hard Disk Drives Giora J. Tarnopolsky TARNOTEK & INSIC - Information Storage Industry Consortium www.tarnotek.com [email protected] www.insic.org 2004 - Mass Storage Systems & Technologies Outline z Perfect Inventions z Hard Disk Drives & other consumer products z Hard Disk Drives: Developments 1990 - 2004 z Marketplace z How the technology advances have affected the product offerings z Technology z How market opportunities propelled basic research forward z Disk Drives at the Boundaries z INSIC and Data Storage Systems Research z Closing Remarks: Hard Disk Drive Endurance Giora J. Tarnopolsky HDD - Perfect Devices © 2002-2004\14 April 2004\2 TARNOTEK 2004 - Mass Storage Systems & Technologies PERFECT INVENTIONS Giora J. Tarnopolsky HDD - Perfect Devices © 2002-2004\14 April 2004\3 TARNOTEK 2004 - Mass Storage Systems & Technologies Nearly Perfect Inventions z Certain inventions are created “perfect:” their operation relies on a fundamental principle that cannot be improved, or does not merit improvement z This assures their endurance … z … and defines their domain of development, the limits of applicability of the invention z Examples of perfect inventions are the bicycle, the umbrella, the book, and the disk drive Giora J. Tarnopolsky HDD - Perfect Devices © 2002-2004\14 April 2004\4 TARNOTEK 2004 - Mass Storage Systems & Technologies Bicycle z Gyroscope effect assures stability of the rider z Under torque T, the bike turns but does not fall z Low ratio of vehicle mass to rider mass z ~ 15 % (as compared to ~2,200% for car) z Efficient r T z Rugged r dL z Mass-produced r dt L z Affordable Giora J.
    [Show full text]
  • Introducing the View of SNIA Japan Cold Storage TWG on "Cold Storage"
    Introducing the view of SNIA Japan Cold Storage TWG on "Cold Storage" 19 Sep 2016 Kazuhiko Kawamura Sony Corporation 2016 Storage Developer Conference. © Insert Your Company Name. All Rights Reserved. 2 2016 Storage Developer Conference. © Insert Your Company Name. All Rights Reserved. Agenda 1. Introduction Why we are focusing on Cold Storage? About us (SNIA-J CSTWG) 2. Discussion Part-1 Definition of Cold Storage 3. Discussion Part-2 Taxonomy for Cold Storage Activity summary and next steps 4. Latest optical technology (Sony’s approach to Cold Storage) Archival Disc Technology Trial mapping of Cold Storage media 3 2016 Storage Developer Conference. © Insert Your Company Name. All Rights Reserved. Your data can be Cold, Colder, Coldest.. always access Hot frequently Warm Mapping Lukewarm sometimes Cold almost no access Extremely cold The toBulk of Data Storage market! Completely frozen! Source: IDC Worldwide Cold Storage 4 Ecosystem Taxonomy, 2014 #246732 2016 Storage Developer Conference. © Insert Your Company Name. All Rights Reserved. What’s your image for Cold Storage? 5 2016 Storage Developer Conference. © Insert Your Company Name. All Rights Reserved. Why you don’t care for Cold data? Excuse 1 There are no clear border lines between hot, warm and cold data and you think you can’t help this situation. Excuse 2 Cold data is old and not mission critical, thus it is something you can defer your decision. Excuse 3 Some imagines that Cold data is useless, simply because it is not earning money for now. Where is cold data … Cold data should be found everywhere!6 2016 Storage Developer Conference.
    [Show full text]
  • PDF Format, 4332Kbytes
    Hitachi Integrated Report 2018 Year ended March 31, 2018 Hitachi Group Identity Originally set by Hitachi founder Namihei Odaira, the Mission has been carefully passed on to generations of Hitachi Group employees and stakeholders throughout the company’s 100-year history. The Values reflect the Hitachi Founding Spirit, which was shaped by the achievements of our company predecessors as they worked hard to fulfill Hitachi’s Mission. The Vision has been created based on the Mission and Values. It is an expression of what the Hitachi Group aims to become in the future as it advances to its next stage of growth. The Mission, Values, and Vision are made to Identity be shared in a simple concept: Hitachi Group Identity. The more than century-long history of Hitachi since its founding is built atop the Mission expressed by founder Namihei Odaira— “Contribute to society through the development of superior, original technology and products.” Based on continually honing its proprietary technologies, Hitachi has sought to fulfill this Mission by providing products and services that address societal issues as they have changed over time. Hitachi’s philosophy of contributing to society and helping efforts to address societal issues is fully aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations and the Society 5.0* concept promoted by the Japanese government. Today and for the future, Hitachi aims through its wide-ranging business activities to resolve the issues of its customers and society in the quest to build a more dynamic world. * Society 5.0 expresses a new idea of society and related efforts to achieve this, as advocated by the Japanese government.
    [Show full text]
  • Hitachi's Broadcast/Network Hybrid Digital Recorder
    Hitachi’s Broadcast/Network Hybrid Digital Recorder 66 Hitachi’s Broadcast/Network Hybrid Digital Recorder — A Whole New Way of Watching Media — Atsushi Ugajin OVERVIEW: In the market for video recorder units, DVD (digital versatile Tsutomu Numata disk) recorders have seen explosive growth in recent years. HDD (hard disk drive)/DVD recorders in particular are predicted to enter households quickly, because of their convenience. The rapid increase of households connected to broadband networks has also caused an increase in the number of PCs and "information appliances" that can connect to networks and communicate from within the home. This has led this phenomenon to be referred to as a fusion of broadcast and communication within the home. With this concept in mind, Hitachi developed a new type of HDD/DVD recorder. In future, Hitachi will develop a hybrid digital recorder as the core of the home network, while expanding the capacity and features of the hard disk, the recorder’s key component, and making it more quiet and energy efficient. INTRODUCTION (b) boosted hard drive performance and capacity, DVD (digital versatile disk) recorders recently joined (c) advances in moving image digital recording the ranks of flat panel plasma TVs and digital cameras technology; as must-have digital gadgets, and all three items (d) integration of technology as a result of the shift continue to be shipped in Japan in increasing volume. from analog to digital, This is especially true of DVD recorders, 830,000 of (e) increased network speed. which were shipped in Japan between January and (2) User needs August 2003, as they begin to enjoy real demand.
    [Show full text]
  • Ipr2017-00868
    United States Patent No. 7,827,370 IN THE UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE –––––––––– BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD –––––––––– SanDisk LLC Petitioner v. Memory Technologies, LLC Patent Owner –––––––––– Patent No. 7,827,370 –––––––––– PETITION FOR INTER PARTES REVIEW UNDER 35 U.S.C. § 311, 37 C.F.R. §§ 42.100 ET SEQ. United States Patent No. 7,827,370 TABLE OF CONTENTS PETITIONER’S LIST OF EXHIBITS .........................................................................iii I. MANDATORY NOTICES, STANDING, AND FEES .......................... 1 II. OVERVIEW OF CHALLENGE AND RELIEF REQUESTED ............ 2 A. Patents and Publications Relied Upon ........................................... 2 B. Grounds for Challenge ................................................................... 3 III. Background of the Technology ................................................................ 3 IV. OVERVIEW OF THE ’370 PATENT ..................................................... 6 A. Summary of the Claimed Subject Matter ...................................... 6 B. The ’370 Patent Prosecution History ............................................. 8 V. SUMMARY OF THE PRIOR ART ........................................................ 9 VI. Claim Construction ................................................................................ 11 A. Level of Skill in the Art ............................................................... 12 B. “a data register” ........................................................................... 12 C.
    [Show full text]
  • Micron: NAND Flash Architecture and Specification Trends
    NAND Flash Architecture and Specification Trends Michael Abraham ([email protected]) Applications Engineering Manager Micron Technology, Inc. Santa Clara, CA USA August 2009 1 Abstract As NAND Flash continues to shrink, page sizes, block sizes, and ECC requirements are increasing while data retention, endurance, and performance are decreasing. These changes impact systems including random write performance and more. Learn how to prepare for these changes and counteract some of them through improved block management techniques and system design. This presentation also discusses some of the tradeoff myths – for example, the myth that you can directly trade ECC for endurance Santa Clara, CA USA August 2009 2 NAND Flash: Shrinking Faster Than Moore’s Law 200 100 Logic 80 DRAM on (nm) ii 60 NAND Resolut 40 Micron 32Gb NAND (34nm) 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Semiconductor International, 1/1/2007 Santa Clara, CA USA August 2009 3 Memory Organization Trends Over time, NAND block size is increasing. • Larger page sizes increase sequential throughput. • More pages per block reduce die size. 4,194,304 1,048,576 262,144 65,536 16,384 4,096 1, 024 256 64 16 Block size (B) Data Bytes per Page Pages per Block Santa Clara, CA USA August 2009 4 Consumer-grade NAND Flash: Endurance and ECC Trends Process shrinks lead to less electrons ppgger floating gate. ECC used to improve data retention and endurance. To adjust for increasing RBERs, ECC is increasing exponentially to achieve equivalent UBERs. For consumer applications, endurance becomes less important as density increases.
    [Show full text]
  • Travelstar Z7k500 Driver Download DRIVERS HITACHI 7K500-250 for WINDOWS 10 DOWNLOAD
    travelstar z7k500 driver download DRIVERS HITACHI 7K500-250 FOR WINDOWS 10 DOWNLOAD. This amount is subject to change until you make payment. In-depth technology research, finding new ways to recover data, accessing firmware, writing programs, reading bits off the platter, recovering data from dust. Discuss, HGST Travelstar 7K500 HTS725025A9A364 - hard drive - 250 GB - SATA-300 Series Sign in to comment. Hitachi 7k500-250, Popular Articles, Once you locate the program you'll have to setup the software with your bluetooth device. If you are looking to improve the performance or storage capacity of your laptop or mobile device, one of the ways to do so is by replacing or upgrading the hard disk drive HDD . Interface of The item that has been previously used. Models with Serial ATA-300 interface of its FollowMe TV viewing experience. It has a special edition for Desktop PC 3. It s the first 500GB disk drive to hit the shelves Hitachi has got its drive to market ahead of the likes of Maxtor and Seagate, who have announced drives but not yet shipped them. Find great deals on Refurbished laptops in Sacramento, CA on OfferUp. HITACHI 7K500-250 DRIVER - Add to watch list Remove from watch list. Hitachi HTS72505 500GB Seagate ST5 benchmarks, Hitachi HTS72505 500GB Seagate ST5 performance data from and the Phoronix Test Suite. Lower Price OEM 250GB SATA-II Hitachi Travelstar 7K500. Welcome to CPU Medics, your online source for laptop replacement parts, along with parts for desktops, servers and printers. Ryzen 3 1200 3.1 GHz Quad-Core, Radeon RX 580 4 GB GTS XXX Edition, H500 ATX Mid Tower.
    [Show full text]
  • Storage Spectacular!
    content provided by STORAGE SPECTACULAR! A comprehensive look at virtual storage from Virtualization Review and Redmond magazine, plus a Storage Buyer’s Guide. > The Storage Infrastruggle Page 1 > Do You Really Need Storage Management Software? Page 17 > Storage: Virtualized vs. Software-DefinedPage 27 > Storage Disruptors Page 36 > In the Cloud Era, the Era of Convergence Is Upon Us Page 49 > The 2014 Virtualization Review Buyers Guide Page 56 SPONSORS Storage Spectacular The Storage Infrastruggle Vendors are battling for the future of your storage spend, but are they sidestepping the key drivers of storage cost? By Jon Toigo hile touting “new,” flash-heavy “server-side” topologies and so-called “software-defined architec- tures” as evolutionary replacements for the “legacy” W SANs and NAS appliances that companies deployed in their previous refresh cycles, the industry continues to ignore the more fundamental drivers of storage inefficiency and cost: lack of management both of infrastructure and of data. 1 Storage Spectacular You would think from news reports that the storage industry was on its last legs. Vendor revenues from sales of everything from hard disk drives to external storage arrays, storage area networks (SANs) and network attached storage (NAS) appliances are either flat or declining ever so slightly. Seagate and Western Digital have hit a patch of dol- drums in which the trends of prior years—the doubling of drive capacities every 18 months and the halving of cost per GB every year—have frozen in their tracks. Even the redoubtable EMC, NetApp and IBM are experiencing purchasing slowdowns at customer shops that shouldn’t be happening if the capacity demand explosion that analysts say accompanies server virtualization is to be believed.
    [Show full text]