“The current environment has accelerated the pace of digitization”

Amid these unprecedented times, Data storage is playing a very crucial role and the solutions provider, Western Digital Corp, is betting big on the same. From Big Data to Fast Data to Personal Data, Western Digital offers innovative storage solutions to its customers that best fits their data storage requirements. Due to the growing workload and demand of storage in this crucial time, Western Digital aiming to develop an environment for data to thrive. In a recent interaction of Pahi Mehra with Jaganathan Chelliah, Director – Marketing, Western Digital India, he shares how the data interaction is changing and what impact does the pandemic had on the storage industry.

How do you think data Interaction is changing? the internet proliferation has made accessing data easy. the use of socially generated data in our daily activities has become a new technique to understand and predict our collective behaviours. As per Social Media today, we interact with more than 2.5 quintillion bytes of data, on an average every day, which includes images, high definition videos, apps etc...we are witnessing a surge in the user-generated content that engages the audience and allows content creators to be more creative with quality content that is entertaining but also requires more network bandwidth and storage. the content formats have also evolved

from texts and graphics to voice and video. then there has been a continued explosion of messaging apps and Ar’s prevalence in our lives, which combine personalization with convenience and is eventually enabling people to create more content. this is essentially fuelling the growth of data in the Indian market, which, in turn, is driving storage growth.

How is the external storage space looking like in a COVID world? the current environment has accelerated the pace of digitization, be it schooling or ordering groceries. We are also witnessing new trends such as uptake of gaming, working from anywhere, surge in content creation, smart videos and video security to name a few. With all our daily activities shifting online, this has risen the demand for storage, additionally, the right storage solutions have become of crucial importance. For example, when you are working from home or schooling from home you need storage devices to take backup. the user wants a high capacity device, rather than superfast

speed. We have our palm sized, portable, WD My Passport HDD portfolio with up to 5tb capacity built specially to take backup.

However, working professionals and prosumers want a storage solution that is

superfast so they can store and process 4K and HD files on the go. We have recently introduced WD My Passport SSD, which has a sleek, compact metal design and blazing fast speed powered by NVME technology. the new palm-sized drive allows home and business users to save, access, and protect the content that matters. the new SSD delivers accelerated read speeds of up to 1050Mb/s. It helps secure content and keep productivity flowing with password enabled 256-bit AES hardware encryption. WD My Passport SSD is both shock and vibration resistant. It is drop-resistant up to 6.5ft (1.98m).

We expect the demand for storage to continue to grow. Western Digital is well equipped to help consumers live their digital lives to the fullest.

According to you in this current situation what kind of difference do you see in people’s content creation and consumption habits? Social distancing and the new normal of restricted workforce have pushed users to explore new scenarios to maintain life and business continuity. this has led to a massive surge in the use of the internet and data creation and consumption across India. With mostly everything shifting to digital platforms, we are amidst of a huge deluge of data creations and consumption.

India’s data consumption grew at a scorching pace with demand on ott and VOD platforms rising by a whopping 947% compared to what it was in February 2020, as per DE-CIX. People are becoming more aware of the importance of their data and, therefore, they keenly understand the need of regular data backup.

How has the remote working and learning from a home impacted the storage industry? the pandemic is constantly changing the future of work and education sector. this has resulted in growth for storage solutions. Working from home has given a rise to the need for data backup solutions and transfer devices. Additionally, there is a demand for internal storage solutions to upgrade Pc. our storage solutions such as WD My Passport HDD- for backup and Sandisk Dual Drive- for transfer, and WD blue SN550- for Pc upgrade, are the go-to storage solutions for the mentioned requirements.

What kind of impact has the company witnessed due to the pandemic? Students attending classes at home have put in a lot of stress for the need of digital devices such as Pc and smartphones to manage their studies. As they create and consume a lot of content, they are naturally looking for the right kind of solutions to manage their class and homework. Professionals working from home also have a similar need. As a result, we have witnessed a good demand for our products- since we have a wide portfolio cutting across consumer, professional as well as enterprise.

What are the latest tech innovations that Western Digital products are thriving? At Western Digital, we are continuously introducing customized and purpose-built solutions based on the latest technology for consumers and enterprises. our range of SSDS are thoughtfully calibrated solutions, which feature high-performance NVME technology ensuring full-throttle power. to meet the vast storage needs of our consumers, we introduced the

Sandisk Ultra Dual Drive Luxe USB with up to1tb storage capacity. to meet the growing needs of content creators we have a specially curated line of Sandisk extreme Pro products like the Sandisk extreme Pro cfexpress card type b and Sandisk extreme Pro SDHC and SDXC UHS-I card. We have also introduced WD My Passport SSD with up to 1050Mb/s write speed and up to 2tb storage capacity.

Why and to what TG would you recommend an SSD to? An SSD has several benefits. When you look at an internal SSD- that goes inside your Pc- it gives you faster performance- enables faster boot time, quicker file transfers, and greater bandwidth for enterprise computing and gamers. For example, our WD BLACK SSD delivers best in class performance for a gamer, who is looking for a seamless experience for their 3D games. And WD blue internal SSD is meant for working professionals to improve and enhance their productivity. While, WD Green internal SSD is mean for everyday computing.

What are the advantages of using an SSD that is designed with NVME technology? NVME powered SSDS are the fastest storage solutions available today. NVME guarantees very fast data access, which is especially important for modern multicore computers. the Sandisk and WD SSDS provide consumers with super-fast, performance-oriented, reliable storage solutions that deliver focused benefits to audiences across price segments. For example, our WD black SN750 NVME SSD delivers top tier performance for gaming and hardware enthusiasts and pushes the boundaries of ordinary SSD performance. It offers a read speeds up to 3,470Mb/s.

How is Western Digital democratizing the external storage space? We have an unequivocal focus on bringing innovative technologies to the marketplace. We are connected to our customers and the market through a vast network of channel partners, which helps us introduce purpose-built and customized products. We have a powerful play across segments for storage- from consumers to enterprises. our broad product portfolio is speared across categories; from external HDD and SSD drives to internal drives across technologies such as SATA, SAS, and NVME under our brands- WD, Sandisk and G-tech. ■