Digital transformation has exponentially increased the creation and consumption of data, with IDC estimating that the amount of data generated by endpoints, the edge, and at the core will reach 143 trn GigaByte (GB) by 2024. A direct fallout of this increasing flow of data is growth in demand for dynamic storage solutions that can help consumers and enterprises meet their next-generation needs, says Jaganathan Chelliah, senior director – Marketing, India, Middle East & TIA (Turkey, Israel & Africa), Western Digital, in an interview with Sudhir Chowdhary. Excerpts:
What’s the size of India’s storage industry?
The growing dependence on digital mediums has led to a huge increase in data creation and consumption, boosting demand for smart storage solutions. This is well captured in the numbers for the global storage industry, which is expected to grow at a CAGR of 26% over 2022-2027, as per Expert Market Research. India is also growing exponentially in terms of data creation and consumption. Digitalisation, increased adoption of IoT-connected devices, a hybrid work culture, the e-commerce boom, and Digital India initiatives have acted as catalysts for the growth of the storage industry.
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How are you keeping up with the changing demand for storage solutions?
Today, consumers want different kinds of storage solutions, depending on their needs. It could be a simple backup storage device, a super-fast portable one, a device to upgrade their PC, or one that boosts their gaming rigs.We have purpose-built storage solutions for a varied set of demands and storage needs, for mobile phones, PCs, cars, etc. In fact, we have the broadest portfolio of Solid-State Drives (SSDs) across our WD and SanDisk brands.
How has the need for storage solutions evolved for businesses in India?
Digital transformation and the use of technologies such as AI/ML and IoT have turned the spotlight on the importance of data. Companies are generating and processing huge amounts of data to make informed business decisions. According to IDC, the data generated worldwide is predicted to double between 2022 and 2026, increasing the pressure on businesses to manage and preserve data. This makes storage of paramount importance.
With unrivalled TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) value, Western Digital’s Hard Disk Drive (HDD) technology and capacity leadership enable clients to efficiently provision and scale their data centre settings. SSDs, on the other hand, offer a new level of performance because of their incredibly low latency, rapid read and write speeds, large capacities, and long life.
We are also mindful of the storage needs of different sectors. For instance, from a data centre perspective, Software-Defined Storage (SDS) provides the flexible storage foundation and agility that organisations need for a smooth digital transformation. Businesses today are also looking for a mix of SSD and HDD when creating infrastructure for data centres. Western Digital has announced that it is shipping the world’s first 22TB HDDs, further expanding its areal density leadership and delivering customer value by lowering TCO.
What products do you offer to meet this increasing demand for storage?
Western Digital has the widest range of purpose-built storage solutions across HDD and flash that cater to different use cases, be it for personal, professional, gaming, entertainment, or enterprise needs. For instance, professionals today need quick solutions to move files seamlessly across multiple devices. Our Portable SSD portfolio under both SanDisk and WD brands has been specially developed for on-the-go content creators and prosumers. Likewise, our range of WD Blue drives provide the performance boost, reliability, and extra capacity to tackle the most extreme demands on your PC, while our WD_BLACK portfolio has been built from the ground up for gamers. In the enterprise segment, we have the highest capacity hard drives. Our WD Purple is designed for surveillance and offers HDDs and microSD cards. We also offer platforms for next-generation disaggregated storage and SDS systems.
What is the role of your India R&D centre in expanding the WD portfolio?
India has been an important strategic market for Western Digital in terms of sales and marketing and our R&D efforts. The R&D centre in Bengaluru is one of our largest innovation centres globally and makes a significant contribution to product development.
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