Seagate 2013 Annual Report Download - page 73

Table of Contents
SEAGATE TECHNOLOGY PLC
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
1. Basis of Presentation and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies
Organization
The Company is a leading provider of electronic data storage solutions. Its principal products are hard disk drives, commonly referred to as
disk drives, hard drives or HDDs. Hard disk drives are devices that store digitally encoded data on rapidly rotating disks with magnetic surfaces.
Disk drives are used as the primary medium for storing electronic data. In addition to HDDs, we produce a broad range of electronic data storage
products including solid state hybrid drives ("SSHD") and solid state drives ("SSD").
The Company's products are designed for enterprise servers and storage systems in mission critical and nearline applications; client
compute applications, where its products are designed primarily for desktop and mobile computing; and client non-compute applications, where
its products are designed for a wide variety of end user devices such as digital video recorders ("DVRs"), personal data backup systems, portable
external storage systems and digital media systems.
The Company continues to make strategic investments in order to expand its storage solutions, enter new market adjacencies, and expand
our technical expertise. As a result of recent acquisitions, the Company's product and solution portfolio for the enterprise data storage industry
includes storage enclosures, integrated application platforms and high performance computing ("HPC") data storage solutions. The Company's
storage subsystems support a range of high-speed interconnect technologies to meet demanding cost and performance specifications. The
Company's modular subsystem architecture allows it to support many segments within the networked storage market by enabling different
specifications of storage subsystem designs to be created from a standard set of interlocking technology modules.
In addition to manufacturing and selling data storage products, the Company provides data storage services for small to medium-sized
businesses, including online backup, data protection and recovery solutions.
Basis of Presentation and Consolidation
The consolidated financial statements include the accounts of the Company and all its wholly-owned and majority-
owned subsidiaries, after
elimination of intercompany transactions and balances.
The preparation of financial statements in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles also requires management to make
estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in the Company's condensed consolidated financial statements and accompanying
notes. Actual results could differ materially from those estimates. The methods, estimates and judgments the Company uses in applying its most
critical accounting policies have a significant impact on the results the Company reports in its condensed consolidated financial statements. The
condensed consolidated financial statements reflect, in the opinion of management, all material adjustments necessary to present fairly the
condensed consolidated financial position, results of operations, comprehensive income, cash flows and shareholders' equity for the periods
presented. Such adjustments are of a normal and recurring nature.
The Company operates and reports financial results on a fiscal year of 52 or 53 weeks ending on the Friday closest to June 30. Accordingly,
fiscal years 2014, 2013 and 2012 were comprised of 52 weeks and ended on June 27, 2014, June 28, 2013, and June 29, 2012, respectively. All
references to years in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements represent fiscal years unless otherwise noted.
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