Seagate 2014 Annual Report Download - page 10
Download and view the complete annual report
Please find page 10 of the 2014 Seagate annual report below. You can navigate through the pages in the report by either clicking on the pages listed below, or by using the keyword search tool below to find specific information within the annual report.TableofContents
bebestservedbyharddiskdrivesduetotheindustry'sabilitytodeliverthemostcosteffective,reliableandenergyefficientmassstoragedevices.Furthermore,the
increaseduseofclientnon-computedevicesthatbothconsumemedia-richdigitalcontentstreamedfromthecloudandcreaterichdigitalcontentthatisstoredin
thecloud,increasesthedemandforhighcapacityharddiskdrivesinenterpriseNearlineapplications.
IndustrySupplyBalance
FromtimetotimetheHDDindustryhasexperiencedperiodsofimbalancebetweensupplyanddemand.Totheextentthatthediskdriveindustrybuildsor
maintainscapacitybasedonexpectationsofdemandthatdonotmaterialize,priceerosionmaybecomemorepronounced.Conversely,duringperiodswhere
demandexceedssupply,priceerosionisgenerallymuted.
OurBusiness
DiskDriveTechnology
Thedesignandmanufacturingofdiskdrivesdependsonhighlyadvancedtechnologyandmanufacturingtechniquesandthereforerequireshighlevelsof
researchanddevelopmentspendingandcapitalequipmentinvestments.Wedesign,fabricateandassembleanumberofthemostimportantcomponentsfoundin
ourdiskdrives,includingread/writeheadsandrecordingmedia.Ourdesignandmanufacturingoperationsarebasedontechnologyplatformsthatareusedto
producevariousdiskdriveproductsthatservemultipledatastorageapplicationsandmarkets.Ourcoretechnologyplatformsarefocusedaroundthearealdensity
ofmediaandread/writeheadtechnologies.Usinganintegratedplatformdesignandmanufacturingleverageapproachallowsustodeliveraportfolioofdiskdrive
productstoserviceawiderangeofelectronicdatastorageapplicationsandindustries.
Diskdrivesthatwemanufacturearecommonlydifferentiatedbythefollowingkeycharacteristics:
•storagecapacity,commonlyexpressedingigabytes(GB)orterabytes(TB),whichistheamountofdatathatcanbestoredonthediskdrive;
•spindlerotationspeed,commonlyexpressedinrevolutionsperminute(RPM),whichhasaneffectonspeedofaccesstodata;
•interfacetransferrate,commonlyexpressedinmegabytespersecond,whichistherateatwhichdatamovesbetweenthediskdriveandthe
computercontroller;
•averageseektime,commonlyexpressedinmilliseconds,whichisthetimeneededtopositiontheheadsoveraselectedtrackonthedisksurface;
•datatransferrate,commonlyexpressedinmegabytespersecond,whichistherateatwhichdataistransferredtoandfromthediskdrive;
•input/outputoperationspersecond(IOPS),commonlyexpressedinmegabytespersecond,whichisthemaximumnumberofreadsandwritestoa
storagelocation;
•productqualityandreliability,commonlyexpressedinannualizedreturnrates;and
•energyefficiency,commonlymeasuredbythepoweroutputnecessarytooperatethediskdrive.
Arealdensityisameasureofstoragecapacitypersquareinchontherecordingsurfaceofadisk.Thestoragecapacityofadiskdriveisdeterminedbythe
numberofdisksitcontainsaswellasthearealdensitycapabilityofthesedisks.Wehavebeenpursuing,andwillcontinuetopursue,anumberoftechnologiesto
increasearealdensitiesacrosstheentirerangeofourproductsforexpandingdiskdrivecapacitiesandreducingthenumberofdisksandheadsperdrivetofurther
reduceproductcosts.
7