Seagate 2015 Annual Report Download - page 48
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•Creation,aggregationanddistributionofdigitalcontentthroughservicesandotherofferingssuchasFacebook®,Instagram®,iTunes®,Netflix®,
Google®andYouTube®;
•Newsurveillancesystemswhichfeaturehigherresolutiondigitalcamerasandthusrequirelargerdatastoragecapacities;
•CreationandcollectionofdatathroughtheevolutionoftheIoTecosystem,bigdataanalyticsandnewtechnologytrendssuchasself-drivingcars
anddrones;
•Buildoutoflargenumbersofclouddatacentersbycloudserviceprovidersandprivatecompaniestransitioningon-sitedatacentersintothecloud;
•Protectionofincreaseddigitalcontentthroughredundantstorageonbackupdevicesandexternallyprovidedstorageservices.
Asaresultofthesefactors,thenatureandvolumeofcontentbeingcreatedrequiresgreaterstorage,whichismoreefficientlyandeconomicallyfacilitatedby
highercapacitystoragedevicesinordertostore,manage,distribute,analyzeandbackupsuchcontent.Weexpectthistosupportthegrowthindemandfor
electronicdatastoragesolutionsindevelopedandemergingeconomieswellintothefuture.
Theamountofdatacreatedaswellaswhereandhowdataisstoredcontinuestoevolvewiththeproliferationofmobiledevices,thegrowthofcloud
computing,andtheevolvingIoT.Inaddition,theeconomicsofstorageinfrastructurearealsoevolvingwiththeutilizationofpublicandprivatehyper-scalestorage
andopen-sourcesolutionsreducingthetotalcostofownershipofstoragewhileincreasingthespeedandefficiencywithwhichcustomerscanleveragemassive
computingandstoragedevices.Accordingly,weexpectthesetrendswillcontinuetocreatesignificantdemandforelectronicdatastoragesolutionsgoingforward.
DemandTrendsforDiskDrives
Webelievethatcontinuedgrowthindigitalcontentrequiresincreasinglyhigherstoragecapacityinordertostore,aggregate,host,distribute,analyze,manage,
backupandusesuchcontent.Wealsobelievethatasarchitecturesevolvetoservethegrowingcommercialandconsumeruserbasethroughouttheworld,the
mannerwhichharddrivesaredeliveredtomarketandutilizedbyourcustomerswillevolveaswell.
Webelievethatintheforeseeablefuturethetraditionalenterpriseandclientcomputemarketsthatrequirehighcapacitystoragesolutions,andthedata
intensiveclientnon-computemarketswillcontinuetobebestservedbyharddiskdrivesduetotheindustry'sabilitytodeliverthemostcosteffective,reliableand
energyefficientmassstoragedevices.Furthermore,theincreaseduseofclientnon-computedevicesthatbothconsumemedia-richdigitalcontentstreamedfrom
thecloudandcreaterichdigitalcontentthatisstoredinthecloud,increasesthedemandforhighcapacityharddiskdrivesinenterpriseNearlineapplications.
Wealsobelievethatasharddiskdrivecapacitiescontinuetoincrease,unitdemanddoesnotreflecttheincreaseinExabytesdemand.Inrecentyears,this
trendhasresultedindemandforfewerunits,butwithhigheraveragecapacityperdrive.
IndustrySupplyBalance
FromtimetotimetheHDDindustryhasexperiencedperiodsofimbalancebetweensupplyanddemand.Totheextentthatthediskdriveindustrybuildsor
maintainscapacitybasedonexpectationsofdemandthatdonotmaterialize,priceerosionmaybecomemorepronounced.Conversely,duringperiodswhere
demandexceedssupply,priceerosionisgenerallymuted.
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