Western Digital 2007 Annual Report Download - page 4

Reflecting the continued return on our technology investments, we
introduced and shipped an impressive array of new products in fiscal
2007; many of them based on new technology platforms:
We began our fiscal year by launching two major product platform
transitions: 160 GB-per-platter 3.5-inch drives and 80 GB-per-platter
2.5-inch drives. Both transitions have been important to our business and
the basis of multiple high-quality, highly reliable products. The 2.5-inch
platform was our first to implement perpendicular magnetic recording
(PMR); the next generation of hard drive technology that will continue
propelling storage capacities for years into the future.
These platforms resulted in 160 GB WD Scorpio® drives for notebooks,
160 GB WD Passport® portable USB drives; more efficient 500 GB
WD Caviar® desktop drives; as well as the My BookTM family of dual-drive
storage devices offering one terabyte (TB) of capacity for consumers’
photos, music and video content.
Later in the year, WD introduced two innovative Branded Products storage
appliances. The first was a simple My Book appliance that featured the
newest, highest performance interface for external devices: external SATA
(eSATA). The My Book Premium ES EditionTM external hard drive helps
consumers increase performance and avoid technology obsolescence.
In February 2007, we launched what is now the flagship of our growing
family of Branded Products: the My Book World EditionTM external storage
system. This unique product enables consumers to access the data stored
on it from anywhere in the world. It connects to a home network, and
through a secure connection over the Internet, consumers can create,
open, play and edit files as if those files were residing on their computer—
even if they are physically thousands of miles away from their My Book
World Edition external storage system. In July 2007, we acquired the
assets of Senvid Corporation, maker of the innovative MioNet® software
that enables the unique remote access and sharing capabilities of our My
Book World Edition products.
With the growing market for digital video recording (DVR) applications—
both consumer and commercial—WD introduced a new product brand:
WD AVTM. The company for years has sold special-order hard drives with
special feature sets designed specifically for use in DVRs. The market
and customer base for these products have grown to a level that they are
best served with a specialized product and through our broad distribution
network.
Recently, we introduced three new technology platforms:
• 125 GB-per-platter 2.5-inch series of products, resulting in a
WD Scorpio hard drive with 250 GB capacity;
• High-performance 3.5-inch platform, offering up to 750 GB; and,
• The first line of 3.5-inch drives designed primarily to reduce power
consumption and help protect our environment: GreenPowerTM hard
drives.
We believe the new WD Scorpio drive is the first 2.5-inch 250 GB
notebook drive to hit the market in volume. It’s our fourth generation
2.5-inch and second generation utilizing PMR, and incorporates proprietary
WD head technologies, as well as significant feature innovation. One of
the first applications for our new WD Scorpio hard drive is in Branded
Products, where WD Scorpio has been quickly integrated into the four-
ounce, quarter-terabyte WD Passport portable drive.
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Fiscal 2007 represented our fifth consecutive year of
substantial growth in our research and development
and capital spending to support a significant
deepening and acceleration of our technology
capability and a broadening of our product portfolio.