New Architecture and Two New NVMe 3D NAND SSDs Accelerate Data for Commercial, Compute and IoT Systems

Addressing the needs of a growing landscape of Internet of Things (IoT) and Fast Data applications at the edge, Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ: WDC) today announced two new NVMe™ SSDs – Western Digital® PC SN720 and Western Digital PC SN520 – powered by a new NVMe storage architecture, scalable for a range of emerging implementations, from IoT and edge computing to mobile computing systems.

The new Western Digital NVMe client architecture and product portfolio will enable manufacturers of IoT devices, computing devices such as thin and light, 2-in-1 and embedded PCs and monitoring systems to enable the capture and transformation of the massive quantities of data in real-time at the edge of smart city, smart home and personal data environments. Cisco GCI estimates that nearly 850 zettabytes (ZB) will be generated by all people, machines and things by 2021. With the advent of high-bandwidth technologies like 5G, augmented reality and facial recognition, new applications can benefit from the exceptional performance, power efficiency and capacity of NVMe and Western Digital 3D NAND to deliver an optimal user experience.

“Performance demands on PCs continue to increase, thanks to new applications like VR and AI, as well as the growing requirements for gaming, 4K editing and more,” said Bob O’Donnell, President of TECHnalysis Research. “This is driving PC makers to ensure that their storage subsystems can meet these expanded requirements with technologies like NVMe and high-speed flash SSDs. We’re also seeing similar storage demands in other fields, including IoT applications in manufacturing, medical, video surveillance and more.”

The groundbreaking new NVMe SSD firmware and controller architecture is purpose-built to maximize the performance and scalability benefits of Western Digital 3D NAND, and is in lock-step with the company’s NAND evolution. “With this new vertically integrated SSD platform, we are able to optimize the architecture to our NAND for low latency and power efficiency, and most important, for the growing range of applications benefiting from NVMe,” said EyalBek, Senior Director of Client SSD, Devices Business Unit, Western Digital. “The scalable architecture supports a range of capacity and performance points, while streamlining system qualification to improve time-to-market for our customers.”

New SSDs Deliver Performance and Power Efficiency

The Western Digital PC SN720 and Western Digital PC SN520 are the first NVMe SSDs built with the new platform, which will deliver a broad portfolio of NVMe performance, form factor and power efficiency options.

Western Digital PC SN720—Leading-edge Performance and Western Digital 3D NAND

The Western Digital PC SN720 is currently sampling with select customers. It will be available in 256GB, 512GB, 1TB and 2TB capacities on a single-sided M.2 2280 form factor. It delivers leading-edge performance with sequential read/write speeds of up to 3,400MB/s and 2,800MB/s*. Customers are supported with a 5-year limited warranty.

Western Digital PC SN520—A variety of form factors with NVMe performance

Western Digital PC SN520 is also currently sampling with select customers. It will be available in 128GB, 256GB and 512GB capacities. For greatest design flexibility and one of the lowest power draws in the industry, the Western Digital PC SN520 will be available as single-sided M.2 2280, M.2 2242, or M.2 2230 form factors.

Western Digital NVMe SSDs at Mobile World Congress and Embedded World

See a product demonstration of the Western Digital PC SN720 and Western Digital PC SN520 NVMe SSDs at Embedded World and Mobile World Congress. Featuring flexible form factors to enable ultra-thin, ultra-small systems that pack a powerful punch in a compact design, low power and exceptional performance features of the Western Digital PC SN720 and Western Digital PC SN520 will be on display. Come see how these products help promote a responsive, connected user experience on converged mobility devices.

Additionally, at Embedded World, Western Digital will demonstrate how IoT devices of today and tomorrow are powered by SSDs in a smart city environment and learn about the importance of low latency together with capacity in modern IoT gateway devices.

Mobile World Congress (Feb. 26 – Mar. 1, 2018) – Booth #3K33 in Hall 3 at the FIRA Gran Via Exhibition Center in Barcelona, Spain.

Embedded World (Feb. 27 – Mar. 1, 2018) – Booth #32 SQM in Hall 3A-429 at Exhibition Centre in Nuremberg, Germany.

*For 1TB capacity model. One megabyte per second (MB/s) = one million bytes per second. Performance will vary depending on your hardware and software components and configurations.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release includes forward-looking statements, including the expected availability, pricing and performance of the Western Digital PC SN720 and Western Digital PC SN520 devices and their features and benefits to customers. There are a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause these forward-looking statements to be inaccurate including, among others: the Western Digital PC SN720 and Western Digital PC SN520 devices may not be available when we expect; volatility in global economic conditions; business conditions and growth in the storage ecosystem; impact of competitive products and pricing; market acceptance and cost of commodity materials and specialized product components; actions by competitors; unexpected advances in competing technologies; our development and introduction of products based on new technologies and expansion into new data storage markets; risks associated with acquisitions, mergers and joint ventures; difficulties or delays in manufacturing; and other risks and uncertainties listed in the company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), including our most recently filed periodic report to which your attention is directed. We do not intend to update the information contained in this release.