The WD Gold family now has new 16TB and 18TB CMR HDD capacities. The new WD Gold CMR HDDs are specifically designed for use in enterprise-class server and storage systems and are purpose-built for heavy workloads and a broad array of big data applications. In addition to this, they can handle workloads up to 550TB per year, by using Western Digital’s HelioSeal technology that enables high capacities with a low power draw.
Extension of WP Gold Family
According to the announcement, the new 16TB and 18TB Ultrastar DC HC550 CMR HDDs are now available for cloud, large enterprise customers and other data center architects looking for the highest capacity with low power for designing more efficient infrastructures.
John Chen, vice president at TRENDFOCUS said,
“Western Digital’s expanded family of data center HDD solutions clearly addresses a variety of customer needs, which puts them in a unique early position to capitalize on cloud and OEM customer transitions to 18TB, and even to 20TB for those optimizing the benefits of SMR. Capacity-enterprise HDDs will continue to dominate the nearline and secondary storage market as there is simply no other cost-effective substitute for data at scale. As a result, we expect nearline disk drive exabytes shipments to grow at a 32.5% CAGR, reaching 1.9 zettabytes by 2024.”
Western Digital’s Ultrastar Data60 and Data102 JBODs, and Serv60+8 high capacity storage servers have been upgraded to leverage the company’s enterprise-class 16TB and 18TB Ultrastar DC HC550 CMR HDDs. It is expected that Ultrastar platforms will be upgraded to Ultrastar DC HC650 20TB SMR HDDs in the next quarter.
Moreover, Western Digital has implemented two design innovations across these platforms for added data reliability. Western Digital’s patented IsoVibe vibration isolation technology helps ensure consistent performance is maintained even under heavy workloads. Additionally, Western Digital’s innovative ArcticFlow thermal zone cooling technology enables drives to operate at lower and more consistent temperatures than conventional systems, resulting in lower fan speeds, reduced vibration, lower power consumption, quieter operation, and ultimately higher reliability. By combining IsoVibe and ArcticFlow, it is possible to reduce field drive returns by 62 percent compared to Western Digital’s previous-generation platforms.
Yusuf Jamal, senior vice president of Western Digital’s Devices and Platforms Business, said,
“Cloud service providers and systems integrators today have one thing in common: they all require a multi-tiered storage strategy, leveraging multiple technologies to manage the explosion of valuable data and breadth of workloads. Unlike any other vendor in the space, Western Digital develops, manufacturers and markets NAND, SSDs, HDDs and platforms. The depth and breadth of our data center portfolio enable us to deliver the right innovations at the right time to help all of our data center customers—from hyperscale cloud customers to enterprises and SMBs—solve their most important data infrastructure challenges.”