WD Expands Surveillance HDD Line With 6TB Capacity

Western Digital Technologies announced the expansion of its WD Purple line of 3.5-inch HDDs for video surveillance applications, with the release of the 6TB capacity.

Video surveillance is a data-rich application within the ‘Internet of Things (IoT)’ ecosystem. WD Purple HDDs excel in new and existing home and small business security system environments with up to eight HDDs and up to 32 high-definition video cameras. Purple HDDs are offered in capacities from 1 up to 6TB.

“Video surveillance has long been a pioneering Internet-of-Things application. Driven by machine-to-machine interaction between high-resolution, high-bit-rate video cameras and high-capacity surveillance video recorders, IoT applications bring access and big data analytics to improve user’s security,” said Matt Rutledge, senior VP and GM, WD’s storage technology group. “WD Purple 6TB drives enable innovation in this fast growing market.“

WD Purple HDDs are equipped with technologies, including:

• AllFrame – In conjunction with ATA streaming, AllFrame reduces video frame loss, improves playback and increases the number of drive bays supported. WD Purple includes firmware enhancements that enable improved playback and minimize interruptions within a surveillance system.

• IntelliSeek Technology – With low power consumption playing a crucial role in high-temperature always-on surveillance environments, IntelliSeek technology calculates the optimum seek speeds for the system workload, enabling lower power consumption and reducing noise and vibration.

Engineered for compatibility
Built for seamless integration into new or existing video surveillance systems, Purple HDDs are designed and tested to surveillance-class standards and are compatible with industry chassis and chip-sets. First introduced in February 2014 with the launch of Purple, WD worked closely with surveillance partners to develop a benchmark to define and demonstrate performance in surveillance systems. Tests of Purple HDDs indicate superior performance to competitive surveillance-class brands of storage, especially as cameras, channel count and workloads increase.

Shipping through select distributors and resellers, Purple surveillance-class HDDs are now available from 1 to 6TB capacities and covered by a three-year limited warranty. MSRP for the 3.5-inch 6TB drive (model #: (WD60PURX) is $329.99.

“The 4K HD surveillance technology gradually becomes popular. Today, with the brand new WD Purple 6TB’s giant capacity, the 4K HD technology in surveillance application can make a big leap forward and soon become a mainstream surveillance solution. WD Purple will benefit many of our customers with more advanced surveillance products are provided,” said Zheng Weirong, senior product manager China marketing center, Hikvision Digital Technology Co.

“Our surveillance products network is ranged from northern extreme cold areas to southern tropical part in China with 430 safe cities projects operating. As the core part in surveillance storage systems, WD’s surveillance drive is always our trustworthy choice. Its high compatibility and reliability can fulfill the demand in 24×7 continuous surveillance video storage. New WD Purple 6TB is highly expected for its bigger capacity and advanced technology to help us in managing daily increasing HD surveillance data,” said Liu Changkang, CTO, Uniview Technology,Co. Ltd.

“WD brings the surveillance industry an exciting product. WD Purple 6TB helps us to solve the problems in dealing with growing storage demand,” said Yang Wenzhao, storage product marketing director, Dahua Technology. “Expansion in capacity means not only more storage volume but more assistance to the popularity of 4K HD technology application. With WD’s continuous investment in market and product developing, it secures to achieve our common goals in making our society better under providing more advanced surveillance products. We look forward to further co-operation and extending our market together.”

“WD is one of our most important surveillance storage partners and we have accumulated trust through our long partnership,” said Tony Chen, chairman and CEO, United Information Technology CO Ltd. (UIT). “WD Purple 6TB will be our first choice storage solution in our new products. With the support of the WD Purple 6TB giant capacity, we expect to provide better surveillance solutions in the aspect of safe city and smart transport application.“

“As the surveillance market extends to monitoring with 4K displays, we envision that many users will begin adopting 4K IP cameras that record videos, which are four times larger than videos from 1080p IP cameras,” said David Chiang, GM, Qnap Security. “With the offering of WD Purple 6TB HDD, our users can enjoy higher capacities for storage-intensive surveillance applications with 24/7 reliability.“

“We are very excited with the new 6TB WD Purple HDD,” said Juan Carrillo, product manager, Intelbras Security. “The average recording resolution in CCTV products is going through a revolution, demanding larger reliable drives. The combination of high capacity WD Purple drives with Intelbras high resolution recorders will be a huge success in Brazil.“