Press Release: Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ: WDC) today introduced a line of optimized storage for NAS environments for small businesses and home businesses. Among the new products is the first ever SSD of the WD Red series®, which will boost performance and buffering capabilities in a hybrid NAS environment, and WD Red and WD Red Pro HDDs with a capacity of 14 TB.
Gallery
SSD performance for virtualization and high-speed Ethernet
Virtualization and 10 GbE Ethernet are becoming an essential feature and standard in modern NAS systems. The speeds achieved by SSDs are a key element in limiting performance slowdowns. A NAS environment requires durable storage with high access speed and capacity. Western Digital's newly launched drives leverage the proven reliability of the WD Red product portfolio and are designed to turn weaknesses into benefits for end users.
When using the new WD Red SA500 SSD for caching in NAS systems, performance slowdowns will be significantly reduced. The new WD Red and WD Red Pro HDDs will then offer more storage space for the same NAS device.
“Performance gains for NAS devices can be seen by processing more data in less time. Therefore, creative professionals and small businesses alike can work more efficiently and, as a result, achieve greater income.” says Ziv Paz, Director of Marketing at Western Digital, adding: "In the WD Red product portfolio, we combine our high capacities with optimized durability, creating space for large files while reducing the stress caused by limited bandwidth. The latest solution in the form of the new WD Red SSD drive for hybrid NAS devices allows you to use the SSD drive for buffering needs and for quick access to bulky or frequently used files. This will be appreciated, for example, by creative professionals who work on large data-intensive projects."
"Working with Western Digital has confirmed the benefits of using premium storage for our NAS systems," says Meiji Chang, general manager of QNAP, adding: “With the newly introduced WD Red SA500 SSD, which is designed for both storage and buffering, our customers can now take full advantage of the dedicated SSD slots in our systems and benefit from faster network transfer speeds as well as optimal durability of storages.'
"If you process video, back up photos, or develop software, the right storage platform will not only protect your data, but allow you to access it faster," says Patrick Deschere, Chief Marketing Officer of Synology America Corp., adding: "Through the combination of Synology and Western Digital products, you can optimize your work with NAS systems and get the best cloud solution while having full control over the ownership of the stored data."
Product specifications of the new WD Red drives
The latest WD Red SA500 NAS SATA SSD is designed to meet the needs of NAS storage users and offers capacities from 500 GB up to 4 TB1 (valid for 2,5 inch format). This drive creates an environment optimized for 10GbE networks and for NAS buffers, ensuring faster access to frequently used files. The drive exhibits high durability in environments demanding data reading and writing, as required for NAS storage in continuous operation. The drive supports OLTP databases, multi-server environments, photo rendering and video processing in 4K and 8K resolution.
New WD Red HDD with a capacity of 14 TB1 complements the aforementioned WD Red SA500 NAS SATA SSD and is designed for use in NAS systems with up to eight disk bays. Ideal for small businesses and work at home in continuous operation. The drive achieves workload values of up to 180 TB/year*.
WD Red Pro HDD, similar to WD Red HDD, increases the performance of NAS systems with high workloads, has a capacity of up to 14 TB1 and supports NAS with up to 24 hard drive bays. It uses 3D Active Balance technology and enables error correction thanks to NASwareô 3.0 technology. The drive is also characterized by increased reliability.
Price and availability
The WD Red SA500 SSD will be delivered in capacities from 500 GB up to 2 TB in the M.2 format. European prices start at €95 up to €359 depending on capacity. Prices for the 2,5-inch WD Red SA500 SSD in capacities of 500 GB to 4 TB will start at €95 and go up to €799. The mentioned discs will be available through a network of selected sellers and resellers as well as on the online store WD store.
WD Red HDDs with a capacity of 14 TB will be available in Europe at prices starting at €539. WD Red Pro HDD 14 TB then from €629.
The new WD Red products are included in the portfolio of SSD and HDD drives of Western Digital, which includes solutions optimized for a wide range of individual applications in the corporate and consumer spheres, but also for the gaming community. For enterprise customers, Western Digital recently introduced an improved enterprise-class hard drive WD Gold Enterprise Class HDD with a capacity of up to 14TB1
Western Digital enables you to maximize data processing and offers the broadest portfolio of products and solutions in the industry. It helps people capture, preserve, transform and access their digital content. More information at: www.westerndigital.com
