Western Digital Corp. today announced that it has completed its acquisition of Viviti Technologies Ltd. (formerly Hitachi Global Storage Technologies), effective Mar. 8, 2012, for $3.9 billion in cash and 25 million shares of WDC common stock valued at approximately $0.9 billion. Hitachi, Ltd. now owns approximately 10 percent of WDC shares outstanding, and it has the right to designate two individuals to the board of directors of WD.

The new WD will operate with WD Technologies (WD) and HGST as wholly owned subsidiaries. Aggregated revenues of the two companies in 2011 were $15 billion. As chief executive officer of WD, John Coyne heads up the new office of the CEO, with Steve Milligan as president, Tim Leyden as chief operating officer and Wolfgang Nickl as chief financial officer.

"The completion of this acquisition is a truly momentous event in the 42-year history of our company," said Coyne. "With ownership of two successful companies and the best talent available in the industry, we expect to accomplish great things as we build the new WD to be the world's leading storage solutions provider with the industry's deepest technology capability, broadest product portfolio and best-in-class execution. Similar to successful multi-brand models in other industries, the two subsidiaries will compete in the marketplace with separate brands and product lines while sharing common values of customer delight, value creation, consistent profitability and growth."

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wd_s25_hdd.pngWestern Digital, a leader in the desktop, mobile, high-capacity enterprise and consumer markets for hard drives, today announced the availability of its third-generation WD S25 SAS hard drives, serving the performance-optimized, mission-critical enterprise server and storage market. Shipping now, the new 2.5-inch, 10,000 RPM, WD S25 with SAS 6 Gb/s interface hard drives offer IT professionals a more advanced array of ultra-reliable and efficient, high-performance storage, available in capacities of 300 GB, 450 GB, 600 GB, and 900 GB. The WD S25 line is designed for the most demanding applications such as online transaction processing and multi-tiered networked storage arrays.

"Continuing our commitment to the industry's fastest-growing segment -- 2.5-inch drives -- WD is updating our small form factor SAS offering with the advanced technology of our third-generation drive, including a new 900 GB capacity point," said Darwin Kauffman, vice president of enterprise storage solutions, WD. "Our latest generation of WD S25 SAS drives offer a powerful combination of enterprise-class performance and industry-leading reliability that is ideal for demanding high-performance computing and mission-critical environments. WD is also delivering higher capacity offerings and the power efficiency of the small form factor footprint, providing the most efficient storage solution for IT professionals and enabling lower TCO (Total Cost of Ownership)."

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ADATA Technology, a leading manufacturer of high-performance DRAM modules and NAND Flash Storage application products, today announced the introduction of the DashDrive Durable HD710 portable hard drive. The DashDrive family is the newest addition to the company’s impressive lineup of storage devices, signifying mobile, rapid, and dependable data access.   

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The housing of the HD710 is comprised of a unique silicone material, and the drive incorporates military-grade shockproof and waterproof (IPX7) construction with an ultra-fast USB 3.0 interface. Its sporty outlook and dynamic design match the requirements and style of sports and outdoor enthusiasts, with color options including blue, yellow, and black.

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wd logo.jpgWestern Digital Corp. today reported that it has reached an agreement with Toshiba Corporation to divest certain assets to address the requirements of regulatory agencies that have conditionally approved or are continuing to review the company's planned acquisition of Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (HGST). The asset package covered by the agreement will enable Toshiba to manufacture and sell 3.5-inch hard drives for the desktop and consumer electronics markets and will enhance its ability to manufacture and sell 3.5-inch hard drives for near-line (business critical) applications. The divestiture transaction is subject to review by regulatory agencies in certain jurisdictions.

WD also reported that it has agreed, subject to completion of the divestiture transaction, to purchase Toshiba Storage Device (Thailand) Company Limited (TSDT). TSDT manufactured hard drives but has not resumed operations after the recent Thailand flooding. The principal assets of TSDT are its Thailand property, facilities and employees. Subject to completion of the transaction, WD plans to integrate these facilities and employees into its Thailand operations. The financial terms of the two agreements were not disclosed.

The closing of the transactions with Toshiba is conditioned on WD's closing of its planned acquisition of HGST, which remains subject to several closing conditions, including the receipt of certain remaining antitrust approvals. Subject to obtaining these approvals, the company is targeting the transactions with Toshiba to close in March 2012.

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datalocker_personal_hdd.pngDataLocker Inc., a leading developer of encrypted data storage products, today announced the new DataLocker Personal, a secure encrypted USB 3.0 portable hard drive designed to make secure storage simple and easy to use. The DL Personal joined the DataLocker DL3 and DataLocker Enterprise in the company's expanding secure storage product family.

The DataLocker Personal emphasizes simplicity in operation and ease of use while maintaining high standards for security. The DataLocker Personal features 256 bit AES XTS mode full drive encryption, password protection against brute force attacks and a patented touch screen authentication interface.

"This is an ideal secure storage device for consumers and small businesses who want to quickly and easily protect and secure important data files," said Jay Kim, Founder and COO, DataLocker. "Like our other products, the DataLocker Personal offers high capacity storage, full AES-256 bit hardware encryption, and can be used on Windows PCs, Linux machines and any Mac OS enabled Apple computer. The key is DataLocker has made military-grade security an affordable and usable option for all consumers."

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