Western Digital Introduces Industry's First 11-Disk 32TB SMR Hard Disk Drive Platform

This IDC Market Note explores the introduction of the hard drive industry's first 11-disk platform for hard disk drives (HDDs) by Western Digital (WD), branded as Ultrastar DC. "WD continues to evolve its product portfolio with the introduction of the industry's first 11-disk HDD and has achieved an impressive 32TB of SMR capacity in the platform, an industry-leading jump from the drive's base CMR capacity point of 26TB," said Ed Burns, research director, Hard Disk Drive and Storage Technologies at IDC. "This will be a platform that will deliver a highly competitive cost-per-terabyte storage to the hyperscale and OEM customer base to meet the ever-growing need for higher-density and increasingly cost-effective storage media in the datacenter."