HGST Completes Acquisition Of Amplidata

IRVINE and MILPITAS, Calif., March 16, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Western Digital® Corporation (NASDAQ: WDC) announced today that HGST has completed the acquisition of Amplidata, a privately-held developer of object storage software for public and private cloud data centers. HGST is a wholly owned subsidiary of Western Digital Corp. The acquisition supports the company's strategy to expand into higher value data storage platforms and systems that deliver breakthrough value and scalability to address the massive growth in storage requirements in cloud data centers.

Amplidata's Himalaya® software is a versatile platform for massively-scalable, secure and flexible storage services and solutions. It allows customers to store and manage exabytes of data and trillions of stored objects, representing an exponential leap in scale that anticipates rapid growth in customers' appetite for highly durable and available storage. Prior to the acquisition, HGST had selected Amplidata as a joint development partner for the HGST Active Archive platform, which aims to enable breakthrough levels of storage efficiency at an ultra-low total cost of ownership.

Amplidata will now be a part of HGST's Elastic Storage Platforms group, led by Dave Tang, general manager and senior vice president.

Supplemental Information
A question and answer document related to the Amplidata acquisition is available on the Western Digital website at investor.wdc.com or click here. Western Digital will provide additional commentary on the acquisition during its next quarterly results conference call.

About Western Digital Corporation
Founded in 1970, Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ: WDC), Irvine, Calif., is an industry-leading developer and manufacturer of storage solutions that enable people to create, manage, experience and preserve digital content. Its HGST and WD® subsidiaries are long-time innovators in the storage industry. Western Digital Corporation is responding to changing market needs by providing a full portfolio of compelling, high-quality storage products with effective technology deployment, high efficiency, flexibility and speed. Our products are marketed under the HGST, WD and G-Technology® brands to OEMs, distributors, resellers, cloud infrastructure providers and consumers. Financial and investor information is available on the company's Investor Relations website at investor.wdc.com.

About HGST
HGST is a wholly owned and independently operated subsidiary of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ: WDC). HGST sets the pace for storage innovation and is helping the world harness the power of data. Building on its reputation for producing reliable HDDs, SSDs, and developing tighter integration with software, HGST is optimizing storage efficiency and reliability for today's data-centric economy. Founded by the creators of the hard drive, HGST serves a broad range of market segments, including enterprise, cloud, OEM, mobile, consumer electronics and personal storage. HGST was established in 2003 and maintains its U.S. headquarters in San Jose, California. For more information, please visit www.hgst.com.

About Amplidata
Founded in 2008, Amplidata offers object-based software defined storage for enterprises, service providers and OEMs. Patented BitSpread®, BitDynamics®, and GeoSpread technologies allow organizations to deploy a storage solution that delivers enterprise cloud-scale economics with the performance, security and flexibility required for on-prem data centers including unbreakable durability at greater than 15 nines and non-disruptive zettabyte scalability. Named a "Cool Storage Company" in 2012, Amplidata had previously been privately funded. The company's US headquarters is in Milpitas, California with European headquarters in Ghent, Belgium. Sales and support are worldwide. To learn more, visit http://www.amplidata.com.

Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include statements concerning benefits expected from the Amplidata acquisition and management's anticipated plans and strategies for the Amplidata business. These forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements, including the possibility that the expected benefits of the transaction may not materialize as expected; failure to successfully integrate the products, technology, research and development capabilities, infrastructure and employees of HGST and Amplidata; volatility in global economic conditions; business conditions and growth in the storage ecosystem; pricing trends and fluctuations in average selling prices; the availability and cost of commodity materials and specialized product components; unexpected advances in competing technologies; the development and introduction of products based on new technologies and expansion into new data storage markets; actions by competitors; and other risks and uncertainties listed in Western Digital's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), including Western Digital's recent Form 10-Q filed with the SEC on Feb. 10, 2015. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof, and neither Western Digital nor Amplidata undertakes any obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.

Western Digital, WD, and the WD logos are registered trademarks in the U.S. and other countries. HGST trademarks are intended and authorized for use only in countries and jurisdictions in which HGST has obtained the rights to use, market and advertise the brand. Other marks may be mentioned herein that belong to other companies.

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SOURCE Western Digital Corp.