Western Digital proclaimed its WD Purple storage family expansion with the addition of 1 TB WD Purple SC QD101 microSD card and 18 TB surveillance HDD. As per the company, all WD Purple drives are optimized to reduce frame loss and pixelation, enhance overall video playback, and advance streaming for 24×7 workloads, from ingest to backup and long-term storage.

WD Purple 18TB HDD –

It is designed for NVRs and video analytics appliances, as well as for GPU-enabled devices. Compared to previous generations, it has about 28% more capacity and allows recording up to 64 high-definition (HD) cameras and 32 streams for deep learning analytics.

WD Purple 1 TB microSD card –

It is designed for AI-supported cameras and is based on the company’s 96-layer 3D NAND technology. Additionally, it delivers combinations of endurance with up to 500 P/E cycles and is available in 1 TB, 512 GB, 256 GB, 128 GB, 64 GB, and 32 GB capacities.

Deep learning algorithms require high resolution for enhanced precision, increasing the demand for storage capacity in cameras and NVRs (Network Video Recorders).

According to a report (Video Surveillance & Analytics Intelligence Service, July 2020), Omdia Research states that shipments of cameras enabled with deep learning algorithms are expected to grow faster with a CAGR of 67% between 2019 and 2024. Whereas NVRs enabled with deep-learning analytics will account CAGR of about 37%. Also, video analytics appliance shipments are anticipated to grow by 43% approximately.

According to the survey conducted by Western Digital, about 76% of companies said that video analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) play an essential role in deployments regarding North American security system integration companies.

For WD Purple HDDs, caching and streaming, the AllFrame Technology offers management techniques. Moreover, the AllFrame Technology enhances the playback quality of recorded data and reduces lost frames and errors.

Western Digital Device Analytics, a software-based solution for HDDs, allows monitoring of storage devices in the surveillance solution.

Availability

It is expected that the WD Purple 18 TB HDD will be accessible in October 2020, and the WD Purple SC QD101 1 TB microSD card will be accessible in November 2020, respectively.

Tim Palmquist, Vice President Americas, Milestone Systems, commented: “The new WD Purple drives are uniquely designed for the demands of edge and analytics security video appliances that will enable our customers to gain more insights from their visual data.”

Eric Spanneut, Vice President (VP) and General Manager (GM) at Western Digital, commented: “AI is driving the need for more enhanced capabilities in drives to keep up with performance demands, especially as video resolution and the number of incoming streams increase.”