Sydney, Australia – 8 May 2013 – WD^®, a Western Digital company and a world leader in storage, today announced a new 3.5-inch SAS hard drive solution for legacy datacenter storage systems with the release of a the WD XE^™, 2.5-inch, 10,000 RPM SAS hard drive, now available mounted in a 3.5-inch WD performance adapter. Shipping immediately, the WD XE hard drives provide best-in-class performance, low power consumption, and an easier upgrade path for existing 3.5-inch storage systems.

While demand for 3.5-inch, high-performance enterprise-class hard drives slows, a need remains for an alternate high-performance storage device as a transitional solution for legacy systems. WD XE hard drives offer best-in-class sequential performance and provide a compelling upgrade for datacenters migrating away from legacy drives nearing end-of-life.

“Delivering up to 50 percent higher capacity, similar or better maximum sequential performance, higher reliability and up to 67 percent lower power consumption versus 3.5-inch,15,000 RPM drives, the new WD XE drives are the answer for data center server and storage solutions needing  a transition strategy,” said Rich Rutledge, senior vice president of WD’s datacenters business unit. “IT managers now have a worry-free migration path to the latest enterprise performance drives from WD, while preserving their chassis and solution investments.”

WD XE 2.5-inch SAS hard drives in 3.5-inch performance adapters feature:

Highest performance in its class – WD XE delivers ultra-fast 6 Gb/s transfer rates, best-in-class sequential data rate of 204 MB/s, and outstanding random I/O performance;
Low power consumption – This 3.5-inch SAS drive delivers up to 67 percent lower power versus 3.5-inch 15,000 RPM drives, which can result in substantially lower total cost of ownership (TCO) while increasing capacity and reliability;
Form factor – 2.5-inch drive mounted in 3.5-inch performance adapter for ease of upgrade and ultra-cool operation;
Dual port, full duplex connectivity – Offers higher reliability, performance and data availability by eliminating single points of failure, designed for high-availability datacenter systems;
NoTouch^™ ramp load technology – The recording head never touches the disk media ensuring significantly less wear to the recording head and media as well as better drive protection in transit; and
Industry’s highest reliability rating – 2 million hours MTBF.

Pricing and Availability
Manufacturer: WD
Product Name: WD XE SAS Hard Drive in 3.5-inch performance adapters
Australian Distributors: Achieva AU and Synnex AU
New Zealand Distributors: Ingram Micro NZ, Synnex NZ and VST NZ
Availability: Now
Website: http://wd.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=10
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/wdaust
Warranty: Five-year limited warranty

MSRP: