SIA Member Profile: Seagate Technology

SIA: TELL US THE STORY OF YOUR COMPANY.

Jessica Burton: Seagate Technology was co-founded in 1979 by Alan Shugart, Tom Mitchell, Doug Mahon, Finis Conner and Syed Iftikar. The company came into being when Conner approached Shugart with the idea of developing a 5.25-inch hard disk drive (HDD), which Conner predicted would become an economic boom in the disk drive market. After developing that very product, the first 5.25-inch HDD, in 1980, the company grew to become a major supplier of storage solutions across a variety of industries. For 40 years, Seagate has driven innovation with hard drives and technology solutions that have empowered billions of people and businesses to realize their full data potential.

Seagate pioneered surveillance-optimized storage for security applications over a decade ago and continues to lead the industry with groundbreaking reliability, capacity, and innovation such as SkyHawk^™ Health Management (SHM) software, which monitors drive health to mitigate against data loss and SkyHawk AI, built for the most demanding surveillance analytics platforms. Seagate’s portfolio spans edge recording to centralized back-end storage.

WHAT SOLUTIONS/SERVICES DOES YOUR BUSINESS OFFER IN THE SECURITY INDUSTRY? AND WHAT MAKES YOUR OFFERINGS/COMPANY UNIQUE?

JB: We understand that a single drive can’t fit every deployment’s requirements, which is why choosing the right drive for the right application is so incredibly important. Seagate provides best-fit edge to cloud surveillance storage solutions that improve reliability and performance for surveillance applications. Seagate’s SkyHawk^™ and Exos^® drives are part of Seagate’s comprehensive suite of storage solutions for security applications. Enterprise-class Seagate Exos drives provide expanded capacity for multiple use case needs, ranging from data retention to deep learning analysis and archival. Storage systems with Exos drives can easily scale by storing petabytes of video and metadata from thousands of cameras. These drives also come with Seagate Secure^™ cyber protection features that meet compliance standards such as FIPS and TAA. A seventh-generation product, SkyHawk and SkyHawk AI are built for 24×7 workloads, supporting up to 64 HD cameras and storing over 10,000 hours of HD video. SkyHawk AI also supports 32 streams of metadata for NVRs enabled with AI technology. SkyHawk drives are designed for more than three times the workload of standard surveillance drives, with their rotation vibration sensors delivering improved and sustained performance in 16+ bay NVR systems.

WHAT’S SOMETHING WE MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT YOUR COMPANY—OR SOMETHING NEW YOU’RE DOING IN SECURITY?

JB: Seagate was the first to launch surveillance drive health monitoring software to provide surveillance admins peace of mind. SkyHawk and SkyHawk AI drives feature embedded software, known as SHM, which monitors drive health for an added layer of protection, allowing for intervention and enabling data recovery services. SHM also provides recommendations to mitigate possible threats, limit drive deterioration, and prevent data loss. In the unfortunate case in which a customer does lose their data, the user can easily take advantage of Seagate’s Rescue Data Recovery services and send a failed drive back to Seagate for full data recovery.

WHAT IS YOUR COMPANY’S VISION, AND WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS FOR THE SECURITY INDUSTRY?

JB: Seagate’s vision is to simplify how system integrators and specifiers think about video surveillance storage, while providing them with the tools necessary for success. We provide compatibility tools and a storage calculator to make running their businesses easier.

WHAT ARE YOUR PREDICTIONS FOR THE SECURITY INDUSTRY IN THE SHORT AND LONG TERM?

JB: Looking to the future, we see the adoption of artificial intelligence substantially growing. In line with this, we also predict the continued growth of data and the importance it plays in our surveillance solutions. In 2019 alone, surveillance cameras across the globe are expected to record 2500 petabytes of data each day, according to IHS Markit’s forecast.

WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT BEING AT YOUR COMPANY—AND IN THE SECURITY INDUSTRY?

JB: What I enjoy most about Seagate is its constant momentum to innovate and improve upon the customer experience. We were the first to launch a surveillance-optimized drive over 10 years ago, first to deliver drive health monitoring software, and we offer the largest capacities in the industry.

WHAT DOES SIA OFFER THAT IS MOST IMPORTANT TO YOU/YOUR COMPANY? AND WHAT DO YOU MOST HOPE TO GET OUT OF YOUR MEMBERSHIP?

JB: For Seagate, the biggest value that SIA delivers is education and awareness to systems integrators, solution architects, and specifiers through insightful webinar, blog, newsletter, publication, and trade show opportunities.