Western Digital Aligns Product Strategy With New Flash & HDD Bus. Units; Hires Industry Veteran Robert Soderbery as Executive...
September 22 2020 - 4:05PM
Business Wire
News Summary
- Company aligning $16.7 billion storage portfolio to position
for growth, profitability and agility; forming Flash and Hard Disk
Drive (HDD) product business units
- Diversified storage portfolio strategy across Flash and HDD
businesses leverages company’s go-to-market synergies to address
broad customer storage needs from edge devices to cloud
infrastructure
- Former Symantec/Veritas and Cisco executive with previous
responsibility for a $20B+ global technology franchise to lead
Western Digital’s Flash Products Business; search for HDD general
manager underway
Western Digital Corp. (Nasdaq: WDC) today announced a
significant step in the ongoing implementation of its diversified
storage portfolio strategy by forming separate product business
units for its Flash and HDD technology assets. The Flash business
and the HDD business will each be led by a general manager and will
align the company’s diversified portfolio to an acceleration
strategy designed for growth, profitability and development
agility. By delivering both Flash and HDD market-leading innovation
through highly focused product development organizations, Western
Digital’s strategy positions the company to leverage its strong
go-to-market and operational synergies and uniquely address broad
customer storage needs from edge devices to cloud
infrastructure.
Also today, Western Digital announced the appointment of Robert
Soderbery as executive vice president and general manager of its
new Flash business unit. A thirty-year technology and business
veteran, Soderbery is responsible for all Flash portfolio strategy,
product development and business results and will lead engineering
and product management teams focused on delivering the company’s
Flash innovation. The company confirmed an executive search is
underway for a general manager who will lead its HDD product
business.
“I have very strong conviction in the massive market opportunity
that stems from rapid global adoption of the technology
architecture built with cloud infrastructure tied to intelligent
endpoints and connected by high-performance networks. As people and
businesses continue to leverage this architecture and capitalize on
the exponential growth in the data it creates to deliver new
applications and experiences, the criticality and value of storage
technology at every point across this architecture have never been
clearer,” said David Goeckeler, CEO of Western Digital. “Western
Digital’s product strategy combines a strong go-to-market engine
with a diversified product portfolio across both Flash and HDD.
With Flash and HDD product development businesses each focused on
driving the storage innovation our customers need to support a
broader set of use cases, the company is uniquely positioned in the
age of cloud-based digital business.”
“With Rob on board, Western Digital is gaining a
highly-experienced business leader who has successfully led
enviable product franchises at scale and brings deep technology and
product management expertise to the company,” Goeckeler added. “The
thought leadership Rob has demonstrated leading global innovation
teams for over a decade makes him the caliber of general manager we
need to lead our Flash business. I’m looking forward to working
together and welcome him to the company.”
An accomplished technology industry veteran, Soderbery joins
Western Digital with over thirty years of experience leading
engineering and product development organizations at Cisco and
Symantec/Veritas. During his tenure at Cisco, Soderbery was senior
vice president and general manager of the $20 billion+ Enterprise
Networking Business where he led the company’s largest product
franchise and managed a global development organization. Prior to
Cisco, Soderbery was senior vice president at Symantec/Veritas
where he led its Availability Management Group focused on
mission-critical enterprise systems. Soderbery holds a Bachelor of
Science in electrical engineering from California Institute of
Technology and a Master of Science in electrical engineering from
Stanford University.
“In my experience, product innovation is the outcome of great
ideas and dynamic markets. What captured my imagination about
Western Digital’s Flash business is that it has the potential to
power the growth of every interesting end market in technology,
including cloud, mobile, gaming, video and intelligent devices,”
said Soderbery. “This potential opens the door for innovation with
our customers as they consider how their own products and
technology evolve. The key to success for Western Digital is to
couple strong technology execution with a focused strategy for each
of these markets.”
About Western Digital
Western Digital creates environments for data to thrive. As a
leader in data infrastructure, the company is driving the
innovation needed to help customers capture, preserve, access and
transform an ever-increasing diversity of data. Everywhere data
lives, from advanced data centers to mobile sensors to personal
devices, our industry-leading solutions deliver the possibilities
of data. Our data-centric solutions are comprised of the Western
Digital®, G-Technology™, SanDisk®, and WD® brands.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements that
involve risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to,
statements regarding industry trends and the company's positioning
and strategy to capitalize on growth opportunities. Forward-looking
statements should not be read as a guarantee of future performance
or results, and will not necessarily be accurate indications of the
times at, or by, which such performance or results will be
achieved, if at all. Forward-looking statements are subject to
risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ
materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking
statements. Key risks and uncertainties include: future responses
to and effects of the COVID-19 pandemic; volatility in global
economic conditions; business conditions and growth in the storage
ecosystem; impact of restructuring activities and cost saving
initiatives; impact of competitive products and pricing; market
acceptance and cost of commodity materials and specialized product
components; actions by competitors; unexpected advances in
competing technologies; our development and introduction of
products based on new technologies and expansion into new data
storage markets; risks associated with acquisitions, divestitures,
mergers and joint ventures; difficulties or delays in
manufacturing; the outcome of legal proceedings; and other risks
and uncertainties listed in the company's filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), including the
company's Form 10-K filed with the SEC on Aug. 28, 2020, to which
your attention is directed. You should not place undue reliance on
these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date
hereof, and the company undertakes no obligation to update these
forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or
circumstances.
Western Digital, the Western Digital logo, G-Technology, SanDisk
and WD are registered trademarks or trademarks of Western Digital
Corporation or its affiliates in the US and/or other countries.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200922005966/en/
Investor Relations Contact Western Digital Corp. T. Peter
Andrew +1-949-672-9655 peter.andrew@wdc.com investor@wdc.com
Media Contact Sard Verbinnen & Co John Christiansen
David Isaacs Leah Polito WesternDigital-SVC@sardverb.com
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