WD®, a Western Digital® (NASDAQ: WDC) company, announced that it  has founded the Storage Products Association (SPA) with other hard drive  companies to promote the merits and value of rotating magnetic storage  technologies, as well as to make consumers and professionals aware of how  critical hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid-state hybrid drives (SSHDs) are to  their digital lives.

SPA members include HGST, Seagate, Toshiba and WD. The organization helps  storage manufacturers and users understand and support current and future  storage needs, including the key role of hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid  state hybrid drives, in an effective storage mix for all consumer and business  environments. SPA will provide education to its customers, partners, members  and users of HDDs and SSHDs. SPA will also participate in industry and user  events, and will publish materials about end users’ storage needs and effective  usage of a mix of storage technologies.

“Driven  by continued, rapid expansion of digital content production, demand for storage  is expected to grow in the mid-30s percent range annually through 2020,” said  Tim Leyden, WD president. ”While, in that timeframe, a mix of technologies will  be deployed to appropriately
serve customers, about 75 percent of the capacity  is still expected to be rotating magnetic storage devices. Every user of smart  phones, tablets and personal computers today depends on the value and  reliability of HDDs or SSHDs to secure their precious data, whether the
storage  is in their device or in the cloud. SPA will help consumers and businesses appreciate  the value of their growing content storage needs and the remarkable rotating  magnetic technologies that save and protect that content.”

SPA is making its debut at the Flash Memory Summit, beginning today at the Santa  Clara Convention Center. At 8:30 a.m. today, SPA member companies will  participate in a panel titled, “Solid State Hybrid Drives Help Meet Today’s  Storage Requirements” to discuss the role of
hard disk drives and solid state  hybrid drives. John Rydning, IDC research vice president for hard disk  drives, will moderate the panel.

For more information and SPA, go to www.storage-products-association.org and on Twitter,  @storageproducts.