Today, we’re pleased to introduce our first memory card storage device specifically designed for the surveillance edge: the WD Purple™ microSD card. If the name sounds familiar, it should be. This new product leverages experience from over 20 years and 2 billion microSD cards shipped, along with over three years’ history of delivering award-winning hard drives optimized for surveillance recorders. It’s WD Purple storage, meaning that our trusted partners and customers can be confident that they’re getting a product specifically designed for surveillance cameras. We know there are many choices for microSD cards in the market, and even many that are recommended for surveillance cameras. But if you look closely at these products, the specifications and attributes vary widely.
We have a product to take the guesswork out.
As Western Digital creates environments for data to thrive, we have the broadest portfolio of storage technology in the industry to help address all types of data, and the expertise to deliver the right technology for the surveillance industry. The WD Purple microSD card, announced today at ISC West, is designed from the ground up for video surveillance cameras. It adds to our broad edge-to-core portfolio of storage to service the surveillance market, to help manage video where it is captured, stored, and analyzed.
Storage Considerations for Edge Innovation in Surveillance
Our blog last week talked about innovation in surveillance at the edge. Certainly, cameras continue to evolve. The most sophisticated cameras today represent a quantum leap in capabilities versus just a year ago. Even with this innovation, these advanced cameras have not yet hit the mass market. But we’ll be ready when they come.
There are plenty of advancements hitting us right now that require more thought into storage management. Technology research firm IHS Markit* forecasts in its annual Video Surveillance Intelligence report:
- The number of surveillance cameras shipped will grow from 106 million units in 2016 to 160 million in 2021.
- Network cameras with on-board storage are expected to grow from 39% of cameras shipped in 2016 to 63% in 2021. That’s about 10% growth per year.
- Resolution continues to increase as well. 4K-compliant cameras are expected to grow from just 0.4% of network cameras shipped in 2017 to 28% in 2021, an astonishing growth of 170% per year. 4K video needs about 3 to 6 times the storage space of 1080p video, depending on the implemented compression technology.**
- Surveillance solutions are already on the path to leverage existing IP infrastructures. Network-enabled video recorders (NVRs) – which use Ethernet networks to connect cameras to the recorder – have overtaken digital video recorders (DVRs), which use separate cable connections to each camera. Network-enabled solutions improve camera scaling and ease of deployment.
Continuous Capture in Surveillance
When you combine these trends – the growing number of surveillance cameras, the greater value of higher resolution, and the shift to network-enabled cameras – the captured video becomes more valuable and therefore more mission-critical, and it becomes increasingly important not to miss capturing this video. As discrete connect cameras move to IP-based, the connection between the camera and NVR becomes a growing vulnerability point. Without storage at the edge (on the camera), mission-critical video could be lost. The percentage of surveillance cameras with on-board storage is growing because of the need to provide storage backup during intermittent communication failure with the NVR. Having storage on the camera allows uninterrupted recording of potentially valuable video.
You don’t want to miss a frame. Make sure you use cameras that allow for on-board storage for your surveillance camera storage. Many VMS and proprietary solutions work with on-camera storage, pulling in recorded video once connectivity to the camera is restored. On-camera video storage is critical to maintaining peace of mind and to help secure points of vulnerability in the surveillance solution where possible. That’s where the WD Purple microSD card comes in.
WD Purple – Designed for Surveillance
Like our world-class WD Purple hard drives, which are optimized to handle multiple camera streams for surveillance systems that operate 24/7, our WD Purple microSD card is designed specifically with surveillance in mind. WD Purple microSD cards are designed with high endurance. We’ve added support for basic card health status monitoring capability in compatible cameras to allow integrators and installers the ability to proactively manage storage across the surveillance solution. WD Purple microSD cards are temperature, humidity and vibration tolerant to work in indoor and outdoor surveillance camera installations, in a multitude of weather conditions.
Western Digital introduced the first brand of hard drives targeted specifically at surveillance in 2014, and that brand is now one of the most respected across the globe. We proudly add our purpose-built microSD offering to our WD Purple portfolio.
Beyond Surveillance with Western Digital
Western Digital offers an unmatched portfolio of edge-to-core storage for surveillance. As surveillance solutions evolve into smart video IoT solutions, we have the technologies to manage your data – whether it’s more robust high endurance, high performance for Fast Data at the smart edge, or ultra-efficient high-capacity TCO-optimized storage for Big Data at the AI-enabled core. Trust Western Digital to have some of the latest, most advanced data management technology for you as you move beyond surveillance.
If you’re at ISC West, please swing by our booth and I can tell you more about our WD Purple microSD card for surveillance, and the rest of our unmatched portfolio of edge-to-core surveillance storage products.
* IHS Markit, Video Surveillance Intelligence report – August 2017
**Based on review of several third party storage capacity calculators
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain blog and other posts on this website may contain forward-looking statements, including statements relating to expectations in the market for data storage, our products and applications of our products. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements, including development challenges or delays, changes in markets, demand, global economic conditions and other risks and uncertainties listed in Western Digital Corporation’s most recent quarterly and annual reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, to which your attention is directed. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements and we undertake no obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.
