Western Digital Corporation: “Storage plays a critical role at every step of content creation”

Jaganathan Chelliah is senior director, marketing, India, Middle East, and TIA, at Western Digital Corporation. He comes with over two decades of sales and marketing practice in the technology sector. In his current role, Jaganathan is responsible for the entire portfolio of Western Digital brands across consumer, commercial and enterprise segments. Prior to this role, Jagan held key management positions at SanDisk, Texas Instruments and Intel India.In an interaction with Times of India Tech, Jaganathan shared insights into how the staorage needs content creators, the company’s collaboration with Red Chillies Entertainment and more.
What according to you are the key factors behind the data boom in India? How has this impacted the storage solutions industry?
The growing dependence on digital mediums has led to a huge increase in data creation and consumption, boosting demand for storage solutions. Content creators are creating more than ever before, as per a recent study, on average, a new-age content creator creates 350GB of content in a month, while a typical Bollywood movie requires about 200-300TB of storage. Meanwhile, the rapid adoption of transformative technologies such as 5G, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and Internet of Things (IoT) has also resulted in a surge in data generation across various sectors.
Different use cases require specialized storage solutions. For example, the storage requirement of a gamer is vastly different from that of a professional content creator or a smart video segment. As a leading storage solution provider, Western Digital is working relentlessly to introduce innovative, purpose-built cutting-edge solutions.
Are there any specific technological advancements that you see in this space?
The storage industry continues to innovate and offer products that are faster, more compact, and offer huge capacities in the same or smaller form factor. Another innovation is from a sustainability perspective, introducing products that are greener and help consumers, enterprises, and data centers (DCs) keep their carbon footprints in check.
How has the rise of cloud computing and hybrid work changed the storage landscape?
These trends have transformed the storage landscape by demanding a diverse set of features in storage. For example, the hybrid work environment has underlined the need for a fast storage solution that boosts PC performance. Additionally, it should consume less power so that users can work for longer hours without worrying about charging their PCs.
Regarding cloud computing, the requirements for storage differ based on the data type, whether it is hot or cold. High-capacity and highly reliable hard drives and SSDs are essential. Moreover, the adoption of software-defined storage (SDS) becomes imperative as it enhances flexibility, efficiency, and rapid scalability. The storage environment will continue evolving in response to the evolving technology and work patterns.
Content creation for social media is a huge industry these days, but it is also unorganised. Do you think content creators in India really understand the importance of investing in secure and scalable storage?
Quickly evolving technology and a highly active community of content creators have sparked the growth of a new “content creator economy” that was estimated to be worth over $104.2 billion in 2022. As per an industry report, India, with more than 100 million content creators by the end of this year, will become the largest base of social media content creators globally. While all this might seem exciting, most content creators will agree that creating great content is not an easy task. In fact, given the very demanding nature of their work, today’s content creators are well-informed about their technology needs and demand solutions that help them unleash their creativity.
Storage plays a critical role at every step of content creation – from capturing and transferring to editing and archiving – to help manage it effectively and reliably. We have tailor-made storage solutions to help creators focus on their creativity and not worry about the management of their content.
Data safety is a significant concern these days. Where do you see Western Digital placed here?
We encourage users to adopt a 3-2-1 backup strategy to ensure that their data is always safe. This strategy requires having three copies of your data, two backup copies stored on different media, and one backup copy stored offsite. The primary copy resides on your device, while the backups can be stored on external hard drives, cloud storage, or other physical media.
You recently signed a partnership with Red Chillies Entertainment for the movie Jawan. Can you share some details about it?
Considering the fast-paced, data-intensive workflows, creators – whether in high-end studios, creating the next big picture, or a professional out in the field capturing footage for a project or editing videos during post-production – need simple and flexible storage solutions that make them more efficient. Our collaboration with Red Chillies for Jawan was aimed at providing the production house with digital storage solutions that can catalog thousands of terabytes of video footage for seamless post-production work.