Seagate Technology has announced the signing of a strategic cooperation agreement with Baidu, covering the fields of information technology, big data analysis and advanced storage system development and implementation.
The pact renews an existing agreement between the two firms signed in September 2014, under which Baidu would give priority to Seagate when selecting storage products and solutions, and Seagate would give advanced access to products, services and support to Baidu, as well as assign a dedicated team of engineers to the company.
With regard to new products Baidu will be at the forefront of internet users in China implementing Seagate’s new storage products, and the two companies will work together to develop customised systems to meet Baidu’s business needs. The procurement model for both companies will be further upgraded to save costs for each side.
According to the parties involved, this collaboration and mutual support between Seagate and Baidu is essential to win in the era of big data. It has been predicted by IDC that by 2025, the global data sphere will grow to 163 ZB, which is 10 times the 16.1ZB of data generated in 2016.
By then, nearly 20 percent of the data in the global data sphere will be critical to our daily lives and nearly 10 percent of that will be hypercritical. This data will unlock unique user experiences and a new world of business opportunities. How to effectively store and make use of massive data therefore becomes critical.
“As the top AI technology enterprise with leading data centre technology worldwide, Baidu welcomes innovation and solutions with open arms,” said Mr. Zhang Yaqin, President of Baidu.
“Baidu and Seagate have maintained close relations since 2014, and established close technological cooperation in the field of SMR, cloud storage and Helium hard disk drives. This contributes to the reduction of storage costs and improvement of storage quality, as well as the enhanced competitiveness for Baidu. In the future, we also look forward to deepening cooperation with Seagate in order to solve various storage challenges in the era of big data, improve storage quality, efficiency and reliability, provide strong support to the development of both companies as well.”
