Western Digital is benefiting from gaming enthusiasts’ demand in the Middle East for its Enterprise Serial ATA (ESATA) product — the WD Raptor hard drive. Over the past decade, the increased adoption rate of PCs and interest in gaming technologies in this region have grown simultaneously.
“Studies have shown that more than 75 percent of PC owners play games on their PCs. Gaming is a growing trend around the world and the climate in the Middle East is the same,” said Rauf Baig, senior regional sales manager, Middle East Africa and Central Asia, Western Digital. “In fact, in the Middle East — with its large population of people under 30 — we are seeing a high level of demand from young people to have the most hi-tech and high-powered PCs. These early gaming technology adopters want the best performing machines so they can play games at the highest standard.”
The WD Raptor was designed for performance and reliability with a 10,000 RPM rotational disk speed and 5.2 ms average data seek times, as well as a rugged, enterprise-class mechanical platform with high-end bearings and actuator supporting the drive’s 1.2 million hours MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure) specification. It is supported with a five-year warranty and is priced as much as 30 percent less than SCSI hard drives.
“Feedback from our customers indicates that the WD Raptor is increasingly popular in the gaming sector, said Baig. Its high performance and reliability offer members of the gaming market a cost-effective alternative to SCSI, which traditionally was the choice of gamers.”
Arab News Compunet 5 August 2003