Toshiba’s Storage Business Strategy

Total Storage Innovation is Toshiba Corp.‘s shorthand for the suite of capabilities required to efficiently store big data, output data as necessary, and process it appropriately.

The company aims to meet diversifying storage requirements by offering quality, differentiated solutions employing the cutting edge technologies.

Hironobu Nishikori, corporate SVP of Semiconductor & Storage Company, comments: "HDD and flash memory technologies will continue to coexist, taking advantage of their respective characteristics. Toshiba is the only vendor covering the spectrum of HDD, SSD and NAND flash memory. Inspired by our vision of Total Storage Innovation, we aim to be the leading storage solution provider in the evolving cloud and big data era."

Big data has three essential attributes: volume for over petabytes data, velocity for real time data processing and analytics and variety for mixture of structured and unstructured data. The key to product differentiation lies in real-time analytics of that data to maneuver social infrastructure system in timely manner. Towards that Toshiba will offer storage solutions that address each of the 3Vs.

Mindful of fast-emerging possibilities, not least those associated with cloud computing, in fiscal 2013 Toshiba is focusing on the following storage products.

1. Enterprise storage products
(integration of HDD and SSD)

• As networks proliferate and their technologies continue to progress, the world is being inundated by a rising tide of data generated by SNS terminals and sensors. The numbers are startling: reflecting the rise of cloud computing, people will have to deal with about 40 zettabytes of data in 2020.
• Toshiba will offer HDDs for storage of large volume of data. At the same time, the company will strengthen its offerings of enterprise SSD suitable for data transfer at high velocity by exploiting the synergy of its proprietary NAND flash memory technology and know-how in controller and firmware design for enterprise HDDs.
• Further, storage products must provide enhanced reliability and security functions to underpin enterprise activities. We will emphasize HDD/SSD products with encryption functions.
• We will offer a range of storage products with characteristics suited to handling data in the era of cloud computing and capable of satisfying a range of system requirements.
• The cloud computing and big data revolution is expected to transform the storage business environment over the next ten years. By anticipating that transformation, Toshiba will offer cutting-edge solutions inspired by Total Storage Innovation.

2. Client storage products

• Hybrid drives: Hybrid drives are the fruits of a synergy between NAND flash memory, SSD, and HDD technologies. Hybrid drives are HDDs with NAND flash memory that offer capacities as large as HDD and speeds comparable to SSD. Featuring self-learning algorithms to identify user access patterns, a hybrid drive optimally assigns data to three layers of storage devices consisting of DRAM, NAND flash and magnetic disks. The result is a start-up time as quick as an SSD. Toshiba’s strengths in both NAND flash memory and SSD/HDD technologies have a multiplier effect, giving our hybrid drives performances superior to those of conventional HDDs. With hybrid drives to the fore, Toshiba aims to expand its share of the market for client storage products.
• Consumer products: Rising demand for external HDDs attests to their attractiveness as a neat solution for those requiring additional storage capacity for moving data from the HDD or SSD built into PCs, for backup, or for recording TV programs. Toshiba offers a choice of external HDDs, including the small and light 9-mm-thick portable HDDs, portable HDDs up to 2TB (up to 1.5TB for models for the Japanese market) that do not require a power cable, and 3TB external HDDs (2TB for the Japanese market). This line-up of products is one compelling reason why Toshiba has already won a 25% share of the North American and European markets for external HDDs. Building on that presence, Toshiba intends to grow the business by offering a wider choice of consumer products geared to diversifying needs.