Seagate, which is expected to gain market shares as rival Western Digital facilities struggle due to flooding in Thailand, is looking to press its edge by simplifying its Barracuda line of hard drives in a move partially designed to cut costs for PC makers.
With PC profit margins likely to be strained amid hard drive shortages, it’s likely Seagate’s messaging will find an audience. By cooking down its Barracuda drives to one product with various capacities, Seagate can cut costs for partners since there’s less inventory and product qualifications.
Of course, Seagate also benefits due to the supply chain efficiencies from building one drive. Seagate said in a statement that it will end production of its Barracuda Green drive in February and fold its Barracuda XT solid-state hybrid drive into the new family.
Seagate’s hard drive will be available online first is designed for desktops, servers and network attached storage. Capacities will range from 250GB to 3TB depending on how many disk platters are on the drive.
