Soaring Seagate

Seagate’s hard disks have come out stronger from the slowdown. This was

also in the face of intense competition. The success was largely an outcome of

Seagate’s effective strategy of offering a robust product which was backed up

by an increased customer focus.

Hard disk indeed



The product comes with a 3-D defense mechanism to protect the drive per se,

the data on the drive and diagnostic tools to see the drive is up and running at

all times.

The drive architecture has been designed to give it the strength to bear a

non-operating shock up to 350-G.

"This is an important consideration when a customer buys a drive,

because it is considered to be a delicate component," says Sharad

Srivastava, Country Manager, Indian Sub-Continent, Seagate Distribution

Singapore Pvt Ltd. 

The drive comes packaged in a special shell so as to minimize the damage that

may occur during transportation. "Even a three feet drop will not damage

the drive," said Srivastava, highlighting the protection offered by the

shell.

As part of data defense, the drive is shipped with a specified number of

spare sectors on it to ensure that they can be used when some other data sectors

go bad. "These come with a mechanism to maintain data integrity even during

a power failure," informs Srivastava. Seagate offers a diagnostic tool

called SeaTools to help the user to assess the condition of his drive.

Seagate hard disks: A robust product maintaining its lead
Strengths
	3-D defense mechanism to protect the drive and provide diagnostic supportÂ
	Special shell casing protects drive from shocks during transportation
	Safe Sparing ensures data integrity even during power failures

Integrated advantage



Seagate´s heavy investment in research and development gives it the advantage
of being the first to market a new product. Seagate pioneered the shift to 40 GB

per platter last year. "With a time to market advantage we are able to gain

over competition," says Srivastava.

Seagate also derives it competitive advantage from its vertical integration.

"This has a major impact on product availability, quality and reliability

of drives," says Srivastava.

The Six Sigma initiative that covered the supply side and manufacturing

activities of the company is now being extended to R and D and design too. The

process improvement helps the company save a lot of money.

Customer focus



All programs that Seagate runs fulfills at least one of the five objectives,

which it has laid for itself. They are: create product and brand awareness;

reward and recognize partners; educate end-customers; expand service and support

and expand to newer market or market segments.

The concept of five relationship managers was thus implemented in the

country. "These managers have zonal responsibilities that ensures constant

contact with the customer," says Srivastava.

Seagate recently concluded its first ever Storage Partner Meet. Attended by

all import partners and representatives from its three distributors, namely

Ingram Micro, ACI and eSys, the meet was a forum to discuss future strategies

and seek feedback.

With a firm foothold in the market, Seagate is looking at only one way to go.

Up.