Seagate 2008 Annual Report Download - page 6

Table of Contents
PART I
ITEM 1. BUSINESS
We are the world's leading provider of hard disk drives based on revenue. We design, manufacture, market and sell hard disk drives. Hard
disk drives, commonly referred to as disk drives or hard drives, are devices that store digitally encoded data on rapidly rotating platters or disks
with magnetic surfaces. The performance attributes of disk drives, including their cost effectiveness and high storage capacities have resulted in
disk drives being used as the primary medium for storing electronic data in systems ranging from desktop and notebook computers, and
consumer electronics devices to data centers delivering electronic data over corporate networks and the Internet.
We produce a broad range of disk drive products addressing enterprise applications, where our products are used in enterprise servers,
mainframes and workstations; desktop applications, where our products are used in desktop computers; mobile computing applications, where
our products are used in notebook computers; and consumer electronics applications, where our products are used in a wide variety of devices
such as digital video recorders (DVRs) and other consumer electronic devices that require storage. We also sell our branded storage solutions
under both the Seagate and Maxtor brands. In addition to manufacturing and selling disk drives, we provide data storage services for small- to
medium-sized businesses, including online backup, data protection and recovery solutions.
Industry Overview
Electronic Data Storage Industry
The electronic data storage industry is comprised of companies that manufacture components or subcomponents used in electronic data
storage devices and companies that provide storage solutions through a variety of technologies such as disk drives, tape storage, as well as
semiconductor-based storage technologies such as flash memory. Participants in the electronic data storage industry include:
Major subcomponent manufacturers. Companies that manufacture components or subcomponents used in electronic data storage devices
or solutions include companies such as TDK Corporation ("TDK"), Fuji Electric Device Technology Company, Limited ("Fuji"), and Showa
Denko K.K. ("Showa"), which supply heads and media to disk drive manufacturers; LSI Corporation ("LSI") and Marvell Technology Group
Limited ("Marvell"), which supply application specific integrated circuits (ASICs); as well as Hoya Corporation ("Hoya"), which supplies glass
substrates.
Hardware storage solutions manufacturers. Companies that transform components into storage products include disk drive
manufacturers such as Seagate, Western Digital Corporation ("Western Digital"), Samsung Electronics Company, Limited ("Samsung"), Fujitsu
Limited ("Fujitsu"), Hitachi Global Storage Technologies ("Hitachi") and Toshiba Corporation ("Toshiba"); magnetic tape storage manufacturers
such as Quantum Corporation ("Quantum"); and semiconductor storage manufacturers such as Samsung, SanDisk Corporation ("SanDisk"),
STEC, Inc. ("STEC"), and Intel Corporation ("Intel"), whose operations include integrating flash memory into storage products such as solid
state drives (SSDs).
System integrators. Companies that bundle and package storage components such as storage hardware and software into end-user,
consumer electronics or enterprise applications include original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) such as Hewlett-Packard Company ("HP"),
Dell Inc. ("Dell"), Acer Inc. ("Acer"), Lenovo Group Limited ("Lenovo") and Apple, Inc. ("Apple"); consumer electronics OEMs such as Apple,
Sony Coproration ("Sony"), Microsoft Corporation ("Microsoft"), Motorola, Inc. ("Motorola"), DIRECTV Group, Inc. ("DirecTV"), TiVo Inc.
("TiVo") and Scientific-Atlanta Inc., a subsidiary of Cisco Systems Inc. ("Scientific-Atlanta"); enterprise storage system OEMs such as HP,
EMC
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