MEGATech Videos: Seagate Evolving Consumer Storage Solutions (CES 2015)

Seagate Technology is a name that is not only well known, but also well respected in the data storage industry. At CES 2015 in Las Vegas, Seagate was proudly showing off its new logo and new creative vision. They’re not only about the storage hardware, but also about providing consumers with end-to-end solutions for their evolving data and media consumption needs. To this end, the newly announced Seagate Wireless and Seagate Personal Cloud should make your life that much better.

While the form factor and outward aesthetic may not be all the familiar, the core functionality of the new Seagate Wireless should ring a few bells. It started with the GoFlex Satellite Wireless and grew with the Seagate Wireless Plus. Now, the evolution continues with the more affordable Seagate Wireless.

Offering 500GB of wireless storage, the $129.99 Seagate Wireless is a wireless drive designed for the more budget-oriented mobile user. It creates its own Wi-Fi access point to which three devices can connect and stream HD content. There’s still the Wi-Fi pass-through for Internet connectivity and estimated battery life under real world conditions is in the 7 to 8 hour range. The fun colors include blue, green and red, as well as more standard white and black.

And just as the Seagate Wireless represents an evolution of an existing product line, the same can be said about the new Seagate Personal Cloud. It takes much of what made the Seagate Central so great and makes it even better. You get a new design, an expanded media app, more robust backup options and even a 2-bay model for RAID-style mirroring or increased storage capacity up to 8TB. They’re also opening it up to app development by third parties.

Whether you’re looking to back up everything on your home PC to the Seagate Personal Cloud (and access it remotely via the mobile app) or you want to stream HD videos to three tablets at the same time with the Seagate Wireless, your digital lifestyle is getting just that much better.

Make sure you check out the rest of our CES 2015 coverage and click below to read the full press releases from Seagate.

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SEAGATE WIRELESS CREATES SPACE FOR MOBILE DEVICES
Stream, Backup and Transfer Files To and From New Seagate Wireless Storage Solutions

LAS VEGAS, NV — Jan 4, 2015 — Seagate Technology plc (NASDAQ: STX), the pioneer in wireless storage, continues to grow its family of wireless storage solutions with the debut of Seagate® Wireless, a 500GB portable wireless drive designed for streaming and offloading of media from mobile devices. The new Seagate Wireless offers more space to carry everything consumers want on their mobile devices and alleviates the challenge of running out of storage space on smartphones and tablets. Seagate Wireless provides a solution to stream your favorite HD video on your Android Tablet or Smartphone, iPad, iPhone, Kindle Fire, Windows 8 computers and Windows RT tablets.

The new Seagate Wireless drive comes in a range of vibrant colors. There is a color to coordinate with one’s wardrobe, mood, or mobile accessories. Available Seagate Wireless color options include lime green, cool blue, slate grey, fire-engine red and white.

With space for up to 200 HD movies, people will never be without entertainment, even when on the road without Internet access. By freeing up precious space on people’s tablets and smart phones, the Seagate Wireless drive will become a mobile devices’ favorite companion. Enjoying saved content is now a social activity when using Seagate Wireless, which provides the capability to share the contents of the drive with streams for up to three connected devices simultaneously.

“Seagate pioneered the product category of wireless storage devices and is pleased at how the category has grown over the years,” said Patrick Connolly, vice president of Seagate branded innovations. “The latest generation of Seagate Wireless extends that legacy and makes the wireless streaming experience broadly available to far more consumers.”

Seagate Wireless storage is accessed through the free mobile Seagate Media app for Apple iOS, Android, Kindle Fire HD, Windows 8 tablets. Mobile devices connect to Seagate Wireless over a Wi-Fi connection, which the battery-powered drive emits once powered on. Simply connect to the drive by searching for Seagate Wireless in available Wi-Fi networks from any device. The drive emits its own Wi-Fi signal, eliminating the need to be within range of an existing network connection.

Additionally, Seagate Wireless can be used to enjoy video, photos, music and even documents on the big screen via Apple Airplay, Google Chromecast, or an app designed specifically for Samsung and LG Smart TVs and Rokuplayers.

Pricing and Availability:

Seagate Wireless will be available from Amazon, Best Buy and Seagate.com by early February for a MSRP of $129.99. Seagate Media app is currently available for free from popular app stores. To learn more about Seagate Wireless view the video here.
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SEAGATE PERSONAL CLOUD: AN EASY WAY TO ENJOY PHOTOS, VIDEOS AND DATA ON ALL YOUR DEVICES, AT HOME OR AWAY

Accessible, Secure And Personal – It’s Your Cloud Now

LAS VEGAS, NV — Jan. 4, 2015 —Seagate Technology plc (NASDAQ: STX), a world leader in storage solutions,today unveiled two new storage products for the home, Seagate® Personal Cloud and Seagate® Personal Cloud 2-Bay. Seagate Personal Cloud provides the accessibility of cloud storage with the peace of mind that content is stored safely at home. What differentiates these two Personal Cloud drives apart is how easily they can stream content to smartphones, set-top boxes, tablets, PCs or televisions via the Seagate Media application. Additionally, when used in conjunction with the acclaimed Seagate Mobile Backup app and Dashboard software, Seagate Personal Cloud also serves as a central backup device for PCs, Mac computers, USB drives, iOS and Android mobile devices.

Seagate Personal Cloud demystifies the often frustrating process of finding, accessing and enjoying photos, videos and music on the device of your choice. Once connected to a wireless router and after a free download of the Seagate Media app, users will be treated to an intuitive, media-rich browsing experience that makes playback of content an effortless and enjoyable experience. Unmatched in the number of compatible platforms and ease-of-use, the Seagate Media apps support the following devices:

• TVs and Blu-ray players: LG Smart TVs (2012 or later) and Samsung Smart TVs and Blu-ray players (2012 models or later with SmartHub)
• Streaming media players: Roku, Google Chromecast, and Apple TV (via Apple AirPlay)
• Smartphones: iPhone, Android
• Tablets: iPad, Android™, Kindle, Windows 8/RT

Seagate Personal Cloud can also stream directly to DLNA-based devices, including the Sony PlayStation 3 or later, and Microsoft Xbox 360 or later.

When away from home, users will have the ability to securely retrieve and share content stored on the Seagate Personal Cloud drive. By way of the Seagate Media app, users can browse and enjoy content directly from theirPersonal Cloud drive in the same manner they would do when at home.

For those who are comfortable with storing their data in public cloud services, Seagate Personal Cloud drives can be configured to complement a public cloud service with two types of applications, backup and synchronization.

Personal Cloud drives can be set up to automatically back up to popular providers including: Amazon S3, Box, Baidu, DropBox, Google Drive, HiDrive and Yandex.Disk, while delivering an additional level of offsite protection. Alternatively, a synchronization option is available for Baidu, DropBox and Google Drive for those who simply need a secondary copy of their most current data from their service.

“Given the abundance of handheld computing devices there has been a trend of accessing content and content via cloud storage,” said Stephen Baker, vice president of Industry Analysis for The NPD Group. “A product like the Seagate Personal Cloud offers a new approach at cloud storage allowing consumers to take advantage of low-cost cloud opportunities while still remaining in control of their content and access it from anywhere.”

Recognizing that storage needs will continue to evolve, Seagate designed Personal Cloud devices with a built-in app manager that enables the ability to install additional features after purchase. An app-store like experience delivers a variety of apps including WordPress, BitTorrent Sync and ElephantDrive. Seagate has also created a software development kit (SDK) for its app manager to enable 3rd party developers to create new and exciting use cases for Personal Cloud drives.

Seagate Personal Cloud is also designed to automatically and continuously back up every computer in the home. For Windows-based PCs and Mac computers, the Seagate Dashboard software provides a best-in-class way to protectyour content. Personal Cloud devices also work seamlessly with Apple Time Machine software.

Seagate Personal Cloud 2-Bay

The Personal Cloud 2-bay device is for users that want more than one backup of their most important content in the unlikely event of a drive failure. The Personal Cloud 2-bay —designed with two internal drives—is configured out-of-the-box to automatically duplicate all content stored on one drive to a secondary drive for double protection and greater peace of mind. Alternatively, for users that are seeking maximum capacity, the Personal Cloud 2-bay product can be re-configured by the user into a single volume of storage.

Availability
Seagate Personal Cloud will be shipping to retailers later this month in 3TB, 4TB, and 5TB capacities. Seagate Personal Cloud 2-Bay will be available in 4TB, 6TB and 8TB capacities. Both configurations of Seagate Personal Cloud can be found at Amazon, Seagate.com and BestBuy.

About Seagate
Seagate is a world leader in storage solutions. Learn more at www.seagate.com. Follow Seagate on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Spiceworks, and Google+ and subscribe to our blog.
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