WD, a Western Digital company, announced that it has founded the Storage Products Association (SPA) with other hard drive companies to promote the merits and value of rotating magnetic storage technologies, as well as to make consumers and professionals aware of how critical hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid-state hybrid drives (SSHDs) are to their digital lives.

SPA members include HGST, Seagate, Toshiba and WD. The organization helps storage manufacturers and users understand and support current and future storage needs, including the key role of hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid state hybrid drives, in an effective storage mix for all consumer and business environments. SPA will provide education to its customers, partners, members and users of HDDs and SSHDs. SPA will also participate in industry and user events, and will publish materials about end users' storage needs and effective usage of a mix of storage technologies.

"Driven by continued, rapid expansion of digital content production, demand for storage is expected to grow in the mid-30s percent range annually through 2020," said Tim Leyden, WD president. "While, in that timeframe, a mix of technologies will be deployed to appropriately serve customers, about 75 percent of the capacity is still expected to be rotating magnetic storage devices. Every user of smart phones, tablets and personal computers today depends on the value and reliability of HDDs or SSHDs to secure their precious data, whether the storage is in their device or in the cloud. SPA will help consumers and businesses appreciate the value of their growing content storage needs and the remarkable rotating magnetic technologies that save and protect that content."

SPA is making its debut at the Flash Memory Summit, beginning today at the Santa Clara Convention Center. At 8:30 a.m. today, SPA member companies will participate in a panel titled, "Solid State Hybrid Drives Help Meet Today's Storage Requirements" to discuss the role of hard disk drives and solid state hybrid drives. John Rydning, IDC research vice president for hard disk drives, will moderate the panel.

For more information and SPA, go to this page.