WD unveils the Western Digital Purple microSD card

Western Digital unveiled the Western Digital Purple microSD card that is capable of meeting data demands of the latest adoption of 4K Ultra HD video in surveillance cameras.

The Purple microSD card can continuously record surveillance footage for up to two years. However, the performance may vary depending on the capacity of the card and the system setting. If all goes well, a 64GB Purple microSD card, recording at 1080p at 8Mbps and 1K P/E should hit the sweet spot of the 24-month recording.

Besides being built to last internally, the Purple microSD card is also designed to withstand the weather. Although Singapore does not have four seasons, sometimes the weather can get a little crazy. One moment it could be scorching hot, the other could be pouring. Weird case scenario? Both types of weather at the same time. The last thing consumers need is a microSD card to lose its functions due to the unforgiving weather, especially for surveillance purposes.

Christopher Bergey, vice president of embedded and integrated solutions at Western Digital said:

“…Leveraging our proven capabilities in consumer and industrial memory card innovation, the Western Digital Purple microSD card is the ideal solution for mainstream commercial surveillance data at the edge. Whether capturing 4K video, used in AI-enabled cameras, or part of a larger data system supporting ‘smart surveillance’ applications, this rugged and intelligent card delivers ‘surveillance-class’ endurance and tremendous performance to enable trusted video capture in some of the harshest conditions. When combined with our popular Purple and Ultrastar hard disk drives (HDDs) to support data preservation and real-time analytics, Western Digital now provides the industry’s most comprehensive offering for surveillance data, from the edge to the core.”

Optimised for Evolving Data-Centric Surveillance Demands

Designed to support a wide range of video resolutions and surveillance video recording implementations, additional highlights of the new microSD card include:

• • Robust Endurance for Continuous Recording: Supports up to 1,000 PE Cycles

• • Card Health Status Functionality for Easy Card Maintenance: In compatible cameras, a unique health monitor offers reporting capabilities to provide users and system installers valuable information, including the card’s endurance and capacity status, enabling predictive maintenance and taking the “guess work” out of when to service the card.

• • High Performance for Next-Generation Video: Offers speeds of up to 80 MB/s sequential read and 50 MB/s sequential write and supports Speed Class 10 and UHS Speed Class 1.

• • Trusted Video Capture in Wide Range of Climates: Designed for use in temperatures ranging from -25°C to 85°C, it enables reliable video capture indoors and outdoors.

• • High Capacity to Capture and Preserve Video if Connection to Network Connection is Lost: Offered in capacities up to 64GB

“Today’s surveillance systems have moved beyond simple low-resolution video capture, to massive networks capturing 4K video and leveraging advanced new analytics software to unlock new business value from video recordings,” said Michael Palma, IDC Research Director for Semiconductor and Enabling Technologies. “This has resulted in a surge in the volume and velocity of surveillance data at the edge and is creating demand for storage solutions that support the performance requirements of 4K video, 24/7 operation, and movement of video for smart insights.”

Western Digital Purple Surveillance Device Portfolio Enables Surveillance Data to Thrive

The new Western Digital Purple microSD card complements a full portfolio of data storage devices purpose-built for today’s surveillance needs, including the Western Digital Purple Surveillance HDD for high-capacity support for NVRs and DVRs and the Ultrastar® HDD series for use in back-end servers performing surveillance analytics. Together, they provide surveillance system integrators and installers a complete solution to capture, preserve, access and transform surveillance data. Additionally, Western Digital offers original equipment manufacturers industrial-grade SanDisk® Industrial card storage solutions for use with cameras with in-camera analytics capabilities and a variety of connected surveillance applications.

Availability

The new microSD card will be available worldwide through Western Digital’s authorised reseller network in April in 32GB and 64GB capacities for $18.99 and $31.99 MSRP (in the U.S.) respectively; cards available in single and convenient 25-packs for surveillance system installers and integrators.

For more information on the Western Digital Purple microSD card and the complete Western Digital Purple surveillance portfolio, visit the Western Digital booth at ISC West International Security Conference & Exposition (Booth #2089) or go to https://www.wdc.com/edge-to-core.