Western Digital to launch network solutions in India

According to estimates, there were over 80 million connected homes globally in 2011, which is expected to grow to close to 900 million by 2016. This would mirror strong growth across product segments like gaming consoles, Blu-ray connected players and Hybrid set top boxes.

"Network demands within the connected homes are growing exponentially with members of the family watching movies, playing games or browsing the Internet simultaneously on their smartphones, laptops, tablets, gaming consoles and smart TVs," WD Sales Branded Products (India, Middle East and Africa) Khalid Wani told reporters here.

"With our solutions, customers can experience full-HD content and lets users connect multiple devices easily," he said.

The company will launch four products in the third week of September under the "MyNet" category N900 Central, N900, N750 and N600 with prices ranging from Rs 5,699 to Rs 25,999.

"There is a strong growth in the number of Internet users and we expect this to fuel our growth in this category as well," he said but declined to comment on sales targets.

Using the routers, users will be able to access movies, videos and games online on multiple devices like mobile phones, tablets, Smart TVs, PCs and other Wi-Fi connected devices.

The company estimates the Indian router market to grow at about 12-14 per cent in 2012 to be close to Rs 1,730 crore from Rs 1,560 crore in 2011.

Nasdaq-listed Western Digital reported revenue of USD 12.5 billion for 2011-12 compared to fiscal 2010-11 revenue of USD 9.5 billion. It has about one lakh employees globally.