QNAP Systems, Inc. announced today a major expansion of the number of compatible peripherals available for its Turbo NAS products. The major additions include ten 3.5-inch internal SATA hard drives and a Kingston 2.5-inch internal SATA hard drive.
The newly compatible 3.5" internal SATA hard drives:

• Seagate - ST2000DM001 (2TB), ST2000NC000 (2TB), ST1000NC000 (1TB), ST3000NM0033 (Constellation ES.3) (3TB), ST2000NM0033 (Constellation ES.3) (2TB), ST1000NM0033 (Constellation ES.3) (1TB), ST500DM002 (500GB)
• Western Digital - WD4000FYYZ (4TB), WD3000FYYZ (3TB), WD2000FYYZ (2TB)
  The newly compatible 2.5" internal SATA hard drive:
• Kingston - SSDNow E100 (100GB)

Seagate Technology today announced the Seagate Video 2.5 HDD, a 2.5-inch drive specifically engineered for use in 24/7 video applications like digital video recorders (DVRs), set-top boxes (STBs), and surveillance applications.

The Video 2.5 HDD delivers superior performance and operation in three key areas of importance to manufacturers - high reliability, acoustics, and energy efficiency. Featuring best in class reliability, the drive has an annual failure rate of approximately 0.55, based on current configurations, enabling it to keep product in the field longer while reducing the cost of field deployment and maintaining customer retention. It also boasts 24/7 operation capabilities in extended temperature ranges and enhanced acoustics for near silent operation - features crucial for consumer electronics and video applications.

Seagate Technology plc (NASDAQ: STX) today announced that Steve Luczo, president, CEO and chairman of Seagate has been named one of Fortune Magazine's top Businesspersons of the Year for 2012. This prestigious annual ranking honors the top performing leaders across multiple industries.

Selections were made from a variety of factors, including financial results, stock performance and market value of the company, as well as strategic savvy, the ability to gracefully steer a very large organization, risk taking, and cultural significance.

World Cyber Games, Inc. (WCG), the recognized blue chip leader for international video game competitions, announced the partnership with Korean Air, NVIDIA and Seagate (alphabetical order).

As the leaders of each industry, Korean Air joined the WCG sponsor line as the festival sponsor, and NVIDIA and Seagate as the official sponsor to provide various services at the WCG 2012 Grand Final which will be held in Kunshan, China from November 29th to December 2nd.

Seagate Technology plc today reported financial results for the quarter ended September 28, 2012. During the first quarter, on a GAAP basis the company reported revenue of approximately $3.7 billion, gross margin of 28.4%, net income of $582 million and diluted earnings per share of $1.42. On a non-GAAP basis, which excludes the net impact of certain items, Seagate reported gross margin of 29.0%, net income of $594 million, and diluted earnings per share of $1.45.

In the September quarter, Seagate generated approximately $1.1 billion in cash from operations, paid cash dividends of $127 million and redeemed approximately 20.5 million ordinary shares or approximately 5% of ordinary shares at the beginning of the fiscal quarter for approximately $669 million. During the nine months ended September 28, 2012, Seagate redeemed approximately 109 million ordinary shares, resulting in an approximate reduction of 17% of the Company's share count. Cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash, and short-term investments totaled approximately $2.5 billion at the end of the first quarter, a sequential increase of approximately $259 million.

QNAP Systems, Inc. announced today a major expansion of the number of compatible peripherals available for its family of Turbo NAS products. The major additions include a Seagate 2.5-inch 1TB internal SATA hard drive and 2.5-inch 1TB external storage device, two Arkeia Software 3rd party software apps and seventy network cameras.

With the consumer availability of Microsoft Windows 8 operating system, Seagate Technology plc is helping to make the move as seamless as possible for those making the upgrade. Seagate Backup Plus family of drives is the essential upgrade tool to ensure that all your important files make the move with you. All of Seagate's external storage devices are compatible with current Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP, and will also work with the new Windows 8 OS.

According to Gartner's Forecast Analysis: PC OS Market, Worldwide, 2008-2015, 2011 Update, July 2011; "By the end of 2012 it is expected that 9.6 million of the installed base of personal computers will run Windows 8 and by 2013, it is predicted that 193.2 million personal computers in use will be running Windows 8."

Seagate Technology plc. today introduced SuperSpeed USB 3.0 to the award-winning Backup Plus storage for Mac. Currently available through Amazon.com and from Apple Stores in November, both Backup Plus Portable for Mac and Backup Plus Desktop for Mac drives will feature the new USB 3.0 interface, which is also compatible with earlier USB 2.0 ports. This new interface means faster transfer of data, so you can backup more quickly, up to 10x that of USB 2.0, via TimeMachine or simply transferring a file from a computer to external storage.

Selected as the Editor's Choice portable external drive by PC Magazine, Seagate Backup Plus hard drives were first introduced in June of this year. Designed to work interchangeably with both Windows and Apple computers, these new drives deliver features to protect, share and save nearly every aspect of one's digital life. Seagate Backup Plus products include a software feature that makes them the world's first external hard drives to provide a way to backup content from social networks, such as Facebook and Flickr. The Seagate Dashboard software included on Backup Plus for Mac drives delivers a quick and easy path to Save and Share personal photos and videos on Facebook and Flickr.

An increasing number of Apple iMac customers are facing troubles with Seagate-made 1 TB hard drives their iMacs shipped with, since 2011. Apple responded with a free no-questions-asked hard drive replacement program for affected customers, but evidently believes some customers may be using faulty Seagate hard drives from even before 2011. The company stretched its hard drive replacement program to cover iMacs purchased between October 2009 and July 2011. "Apple has determined that certain Seagate 1TB hard drives used in 21.5-inch and 27-inch iMac systems may fail," said Apple.

The company is holding a list of iMacs by their serial numbers, which are likely to be affected by faulty hard drives. Customers who registered their iMacs have already been contacted, while others are presented with an online tool that lets you check if yours is one of those affected iMacs. Apple and its Apple Authorized Service Provider (AASP) are tasked with carrying out these free replacements. Customers will now be covered by replacement protection for three years, that's up to April 2013.

Seagate Technology today announced three new enterprise-class hard disk drives (HDD) optimized for traditional data centers and emerging cloud infrastructures.

Perfect for cloud bulk data storage, the Seagate Enterprise Value HDD provides up to 3 TB of storage in a low-power configuration that is perfect for efficiently and affordably storing the ever-growing amount of unstructured data typically stored in the cloud. The company also announced its next generation of highly-reliable hard disk drives, the Seagate Enterprise Capacity 3.5 HDD featuring the industry's widest range of capacities (1, 2, 3 and 4 TB) of secure data storage for robust data center usage and the Seagate Enterprise Performance 10K HDD which delivers best-in-class performance and built-in security for optimized storage efficiency and data protection.

Seagate announced the Seagate Cloud Builder Alliance, a new strategic partner category within the company's existing Seagate Partner Program. The new program provides technical information, customer insights, market knowledge and delivers partners the tools needed to expand their businesses providing cloud storage technology. The Seagate Cloud Builder Alliance highlights system builders that design, integrate, and deliver custom servers and storage systems used in cloud data centers.

Through the Cloud Builder Alliance, partners will receive business and technology planning, sales and marketing resources, lead generation, training and certification, and system reference design development from Seagate Design Centers globally. The program will also equip members with dedicated sales tools including a cloud sales playbook, market insights and customer presentations. Select partners will collaborate with Seagate on solution development and reference designs, PR and marketing initiatives, and strategic direction and business planning. Seagate Cloud Builder Alliance participants include Ciara Technologies, Intequus, NuCloud Global, Supermicro, Xyratex, and ZT Systems to name a few.

Microsoft Corp. today announced that its board of directors declared a quarterly dividend of $0.23 per share, reflecting a 3 cent or 15 percent increase over the previous quarter's dividend. The dividend is payable December 13, 2012 to shareholders of record on November 15, 2012. The ex-dividend date will be November 13, 2012.

The company also announced that Raymond V. Gilmartin, former chairman, president and chief executive officer of Merck & Co., Inc., has decided that after 11 years of service, he will retire from and not seek re-election to Microsoft's board of directors at the company's 2012 annual meeting of shareholders.

Seagate Technology announced today that they will be working with Intel Corporation to demonstrate new advancements in solid state hybrid drives (SSHD) at this year's Intel Developer Forum taking place September 11-13, 2012, at the Moscone West Convention Center in San Francisco. In the Advanced Technology Zone of the event, Intel will demonstrate Seagate's latest solid state hybrid drive design, accelerated with Intel Smart Response Technology, which run common office productivity applications almost on par with solid state drives.

Separately, an educational presentation titled "Ultrabook Responsiveness: Performance & Power End-Users Can Feel", will provide details on how SSHD technology combined with Intel Smart Response Technology will contribute to a powerful new combination of performance and capacity in the next generation Ultrabook devices. Solid state hybrid drives combine performance similar to a solid state drive with the large capacity of a hard disk drive in a single disk drive enclosure.

Six months after losing the top spot in the global hard disk drive (HDD) segment due to the Thai flooding disaster, Western Digital Corp. in the second quarter recovered its market lead from chief rival Seagate Technology, according to an IHS iSuppli Storage Space Market Brief from information and analytics provider IHS.

Western Digital produced approximately 71.0 million HDD units in the second quarter, including production from Hitachi GST, a company acquired by Western Digital earlier in the year. Revenue for Western Digital amounted to $4.8 billion-a company record.

In comparison, Seagate shipped 65.9 million HDD units during the same period, with revenue reaching $4.5 billion-also a record in Seagate's books.

Following their press releases issued on May 23, 2012 and June 14, 2012, Seagate Technology plc (NASDAQ:STX) and LaCie S.A. (Euronext:LAC) announced today the completion of the purchase by Seagate of all of the shares of Philippe Spruch and his affiliate, representing 64.5% of the outstanding shares of LaCie for a provisional price of €4.05 per share. The price payable to Philippe Spruch and his affiliate may be increased by 3%, to €4.17 per share, in the event that within six months following today's date, Seagate holds at least 95% of the share capital and voting rights of LaCie.

The completion of the transaction follows the required clearances from the French Ministry of Finance and the US and German Antitrust Authorities. As a result of the completion of the transaction, Seagate intends to file in the coming weeks with the French Autorité des marches financiers an all-cash simplified tender offer on the remaining LaCie shares.

Seagate Technology plc (NASDAQ: STX) today announced that Gary Gentry has rejoined Seagate to lead its solid state drive (SSD) business as senior vice president, SSD. Mr. Gentry will have responsibility for driving Seagate leadership in the SSD space, with time-to-market, competitive product offerings. He will be located in Longmont, Colorado and will report directly to Rocky Pimentel, chief sales and marketing officer.

Mr. Gentry has over 25 years of experience in the storage industry, including most recently as the general manager of the Enterprise SSD Division of Micron Corporation. Prior to rejoining Seagate, he held leadership positions focusing on solid-state technologies at Spansion Corporation and Storage Genetics. He also served as chief marketing officer for Maxtor, and provided strategic consulting to Hitachi Global Storage Systems. While at Seagate he held various management positions including vice president, strategic marketing and planning.

Seagate Technology plc today reported financial results for the quarter and fiscal year ended June 29, 2012. During the fourth quarter, on a GAAP basis the company reported revenue of approximately $4.5 billion, gross margin of 33.1%, net income of $1.0 billion and diluted earnings per share of $2.37. On a non-GAAP basis, which excludes the net impact of certain items, Seagate reported gross margin of 33.6% and diluted earnings per share of $2.41.

In the June quarter, Seagate generated approximately $1.4 billion in cash from operations, paid cash dividends of $106 million and used approximately $1.2 billion to redeem approximately 45 million ordinary shares. Through the first half of the 2012 calendar year, Seagate has redeemed approximately 88 million ordinary shares, representing approximately 19% of the company's market capitalization. Cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash, and short-term investments totaled $2.2 billion at the end of the fourth quarter, a sequential increase of approximately $67 million.

Century Japan released a new drive dock (model: CMRK-S4) for PCs with vacant 5.25-inch drive bays, which provides four 2.5-inch SATA hot-swap drive bays, supporting drives as thick as 12.5 mm (such as WD VelociRaptor without its heatsink, or Seagate Cheetah. The four bays have lockable caddies. Since this is a passive dock, the SATA connections are relayed to the back. The four bays are cooled by a 40 mm exhaust fan on the back. The fan spins at speeds of around 4,000 RPM, with noise output around 25 dBA. Measuring 145.7 x 149.3 x 41.6 mm (WxDxH), the dock weighs 500 g, owing to its mostly metallic built. Slated for early August, it is expected to be priced at 3,980 JPY (US $50).

Seagate Technology plc the worldwide leader in hard disk drives and storage solutions, and DensBits Technologies Ltd ("DensBits") the inventor of the world's first Memory ModemTM have announced today a strategic agreement for the development of low-cost, high-performance Solid State Drives ("SSD") for the consumer and enterprise markets. In conjunction with the agreement, Seagate has made an undisclosed equity investment in DensBits.

Seagate and DensBits are joining forces, to develop future products that are intended to provide customers with significant cost savings, extremely high reliability, and unparalleled performance. Under the agreement, DensBits' Memory ModemTM controller technology will be integrated with Seagate's various storage technologies to power a wide range of consumer and enterprise applications including 3 bits/cell ("TLC") 1Xnm Flash-based consumer-grade SSD, and 2 bits/cell ("MLC") 1x nm Flash-based enterprise-grade SSD.

Following their press release issued on May 23, 2012 announcing exclusive negotiations and the receipt on June 8, 2012 of the opinion of the employee representative body of LaCie S.A., Seagate Technology plc and LaCie announced today that Seagate, Philippe Spruch, LaCie's chairman and CEO, and his affiliate, have entered into a binding share purchase agreement to purchase all of the shares of Philippe Spruch and his affiliate, representing 64.5% of the outstanding shares of LaCie for a provisional price of €4.05 per share (as may be adjusted downwards depending on the cash and debt position of LaCie at closing).

As previously announced, Ricol Lasteyrie & Associés have been appointed as independent expert by the Board of Directors of LaCie on June 23, 2012. The transaction has already received clearance from the US Antitrust Authorities but remains subject to regulatory approval in France (approval of foreign investments by the Ministry of Finance) and Germany (antitrust filing) and to other customary closing conditions.

Seagate Technology plc., today introduced Backup Plus storage devices - its reinvented consumer storage product family that delivers the easiest setup, one-click backup and the ability to save and share your content on Facebook and Flickr.

Seagate Backup Plus hard drives are newly designed external storage that work interchangeably with both Windows and Apple computers and deliver new features to protect, share and save nearly every aspect of one's digital life. These products come loaded with the new hassle-free Seagate Dashboard software for one-click local backup making it easier than ever to eliminate excuses or apprehensions about backing up one's most valuable digital content. Seagate Backup Plus products are the world's first external hard drives to provide backup for content on social networks, such as Facebook and Flickr. Storing a local duplicate copy of photos from social networks is now as easy as backing up files on your computer. Seagate Backup Plus will provide the peace of mind that every aspect of one's digital life is safe from loss.

The Serial ATA International Organization (SATA-IO), the industry consortium dedicated to sustaining the quality, integrity and dissemination of Serial ATA (SATA) technology, today announced it has finalized a new version of its Universal Storage Module (USM) standard that enables consumers to simply and easily increase the storage capacity of their mobile devices. The USM Slim specification defines a thinner, 9 mm dimension, making it an ideal storage solution for ultrabooks, tablets and other portable devices.

Demand for thinner, lighter mobile devices often results in decreased native storage capacities, limiting the amount of content consumers can carry with them. The USM Slim specification allows manufacturers to develop external storage offerings that seamlessly pair with these thin and light devices so that consumers can still have instant access to their music, movies, photos and other content at any time or place. The smaller form factor now makes it possible for thinner CE devices to integrate the USM host connector or slot to accept the 9 mm module.

Seagate Technology plc the worldwide leader in hard disk drives and storage solutions, and LaCie S.A., a leading manufacturer of consumer storage products, today announced an exclusive agreement with the intent for Seagate to acquire a controlling interest in LaCie.

Seagate has offered to purchase from Philippe Spruch, LaCie's chairman and CEO, and his affiliate, all of their shares, representing 64.5% of the outstanding shares of LaCie. Following receipt of governmental approvals and the close of this transaction, Seagate would commence an all-cash simplified tender offer (followed as the case may be by a squeeze-out procedure) to acquire the remaining outstanding shares in accordance with the General Regulation of the French Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF).

Seagate will demonstrate a variety of technologies at the SCSI Trade Association (STA) Technology Showcase this week aimed at improving the performance of servers, datacenters and cloud computing applications, including the first public demonstration of solid-state drives operating at 12 gigabits per second.

Seagate will show Pulsar.2 solid-state drives working with the new 12 Gb/s SAS standard at the showcase, taking place at the Hyatt Hotel in Santa Clara, Calif. on May 9, 2012. The new standard doubles the data throughput of industry-standard drives equipped with the enhanced SAS interface, enabling much faster server and storage solutions. The enhanced standard also fully maintains the rich data integrity, scalability, serviceability, and hot swappable protocol feature set that enterprises depend on to safeguard critical data, minimize costly downtime, and ensure infrastructures easily keep up with growing data storage demands.

Seagate Technology plc today announced that its Board of Directors has authorized the Company to repurchase up to $2.5 billion of its outstanding ordinary shares (the "April 2012 Authorization"). Seagate, as a result of the April 2012 Authorization and other current repurchase authorizations, currently has a total authorized unutilized capacity for repurchases of approximately $3.5 billion under these authorizations.

"The repurchase authorization reflects the confidence that the Board and the executive management team have in Seagate's ability to generate cash, while still investing in innovation and growth opportunities," said Steve Luczo, CEO of Seagate. "Importantly, it supports and is consistent with our ongoing focus on returning value to our shareholders."