Seagate eyes VAR profit with FreeAgent launch

With the storage market set for huge growth, the vendor presents its latest range of external drives Nick Booth

Ian O'Leary tells of Seagate's latest range

Seagate is to launch a range of external drives that could prove a lucrative add-on sale for resellers and system builders.

The storage vendor’s new FreeAgent product portfolio of external back-up devices is aimed at PC
and Mac users, with tailored ranges for the desktop, professional PC and mobile users. The ranges are named Desktop, Pro and Go respectively.

The twin guiding principles behind the design rationale for the FreeAgent range are described as usability and portability.

“The growth in demand for storage for the home PC user or the professional is phenomenal,” explained Ian O’Leary, Seagate’s communications director. “It is driven by a variety of consumer behaviours. Digital cameras, digital video, YouTube, Flickr, Facebook, Skyplus ­ you name it. It has got to the point where people value their data and their digital photos more than the PC.”

Under these circumstances new external drives make a good add-on product to any PC or laptop that a reseller supplies. For about £100, users can achieve far greater continuity over their content, he argued. The add-on sale is easy, and the margin solid.

“The only setback has been that until now, the management of files has not been as easy as it could be,” said O’Leary.

According to Seagate, its own US-based research had indicated that users do not want complex management and difficulty with connectivity. The Desktop Range of FreeAgent backup drives is less than 7.5 inches high, while the Mobile range, described as the thinnest back-up device in the world, is designed to fit into the breast pocket of a shirt.

Joe Fagan, group product marketing manager at Seagate distributor CMS Peripherals, said: “The mobile drives have amazingly clever features. You can plug it into anyone else’s laptop, and automatically you see your normal desktop, with your favourites on the browser and your emails on the email.”

According to CMS’s research, the external disk drive market is due 175 per cent growth this year. Capturing a share of that market, said Fagan, should not be too challenging for PC builders. “It is all about convenience and usability. These products deliver it at a very tempting price.”