Western Digital Receives 1999 Best Practices Award In Data Warehousing, Analytical Applications Category From The Data Warehousing Institute

Western Digital Corporation has announced that the Company has received the "1999 Best Practices in Data Warehousing" award in the analytical applications category from The Data Warehousing Institute. According to The Data Warehousing Institute, "This competition provides thousands of practitioners with the best practices they can follow as data warehousing transitions from an early adoption implementation strategy to one of mass proliferation. The winners clearly demonstrated that their data warehouse projects: (1) are truly innovative solutions to problems commonly faced by data warehousing (2) are practices that can be followed by others, and (3) resulted in large, measurable impacts on the business success of their organizations." The Best Practices in Data Warehousing awards were established in 1997.

KPMG Consulting nominated Western Digital for the award based on the development of the Company's Quality Information System (QIS), which serves as a single information repository and captures product information from multiple sources at multiple points in the life cycle of a hard drive. "QIS is a comprehensive solution which allows Western Digital to make fact-based decisions in an ever-changing business climate, thus ensuring their long-term success," said George Lambert, partner in KPMG's High Tech Consulting Practice. "We are proud to have partnered with Western Digital in this effort and are pleased with the success that they've experienced from their product management solution."

QIS serves as a platform that allows Western Digital to continually improve the quality of its hard drives as well as customer service. With the implementation of this solution, the Company is able to track its products by each major component from each supplier, as it makes its way through the supply chain. This detailed tracking results in more rapid problem isolation and resolution leading to improved yields as the data is collected and correlated for forecasting and analysis.

"Western Digital is honored to receive this award for its efforts in data warehousing. The successful results we've experienced since implementing QIS have increased our ability to make improvements in many aspects of our business processes," said Jerry Hill, vice president of data warehousing for Western Digital. "The QIS has allowed us to implement mission-critical solutions, while remaining focused on the needs of our customers."

More than 100 nominations were received for the 1999 Best Practices in Data Warehousing Awards, which contained a wide variety of industries including the Internal Revenue Service, Compliance Research Division, Eastman Kodak Company and Fleet Financial Group. Best Practices award winners are eligible to compete for The Data Warehousing Institute's Leadership in Data Warehousing Award, which will be announced October 4, 1999.

Western Digital Corporation is a leading manufacturer of hard drives used for information storage in desktop computers, servers, workstations and home entertainment electronic products. Through its Connex subsidiary, the company serves users of network-attached storage systems and enterprise-wide storage area networks. Western Digital was founded in 1970 and has long been noted for its storage and end-market systems-level design knowledge. The company's products are marketed to leading systems manufacturers and selected resellers under the Western Digital brand name. Its home page can be found at http://www.westerndigital.com.