Seagate, Baidu Sign Strategic Cooperation Agreement

(RTTNews) - Seagate Technology PLC (STX) said Wednesday that it has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Chinese Internet search services provider Baidu, Inc. (BIDU) in the areas of low-cost online storage, archiving and Big Data analysis.

Under the agreement, Baidu will give priority to Seagate products when considering components for all Baidu servers and storage facilities. In return, Seagate will align with Baidu as a Strategic Customer and give priority to Baidu when providing enterprise storage products and relevant support, as well as maintain a dedicated engineering team for Baidu. Seagate will supply enterprise capacity and performance products as part of the relationship.

The agreement also allows for joint research in new technology projects in the areas of Cold Storage, Big Data analysis and Shingled Magnetic Recording. Big Data analysis is the process of examining large amounts of various types of data to find useful information and patterns to assist in decision making.