Seagate GoFlex removable media? It’s coming…

Today, Seagate announced a new effort to bring GoFlex technology to your TV, DVR, PC…virtually anything that uses storage.  Coined the Certified GoFlex Storage System, Seagate is opening the doors to 3rd Party hardware designers to take advantage of the flexibility in connectivity of GoFlex family of external  hard drives.

When you think of it, Seagate has done this for years with its internal (bare) drive solutions…leading the way with new technology and enabling innovative companies to take advantage.  What’s exciting about this is that it truly makes the hard drive a true removable media cartridge. Think about it… the flexibility of flash, CD/DVD, etc with a ton more capacity.

I like to think of it as a 1.5TB optical drive.  Think of all the places you use DVD/CD technology.  Potentially, you could do the same with 160x to 2000x  the capacity!

To date, Seagate GoFlex drives’ connectivity has been reserved for Seagate accessory products like the GoFlex Home, GoFlex Net and GoFlex TV. Now with this 3rd Party validation program, manufacturers can design GoFlex drives into virtually anything that needs storage. Seagate and several 3rd party manufacturers will be displaying concepts in devices like a television, notebook computer, desktop PC, plug computer, DVR and docking station. For a list of companies, check out the press release.

What makes this possible is a new standard established by the SATA IO committee called the Universal Storage Module (USM). Seagate has been a key leader in helping to shape and evangelize this exciting new standard.  According to the Seagate press release, “The SATA USM specification is a standard specification to accept a complete, powered external storage device into consumer electronic devices. Modules designed according to the SATA USM specification will enable consumers to instantly access their music, movies, photos and other content from a variety of consumer electronics products, and to seamlessly transfer content between devices. “

Now that’s content wherever we want.