WD Supports Team Real America Chaos in 25th Edition of Rallye Aicha Des Gazelles in Morocco

IRVINE, Calif. and RABAT, Morocco, March 19, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- WD^®, a Western Digital (NASDAQ: WDC) company and world leader in storage solutions, today announced their support for the 25th Annual Rallye Aicha des Gazelles in Morocco, Africa, the all-women rally covering over 2,500 kilometers, entirely off-road. The event will take place from March 20 to April 4.

WD is supporting TOTAL CHAOS Fabrication and Team Real America Chaos (#180), which is competing in the Rallye Aicha des Gazelles. The event is being hosted under the patronage of His Excellency King Muhammad of Morocco and features 330 women from 25 countries.

Morocco represents a market of opportunities for WD as the company operates in the North African nation through key channel partners. The race offers the perfect opportunity for the company to engage in a community-service initiative. Twenty-five percent of the fees generated from entry and registrations for the Rallye will be donated to the provision of medical care for the population in the remote regions of Morocco through the race-related Heart of Gazelles Foundation.

The world-renowned event will see the #180 teammates -- fabricator, racer and automotive TV personality Jessi Coombs and TOTAL CHAOS Fabrication co-founder and CFO Nicole Pitell-Vaughan -- share driving and navigation responsibilities as they compete in one of the most physically and mentally challenging female motorsports rallies in the world. The race, unlike any other, is not aimed at testing speed, but awards teams on their navigation skills. The aim is to travel the shortest distance while navigating across the North African desert for 9 straight days without any electronic or GPS equipment.

"We are proud to be a part of an event that today has become a symbol of woman empowerment across the globe," said Jim Welsh, executive vice president of Content Solutions and Worldwide Sales at WD. "Partnering with TOTAL CHAOS Fabrication gives us the opportunity to exhibit the quality, durability and reliability of our hard drives in a high-adrenaline environment as these two impressive women travel across one of the harshest terrains on earth, in a bid to make history. The Rallye Aicha des Gazelles is also a great opportunity for WD to participate in a community-building initiative that contributes in some way to the development of the nation of Morocco, which continues to be a hub for rapid business growth in Africa and emerging markets. We look forward to helping record every moment of Nicole's and Jessi's amazing journey."

The Rallye also gives both the team and WD the opportunity to test the durability and dependability of their equipment. During the course of this journey, the teams are only equipped with cameras, backup drives, battery chargers and generators, and must ensure that the equipment selected is one that can survive the rough and high-risk environment.

The team's unique journey will be captured and shared with supporters and audiences across the globe via videos and photos. WD hard drives form a core part of the team's strategy to store the treasure of recorded moments that it can later study to revise strategies and tactics for future events and races.  

"For races like this we must frequently back up onsite everything we record because video file sizes and quality have grown so rapidly over the last few years," said Nicole Pitell-Vaughan. "We copy footage, delete the data from the storage cards and get them back in cameras. If a camera card gets damaged, we still have everything backed up on a WD portable drive and saved. I have to be able to trust the safety equipment in my car and trust that all the information we carry and need is safe. I can't compromise on quality, dependability or durability because my life and career depend on it. Sometimes, we have only one opportunity to back up or capture the moment and this is why the storage is so important. I'm proud to know that my WD hard drives meet and even exceed our expectations for high-speed file transfer and can withstand the abuse in transport and harsh environments."

About WD

WD, a Western Digital company, is a long-time innovator and storage industry leader. As a storage technology pacesetter, the company produces reliable, high-performance hard disk drives and solid state drives. These drives are deployed by OEMs and integrators in desktop and mobile computers, enterprise computing systems, embedded systems and consumer electronics applications, as well as by the company in providing its own storage products. WD's leading storage devices and systems, networking products, media players and software solutions empower people around the world to easily save, store, protect, share and experience their content on multiple devices. WD was established in 1970 and is headquartered in Irvine, Calif. For more information, please visit the company's website at www.wd.com.

Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ: WDC), Irvine, Calif., is a global provider of products and services that empower people to create, manage, experience and preserve digital content. Its companies design and manufacture storage devices, networking equipment and home entertainment products under the WD, HGST and G-Technology brands. Visit the Investor section of the company's website (www.westerndigital.com) to access a variety of financial and investor information.

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