CES - Seagate partners show off 60GB wireless drive

Seagate Technology moved one step closer to launching its Digital Audio Video Experience wireless storage device Sunday by introducing partners who have agreed to integrate the technology into various products.

The new 60GB storage device, called DAVE, can be wirelessly connected to various technologies via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth networks to provide extra storage capacity or to deliver stored digital content, said Seagate.

Slightly thicker than the size of a Motorola Razr slim cell phone, DAVE will be available in mid-2008, Seagate officials noted.

Seagate will offer live demonstrations of DAVE this week at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Although the company may eventually release its own version of DAVE, for now the mobile storage technology will only be sold as a rebranded accessory from Seagate OEM partners.

Several partners are scheduled to showcase support of the Seagate portable mobile storage technology in products this week -- Harman/Becker Automotive Systems GmbH, in its automotive media servers; Sanyo Electric Co., in its Sanyo Xacti digital movie camera; and PortoMedia, in its portable media delivery system.

John Lumb, senior director of product line management at Seagate, said DAVE is designed to help end users adapt to the growing ubiquity of data as digital content that can be easily stored, transferred and shared on different devices.

"[DAVE] is essentially a portable Web server to connect to wireless devices via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. And once you're connected, you can play anything that's stored on a hard drive through storage on DAVE, which can be played back through that unit," said Lumb. "Whether on mobile phones, PCs, or a TV set, we have partners interested in extending DAVE for the capture of user-generated content."

Lumb said that consumers can expect to see future products featuring integrated DAVE technology from the automotive, mobile phone, network, video and digital photography industries.