Western Digital Names Bob Houghton as New CIO.

IRVINE, Calif., Sept. 28 /PRNewswire/ --

Western Digital Corp. (NYSE: WDC) today announced the appointment of Bob Houghton as its new chief information officer, effective immediately. Houghton will be replacing Western Digital's current CIO, Timothy Leyden, who is taking a personal leave from the Company.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000711/WDCLOGO )

Reporting to Matt Massengill, Western Digital's president and chief executive officer, Houghton will deliver the leadership and vision for all aspects of Western Digital's information technology infrastructure, including information services, network infrastructure, and technical operations, to establish a best-of-class environment.

Massengill said of the appointment, "Bob's ability to identify IT requirements for the business and quickly provide a tech-savvy vision will build upon Tim's cost reduction and business realignment initiatives and continue the path to a more nimble, cost-effective IT infrastructure for the Company."

Houghton previously worked for Western Digital from 1998 to 1999 as director of information services and was recruited by Leyden to return to the Company as his replacement. Houghton brings over 20 years of experience in operations, materials, and information systems management. He joins Western Digital from Zland.com where he was vice president of MIS and network operation centers, responsible for worldwide and co-location hosting data centers. Houghton is currently completing his master's degree in information systems management from the University of Maryland.

About Western Digital

One of the data storage industry's longtime leaders, Western Digital Corporation is leveraging its core strengths to become a leading Internet solutions company, providing services and products to manage, store and communicate both digital content and network intelligence. The Company remains an industry-leading designer and manufacturer of hard drives for desktop computers and home entertainment applications. Through its Connex subsidiary, Western Digital delivers enterprise-class storage functionality for the department and mid-sized business markets, including storage management software, network attached storage and storage area networks. The Company's SageTree subsidiary designs analytical data warehousing tools to help manufacturers manage quality and quality-related business decisions throughout the entire product lifecycle. Western Digital was founded in 1970. The Company's storage 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/.

Western Digital is a registered trademark of Western Digital Corporation. All other brand and product names mentioned herein are the property of their respective companies.