The group will work towards delivering innovative solutions for new network devices, the internet, high-performance servers and other information-centric computing applications.

These solutions will combine hardware, software and services to provide new products for the company's existing OEM and strategic distributor customer base and address the needs of emerging markets for storage and storage-related applications.

"Twenty years ago, Seagate helped propel the PC revolution by bringing information storage to the desktop. Since then, we have extended our capabilities to become the No. 1 provider of enterprise storage devices," said Seagate president and CEO Steve Luczo in a statement here.

The internet and the shift to information-centric computing provide dynamic market opportunities for acompany with our unique capabilities. We will build on our leadership in storage by developing new core competencies and partnerships in software, services and targeted applications, to provide both existing customers and new entrants in emerging markets with a broader range of products," he added.

Intelligent Storage Platforms' solutions will be focused on the emergence of information appliances, application-based servers, and storage services to benefit users by delivering a greater range of online services, higher networked-computing performance, and a reduced IT cost structure.

"Seagate must continue to drive technology advances and partner with other leaders in areas such as storage networking, information management and new network architectures," said Seagate vice-president and head of Intelligent Storage Platforms Valerie Negler.

The new group's activities reflect a strategic shift in the importance of storage in networking and network architectures. In addition to activity with its broad OEMcustomer base, the company has initiated joint development with a number of partners whose core competencies in networking, storage management and performance processing complement Seagate's strengths.

It is working with companies such as Veritas, Hewlett Packard's e-Services Group, Axis Communications, Gadzoox Networks, Dragon Systems and Seagate Software. The number of such partnerships is expected to go up soon.