Optical discs already offer dust and water resistance, and
can withstand changes in temperature and humidity when stored. They also allow
inter-generational compatibility between different formats, ensuring that data
can continue to be read as formats evolve. This, the companies say, makes them a
suitably robust medium for long-term storage of content.
However, with the move to higher resolutions, including 4K
and 8K, discs will have to accommodate much larger volumes of storage,
particularly given the anticipated future growth in the archive market, which
is why Sony and Panasonic decided to jointly develop this standard.
Both companies aim to launch initial systems with a (write-once)
recording capacity of 300GB per double-sided disc, using crosstalk cancellation
technology with a narrow track pitch, from summer 2015. The crosstalk
cancellation technology electrically removes crosstalk from the adjacent tracks
that increase as the track pitch becomes narrower, to achieve high-quality
playback performance.
They have also laid out a roadmap for using their respective
technologies to further expand the recording capacity per disc to 500GB and
1TB. The move to 500GB will require the use of high-order Partial Response
Maximum Likelihood signal processing technology (which improves reproduction
performance by allowing inter-symbol interference cancellation) to improve
playback signal quality. Multi-level recording technology will be added for the
move to 1TB capacity.
The companies said that “in recent times, demand for
archival capabilities has increased significantly in the film industry, as well
as in cloud data centres that handle big data, where advances in network
services have caused data volumes to soar,” although one wonders that if cloud
archival services take off whether there will still be a demand for Archival
Discs when they do arrive. However, being able to access a physical disc on a
shelf is still a reassurance to many, and will offer a further backup if the
broadband connection is down, or the cloud service fails.
Sony already has a file-based optical disc archive system
based on the optical disc technology it uses for its XDCAM products. This
houses twelve optical discs within a compact cartridge to offer high-capacity
storage. Each disc within the cartridge holds 25GB, offering a total range of
storage capacities from 300GB to 1.5TB.
Panasonic also has its LB-DM9 series of optical disc storage
devices, which uses a dedicated magazine, 20.8mm thick, to house twelve 100GB
optical discs. A maximum of 90 magazines can be stored, providing a total
storage capacity of 180TB. In addition, Panasonic adopted a newly-developed
changer system together with RAID technology to offer rapid data transfer
performance of up to 216MBps, while also ensuring high reliability by
protecting data from unforeseen faults.
By David Fox
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