Disk
to disk backup
Blu-ray
/ CD / DVD duplicators
Bare Media Exposed -
Looking at Optical Archiving
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Bright future for optical
storage not visible in
Storage Market Outlook 2010 to 2015
Editor:-
November 9, 2009 - this is a time of year when many readers are thinking about
their storage
marketing plans for 2010.
This
planning process takes place against a background of long range assumptions
which are more confusing than at any time since September 11, 2001.
I've collected together a few ideas which you might find helpful -
even if you don't entirely agree with them - on the home page of
StorageSearch.com
GE Talks About 500GB Opticals
NISKAYUNA,
N.Y - April 27, 2009 - GE researchers have successfully demonstrated a
micro-holographic storage material that can support 500GB in a standard
DVD-size disk.
"GE's breakthrough is a huge step toward
bringing our next generation holographic storage technology to the everyday
consumer," said Brian Lawrence, who leads GE's Holographic Storage program.
"Because GE's micro-holographic discs could essentially be read and played
using similar optics to those found in standard Blu-ray players, our technology
will pave the way for cost-effective, robust and reliable holographic drives
that could be in every home."
Editor's comments:-
researchers in the
optical storage industry
always sounds optimistic - like those in the cancer cure research market.
If you extrapolated from all the many times that cancer has been cured in rats
- you could reasonable expect that the human race would be cured of this scourge
by now. For decades a series of optical storage startups have been promising to
deliver drives that match hard drive capacity at lower cost. I've got enough
lists on this site already. So I'll spare you that one.
Aleratec Snips Cost of DVD Shredder
Chatsworth, CA - November 11,
2008 - Aleratec Inc. is now shipping the 2nd generation of its award
winning compact DVD/CD Shredder with estimated retail price of $44.99.
"Sensitive
data stored on CDs or DVDs can change frequently and disposing of old discs is a
growing problem. With identity theft and corporate espionage increasing almost
exponentially, just tossing them in the trash is more than dangerous,"
states Perry Solomon, Aleratec President and CEO. "An Aleratec DVD/CD
Shredder makes destroying unwanted discs very easy. This light weight desktop
unit shreds DVDs and CDs in seconds. With its auto start/stop feature all a
customer needs to do is insert a disc and the shredder does the rest."
...Aleratec profile,
Disk Sanitizers
New Service Takes Pain Out of Archiving Camcorder Hard Drives
Duluth,
GA - November 3, 2008 - The Photo Archival Company has launched a new
service to help users archive video trapped inside today's generation of no-tape
camcorders that record to internal hard drive or flash memory.
The Photo Archival Company is able to preserve video footage
directly from the customer's tapeless camcorder,
external USB hard drive or
flash memory to produce long-lasting
DVDs or Blu-ray Discs.
This solves the practical problem faced by users of high capacity camcorders
that when the disk is full - they may be facing 40 to 120 hours of elapsed time
to get the data off the camera and archived onto optical media.
"The
recurring theme from a typical customer is that it is impractical for them to
archive their digital footage first hand," said Charles Laughlin, President
and founder of The Photo Archival Company. "For the average household, it
can be a daunting task to spend the necessary time to tend to the successful
creation of several DVDs or Blu-ray Discs just to continue filming."
...Photo
Archival Company, Storage
Services
Editor's comments:- an alternative solution - if you don't want
to waste days uploading data and burning DVDs yourself - is to train the
starlets of your home movies to do this for you. Of course it works better if
they are children - rather than dogs. (Unless
Cesar
has already done this in an episode I missed.)
Plasmon Restructures as New Company
Colorado Springs, Colo -
October 23, 2008 - Newly formed Plasmon Holding LLC announced today that
it has completed a management buyout and organisational restructuring of assets
from Plasmon PLC, a trusted source of data archiving systems for over 20
years.
The transaction is intended to capitalise and reposition
Plasmon over the long term. Under the restructuring, Plasmon Inc, formerly a
US-based subsidiary to the UK company, will become the worldwide headquarters.
The "new" Plasmon will offer its market leading archiving solutions
and services in all global territories.
...Plasmon profile,
gone away storage
companies |
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| HD DVD
Retires Early..................... |
Editor:-
February 18, 2008 - industry rumors speculate that Toshiba may pull the
plug on its HD DVD standard conceding to Blu-ray.
Blu Ray
marketers will be rejoicing - but this media war is a side issue.
4
years ago in an article called
Do CDs and DVDs Have a Long
Term Future? I warned that the 20 year long run of removable consumer
optical media which started with the CD - would come to an early end because
internet downloads would eventually replace physical disks as the primary form
of non broadcast movie distribution.
...Later:- next day in a
press
release commenting about this market shift
Strategy Analytics opined...
Blu-ray
Disc's victory over HD-DVD is the first battle in a much longer struggle. A
major challenge lies ahead if the industry is to persuade hundreds of millions
of DVD owners that they should switch to a completely new format. DVD players
costing less than $100 can already offer HD-like video quality through upscaling
techniques. The industry must now unite behind a major promotional campaign to
push Blu-ray Disc as the preferred optical disc standard for the high definition
age.
"Blu-ray Disc has passed its first real test by beating HD-DVD,"
says David Mercer, Principal Analyst at Strategy Analytics. "But a much
bigger challenge now lies ahead if BD is to become as successful as DVD, and
content owners, retailers and manufacturers must now demonstrate that they can
work together to promote BD effectively."
Strategy Analytics predicts that cumulative sales of stand-alone
Blu-ray Disc players excluding games consoles, PCs and other devices will reach
more that 100 million units worldwide by 2012.
New Aleratec DVD/CD Disc Repair System
CHATSWORTH,
Calif - August 27, 2007 - Aleratec, Inc. introduces its new DVD/CD
Disc Repair CG that removes most light, medium, or heavy scratch damage from any
DVD or CD.
The commercial grade disc repair system will
repair most damaged discs in as quickly as 5 minutes. It includes 2 500ml
bottles of finishing solution, repair pads, a 3 1/2" disc holder that makes
fixing scratched 5" and 3 1/2" discs as easy as 1-2-3 and it is
powered by a 1/4 HP motor. All you have to do is fill the unit with the
Aleratec disc finishing solution, load your disc, turn the timer to desired time
and let it run. Scratched discs come out in near new condition. ESP is $525.
...Aleratec profile,
Storage Testers | |
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first published
January 2007
Don't be Taken in by Blu Ray vs DVD Sophistry |
News stories from vendors are a valuable source of market information -
but they can sometimes create a misleading expectation of what could happen
when they talk about predicting technology trends.
Vendors
understandably talk up their market's growth prospects by citing optimistic
analyst predictions.
The reason is that most buyers are cautious and don't want to be the first to
get burned by the bugs in a new technology. By suggesting that a new market will
be very big, or will grow very fast, or has already reached a critical mass -
vendors hope that buyers will be more confident and move faster along the new
technology adoption curve.
I can tell you from decades of tracking
such technology predictions that they often turn out to be as inaccurate as
getting an opinion from your pet dog or cat. But until markets become
established so that it's possible to track revenue or other historic data -
comparing crystal ball images is as good as it gets - and makes for interesting
editorial too.
Take the case of what's happening now in the consumer
optical storage market.
A simple search on
Google
shows that many editors and analysts have bought into the market model currently
being pushed by manufacturers who are recycling the "Betamax versus VHS"
legend as an analog for the "High Definition DVD versus Blu Ray"
market.
It's a seductive argument (for both sides) because it leads you
down a tunnel in which you are left thinking that the future of buying and
storing big globs of portable entertainment has to be one or the other. But
that's not necessarily so.
Instead of the Betamax / VHS case study so
beloved by commentators I'd like to call to your attention another old (and
mostly forgotten) but more recent example - which is much closer to home - the
battle of the Super Floppies.
What seemed at stake in the mid 1990s
was:- what format would replace the 3.5" floppy drive? - an appendage
which once adorned hundreds of millions of PCs.
Competing for
attention were several incompatible formats by
Iomega, Samsung
and Sony. As we now know none of these royal claimants took
possession of the floppy throne. Instead a republic was declared.
Most
people found out they could exchange information much more conveniently using
email instead of thin plastic wallets. And software publishers found that CDs
were a more appropriate form of software distribution rather than boxed sets of
floppies. The floppy drive slot was replaced by a CD and then later DVD drive -
and not by a super floppy drive.
Fast forward to today's digital
entertainment storage and distribution market (which is the setting for the Blu
Ray vs HD DVD debates.
The simplest way to sell content is via the
internet.
The simplest way to store hundreds of movies on a single
storage device is on a single big
hard disk.
I
wrote an
article saying something
similar back in 2004 - and neither the appearance of holographic storage nor UDO
etc has changed my view.
True - a lot of boxes will get sold with slots
which are compatible with shiny looking coated plastic disks in the next few
years - but there's a significant probability that the Super Optical market
could soon go the way of the Super Floppies - and that neither Blu Ray nor HD
DVD have a long future.
See also:- previous article:-
the Future of
High Speed Disk Drives for Servers | |
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Bare Media
Exposed - Looking at the Contenders for Optical Media Archiving - article by
Plasmon
Optical archiving has become a legally mandated
storage technology in many markets. There are a lot of new optical media
technologies and packaging formats to choose from. But which ones will stand the
test of time in terms of data reliability and cost of ownership?
Plasmon, founded in 1987, has nearly 2 decades of experience as a
systems and media supplier in the optical archiving industry. This article by
Steve Tongish, Plasmon's Director of Marketing EMEA, looks at the critical
factors for the new products now available and those emerging so you can assess
which will work best for you. ... read the article,
...Plasmon profile,
Optical Libraries | | |
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