Sony and Panasonic to develop standard for next-gen optical discs

31 Jul 2013

Sony and Panasonic are joining forces to develop a next-generation standard for professional-use optical discs for the long-term storage of digital data in response to the expected growth in the volume of data in years to come.

Both companies aim to leverage each others’ technologies to improve their development efficiency and produce an optical disc with a recording capacity of at least 300GB by the end of 2015.

Optical discs have properties to protect them against the environment, Sony said, such as dust resistance and water resistance, and they can also 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 even as formats evolve, thus making them an ideal choice for medium- to long-term storage.

Digital data image via Shutterstock

Tina Costanza was a journalist and sub-editor at Silicon Republic

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