New Archive Storage Memory by Sony

At IBC this year, Sony Corp. has announced that it is developing a next generation video archive storage system, which includes a cartridge that houses 12 optical discs and a specialised drive unit.

sony_disc_archive_storage

Currently in the research and development stage, the Disc Archive Storage System will be introduced to the market in 2012.

Over the past few decades movie studios, broadcasting networks and production houses across the world have accumulated a massive quantity of tape. To manage this growth, a reliable, easy-to-operate, cost effective archive system was required by the industry immediately.

Sony’s Disk Archive Storage System offers a lower TCO through the use of long-life media, and includes inter-generational compatibility based on the same optical disc technology used in DVDs and Blu-rays.

The archive solution puts 12 media discs in a firm cartridge enabling data to be handled on a per-file basis, by making the operating device recognise the system as a single large volume storage unit rather than by each individual disc.

The cartridges are available in both a write-once format and a rewritable format, with various capacity options from 300GB capacity up to 1.5TB available according to the customer’s requirements.

Sony intends to work in an open platform environment with various component, middleware and software manufacturers, by disclosing the technical specifications of its Disc Archive Storage System.

Comments

Sony invents. As it will take some time for the next-generation of optical discs to enter into the market after Blu-ray, the Japanese company has invented a new cartridge that packs twelve 125GB quadruple layer discs to increase the capacity available for archiving that could compete with tape cartridges.

With a maximum of 1.5TB, it's exactly the same native capacity as one LTO-5 cartridge, probably withbetter access time but slower transfer rate.

What's is missing here from Sony is a library to store several optical disc cartridges, but apparently, the new cartridge seems to have the same size as an LTO one, meaning that tape library mechanisms could be easily adapted to the new media. An optical disc has a 1.2 mm thickness, it's 14.4mm for twelve ones, not far from 12.5mm for LTO tape width.

Pioneer already offered many years ago a cartridge with six CD audio for cars, and another one for CD-ROM, not for writable media.

Looking at the Sony's color picture, it seems that the discs are just placed on top of each other, with nothing to separate them, meaning that it's impossible to extract one disc from the others to place it into the drive. You need a separator - it was the case for Pioneer's cartridges.

Looking at a patent (US 2011/0119693 A1) dated May19, 2001, Cartridge Drive Apparatus, it appears that discs are effectively separated, by slots on two edges (see picture below) and then one of them is selected by an arm to push it to the reader/writer device.

sony_cartidge_blu_ray

The drive extracting a disc from the cartridge and reading/writing the media is massive and complicated and has to prove to be reliable, and for many years. Furthermore, there will be friction on the outer edges of the disc during the transportation which could be a problem with writable Blu-rays, more for BD-R/BD-RE than BDXL with protection layer only 100μm thick.

Missing here is also an international standard with the possibility to get several sources for the new cartridges and drives.

Furthermore, like tape, it has to be demonstrated that Blu-ray is a real archiving media, which means able to be read for sure with an existing device in about one century. Is there a real market for these new cartridges, drive and robotics? We doubt. Optical libraries are there since many years and never became a tremendous industry.