Alliance Storage Technologies (ASTI) announced that it is enthusiastic about the future for optical storage and archiving.
For more information visit: www.alliancestoragetechnologies.com
Unedited press release follows:
Data Archiving Leader: Optical Technology Best Option for Data Archiving
Optical technology is changing at a rapid pace with optical industry giants making groundbreaking advancements. Alliance Storage Technologies, Inc. reaffirms the significance of these developments as they pertain to data archiving and their eventual transformation of the storage industry in general.
Colorado Springs, CO — June 07, 2016 – As new advancements in optical technology emerge and enter the IT spotlight, data archiving leader Alliance Storage Technologies, Inc. (ASTI) reaffirmed the significance of these advancements as they pertain to archiving inactive or cold data and their eventual transformation of the storage industry in general.
“Optical technology has been the media of choice for professional data archiving for many decades beginning with its roots in the late 1960’s with Phillips,” remarked optical industry veteran, Chris Carr, CEO. “More recently though, several years have lapsed between industry advancements, and disc capacities have not increased sufficiently in order to maintain pace with enterprise requirements.”
According to ASTI, and as supported by IT industry reports, all that is changing at a rapid pace with optical industry giants making groundbreaking advancements primarily in the area of Blu-ray™. Disc manufacturers are now developing high-capacity multi-layer Blu-ray™ optical discs with capacities rivaling those of LTO tape. Fujifilm is developing a 1TB optical disc that uses two-photon absorption technology (Announced 2012). Sony and Panasonic have announced development of 300GB Blu-ray™ archival discs with plans for future capacities of 500GB and 1TB.
Additionally, intelligent drives with advanced disc/cartridge handling mechanisms are being developed in support of higher capacity media and faster throughput. More advanced interface and interconnect technologies are being implemented with movement toward faster industry standard components with increased reliability.
ASTI points out that these developments will change how data archiving is accomplished, reducing the overall costs of housing large amounts of unstructured data over the long-term.
“Optical has always been the optimal choice for data archiving for a variety of reasons. Now, with these new developments, optical solutions can reach new levels within the IT industry supporting Enterprise speeds, feeds and capacities previously not possible,” added Tim Summers, V.P. “ASTI predicts that optical technologies will emerge with benefits that will surpass those of LTO tape.”
With its roots in optical technology going back decades, ASTI is an expert on the many reasons why optical is the most efficient technology for storing inactive data over the long term. ASTI shared some of the optical benefits including true Write-Once-Read-Many (WORM) capability with superior readability and longevity (>50 years), durability and resilience in a wide range of environmental conditions, resistance to natural disasters and EMP, low overall total cost of ownership, and reduced frequency of data migrations, to name a few.
The company cited the many recent mentions of optical technology applications in the news with one well-known example being Facebook’s implementation of a 1PB Blu-ray™ disc storage system with 10,000 discs, expected to reduce storage costs by 50% and energy consumption by 80% compared to their current cold storage systems. Additionally, Sony announced the availability of Everspan library, an archiving system with incredible capacities up to 181PB within a single system, industrial-strength optical archive drives, and a 100-year optical media lifespan.
As optical technology enjoys a resurgence, stay tuned for more developments from ASTI as they continue the legacy with groundbreaking new products and features that ultimately result in newer and more efficient methods of archiving data, improved flexibility, and a greater level of customer satisfaction.
About Alliance Storage Technologies, Inc.
Alliance Storage Technologies, Inc. (ASTI) is the primary source for professional data archiving solutions worldwide. Integrated and scalable professional data archiving solutions preserve data unaltered for extended periods (greater than 50 years) at an exceptionally low total cost of ownership. Best-in-class global support services are available to sustain customer installations. ASTI’s systems provide value to any industry including Healthcare, Finance, Government, Insurance, Legal, and more. Thousands of businesses worldwide trust ASTI quality to secure their valuable investments in corporate data.