Blue laser technology gets green light

[Blue-Sky]

Ultra Density Optical format approved by international standards bodies

<img src="http://upload.userbase.be/upload/tn_por ... lu_ray.jpg" align="left" width="119" height="83"> The latest Ultra Density Optical (UDO) blue laser optical storage format has received approval from the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Committee (IEC).
The newly certified standard, known as ISO/IEC 17345, specifies the mechanical, physical and optical characteristics of Rewritable and true Write Once 30GB UDO media.

Industry association Ecma International, together with data archival firm Plasmon, developed the UDO format, which features blue lasers for recording rather than the red lasers used in previous optical drives.
"The adoption by ISO/IEC of the UDO standard first published by Ecma International is another example of market-driven standardisation which is highly relevant for users of products based on international high-quality standards," said Jan van den Beld, secretary general of Ecma International, in a statement.
Dr Robert Longman, engineering director at Plasmon, added in a statement: "The ISO standard provides assurance for those companies investing in the technology, and defines a frame for backwards compatible future UDO generations offering 60GB and 120GB capacities."
Blue lasers achieve far greater data densities than red lasers. First generation UDO products have a capacity of 30GB, with a roadmap extending to 120GB by the third generation.
UDO media is packaged in a standard 5.25in cartridge, allowing UDO and magneto-optical media to be supported in the same libraries, reducing the cost of existing media migration.

Bron: VUNet.be van 9 september 2004