Sony and Panasonic Develop Archival Disc Standard

The electronics companies have teamed up to create a next-generation disc standard aimed at improving long-term data storage. 

Sony and Panasonic have announced the development of a new optical disc standard dubbed "Archival Disc." The technology offers many benefits over other storage options, including dust-resistance, water resistance and resistance to humidity and temperature changes. Likewise, the discs also feature inter-generational compatibility, allowing previously stored data to be read as the format develops and upgrades over time. 

The Archival Disc is being developed for professional use and both companies plan to have 300GB discs ready by summer 2015. 500GB and 1TB disc are also planned for the future. The basic spec uses double sided disc technology with three layers per side. The increased capacity could prove especially valuable to professional fields that require increasingly large data storage needs, including the film industry.

Sony and Panasonic previously worked together on the development of the Blu-ray disc medium. They hope to promote the new Archival Disc standard as a next-gen high capacity solution for professional data storage and protection.

Source: Sony