Sony Reveals Optical Disc Archive Gen 3 With 500GB Disc and 5.5TB Cartridge

Up to of 375MB/s and 187.5MB/s RW speeds, lifespan of "over 100 years"

Sony Professional Solutions Europe announced the Optical Disc Archive Generation 3, the latest version of high capacity archive drive inclusive of USB desktop drive units (ODS-D380U), FC library drive units (ODS-D380F) and media cartridges (ODC5500R) developed for secure, long-term enterprise data storage.

Each cartridge is comprised of 11 discs of “Archival Disc”, co-developed with Panasonic Corp., provides 500GB of storage per disc for a total capacity of 5.5TB, more than 60% increase when compared with Gen2. With an estimated lifespan of over 100 years, it is a solution for long-term, durable and reliable storage.

The Gen3 enterprise class 8-channel optical drive reads and writes both sides of the double-sided media to enable speed, secure data transfer of 375MB/s read and 187.5MB/s write, 1.5 times higher when compared with Gen2. Data integrity is assured using ‘on the fly’ verification combined with stable storage media. The included Fixity check feature provides auditable long-term data integrity

The next-generation media is resistant to temperature and humidity changes and is superior at withstanding external factors including water, light and EMP (Electronic Magnetic Pulse) events. Optical Disc Archive Gen3 can also reduce long-term expenses thanks to its eco-friendly, low power consumption. In addition, its dependability, feature set and backward compatibility eliminate the need for data migration between multiple media generations. It is for accommodating the growing demand for long-term cold archive storage.

The company is currently developing an enterprise class library solution with Qualstar Corporation utilising Gen3 technology. The high capacity solution will scale from 4.7PB up to 50PB per single library and can scale-out to multi-library cluster configurations capable of managing hundreds of petabytes of archive data.

“With the new Gen3 technology and PetaSite EX solution, Sony is creating a secure and cost-effective solution that provides the capacity, performance, and scalability to serve organisations with their long-term storage requirements for a wide variety of markets from media and entertainment to government, education, manufacturing, healthcare and banking, among others,” said Norbert Paquet, head, product management, Sony Professional Solutions Europe.

For mid-size archive solutions, the existing Optical Disc Archive PetaSite library with increased capacity up to nearly 3PB per library system is expected to be Gen3 ready in January 2020