OPTICAL Blu-ray / DVD ARCHIVING

Why employ Optical Blu-ray / DVD Technology for Archiving in stead of other technologies such as Tape, RAID or UDO?

	Tape	RAID	UDO	DVD / Blu-Ray
Regulatory Compliance (WORM)	X	X	v	v
Random Access	X	v	v	v
Durability Media	X	X	v	v
Removable Media	v	X	v	v
Open Standard	X	v	X	v
Cost-Effective	v	X	X	v

Tape systems have been used traditionally for back-ups and hence also for archiving. Tape however does not provide random access performance which is imperative for fast file retrieval. Tape is rewritable and as a consequence not applicable in most professional environments where regulatory WORM (write once, read many) Archiving is required. Compatibility is also an issue for tape users as every tape format is proprietary. As the tape standards change approximately every 5 years, this reduces extremely its efficiency as data has to be migrated to new standards and exchange between different suppliers could be complicated.

RAID systems offer in general good performance levels but also do not ensure WORM compliant archiving as rewritable media is used. RAID systems have an average life span of a couple of years. This demands frequent data migration which in combination with its initial cost does not benefit the overall equipment, maintenance and management costs of storage. These systems are also more susceptible to the harmful influences of viruses, hackers and possible data loss caused by human error.

UDO is one of the latest developments In optical technology. Although it looks promising at a first glance, it is an expensive medium which is not widely accepted yet and offered by one single supplier. This restricts extremely its utilization and efficiency as an optimal archive solution.

Optical DVD Technology offers random access to any file in the digital archive. It is a low cost, standardized open solution as the presence of CD/DVD-R technology is wide spread among the industrialized business environment. Additionally, optical media has industry standard formats; ISO 9660 and UDF (Universal Disk Format) which are supported on every major operating system today including Windows, Linux, UNIX and MAC OS X natively without any additional client software. Optical media is also less vulnerable than magnetic media as it can stand better environmental conditions. It also provides a true WORM recording medium which is essential considering today's requirements for multi-year data retention periods and growing regulatory compliancy requirements for unalterable, non-erasable storage capabilities. Optical technology meets these requirements as part of its standard features. Blu-ray is the next-generation optical disc format. With 25GB on a single-layer disc, 50GB on a dual-layer disc and even more in the future, the storage capacity has expanded enormously while maintaining all other benefits of optical technology.