Sony has announced the first blue laser technology product based on the Professional Disc for DATA format. The Professional Disc for DATA offers direct access to capacities of 23GB on a single sided media, compared to the 5.25-inch MO where the total capacity of 9.1GB is split over the two sides of the disc.

Sony is introducing both SCSI and USB2 external drives based on the technology for easy connectivity to Windows and Mac based notebooks, desktop PCs and workstations, in addition to a small juke box for automated backup environments.

Combined with high transfer speeds of 9MB per second for writing, and 11MB per second for reading, the Professional Disc for Data format offers increased performance for one fifth of the price of the existing 5.25-inch MO media on a cost per gigabyte basis.

With a durability that allows for a 50-year shelf life and the option to automate, Sony’s Professional Disc for DATA range is the most advanced optical storage and archiving solution available on the market. As the natural successor to the 5.25-inch MO, Professional Disc for DATA also offers the advantages of this performance for a wide range of applications in vertical sectors such as Telecommunications, Finance, Broadcasting, Medical and the Government. Possible IT applications range from video / audio editing, document imaging, graphic design / pre-press and web storage to voice recording and email archiving.

Sony’s Professional Disc for DATA drives are based on the first generation of the format. 2nd Generation Professional Disc for DATA is planned for 2005 and will have a capacity of 50GB, with the 3rd Generation expected to follow in 2007 with 100GB. With targets for data transfer rates also set to double with each generation, customers are given the confidence to implement a long term Professional Disc for DATA archiving strategy.

Sony has already received positive feedback from major industry players who are committed to supporting the new format. Optical jukebox manufacturers such as ASM, DSM, SER, New ATG and DISC have been evaluating the drives and plan to offer their own products based on the Professional Disc for DATA.

The branded, external Professional Disc for DATA drives (BW-RS101 with SCSI, BW-RU101 with USB2 interface) will be available from from May, at a price between €3,500 and €4,000. The juke box (BW-J601) will be launched around the same time, at a price in the region of €20,000. The internal SCSI drive (BW-F101) will be avaialble through specialised distrubutors from March. Both the rewritable (PDDRW23) and write-once media (PDDWO23) are available for approximately €45 each.