After the Format War

INTERVIEW | TECHNOLOGY FOCUS After the format war

Nadya Anscombe talks to David Bunzel, president of the Optical Storage Technology Association, about the aftermath of the Blu-ray/high-definition-DVD format war and future technologies in the optical data-storage market

What are the current technology trends in magnetic-disk-based storage is its energy the optical data-storage industry? efficiency. Because an optical disk does not As with many high-tech industries, the need to be constantly spinning, there is no optical data-storage market can be divided need for energy-hungry cooling systems. into three types of technologies: existing It is this energy efficiency that makes it mainstream (CD, DVD); emerging (Blu-ray, particularly attractive to large data centres ultra-density optical (UDO) systems) and that could save a lot of money on their future technologies (such as holographic data energy bills. I have a feeling we will be seeing storage and two-photon three-dimensional companies replacing a growing percentage (3D) storage). of their traditional hard-disk drives with As capacity increases, the technology Blu-ray-based juke-box systems in their challenges become greater, so new data centres in the future. Some optical technologies are taking longer to come storage technologies are also write-once to market. After many years of promises, technologies, which can be an important

holographic data storage, in the shape of a BUNZEL DAVID aspect of secure archival record keeping. product from US company, InPhase, should Between 2006 and 2010, storage- be coming onto the market this year, and it David Bunzel: “We need more vendors in the Blu-ray media growth is expected to be 35% per will be interesting to see how this product market, but entry into this market is difficult because year, and information generated will grow fares in this competitive market. Clearly of the current pricing structure.” by 57% per year. Although hard-disk there is demand for a product with such high drives will continue to be appropriate for storage capacities and retrieval data rates, but many applications, the growth in storage the question is how big is that market? requirements for digital data will continue I am also impressed with results from support of content providers, especially in the to support growth in optical storage. Market research into two-photon 3D data storage, film and entertainment business. Companies drivers for archival storage, where high but achieving these results in optimal can now feel confident about incorporating capacity optical can play a role, include the conditions in the lab is different to achieving a Blu-ray drive into their systems, and healthcare, financial, government and legal them in real applications. we should see the market accelerate as sectors, as well as digital asset management Although these technologies are companies start to include this technology and video production for broadcast and fascinating and exciting, we must not forget into their long-term plans. publication applications. that Blu-ray is only just starting out on its Blu-ray has proved to be quite successful Media revenues for optical storage are journey in the market and that current in the entertainment market, with Sony’s projected to exceed $30 billion per year by technologies can also give us the huge data PlayStation 3 already shipping more than 2010, according to GlobalSources, with only capacities that some applications need. For 8 million systems on a global basis. When 4% of that comprised of holographic storage. example, ‘juke-box’ style data-storage systems factoring in Blu-ray drives that were sold can use existing technologies, such as DVDs with PCs and consumer players, the Blu- What are the main challenges faced by the or Blu-ray disks, and multiply their storage ray installed base exceeds 10 million units, optical data-storage industry today? capacity by simply using many disks. Juke- according to the Santa Clara Consulting We need more vendors in the Blu-ray box systems of up to 2,000 disks, or over Group. This presents a solid foundation of market, but entry into this market is difficult 9 Tbytes, exist today. hardware as leverage for developing a market because of the current pricing structure. for commercial Blu-ray storage products. The Blu-ray/HD-DVD format war brought Is the Blu-ray market growing at the It will be interesting to see how sales in prices down much faster than manufacturers expected rate? recordable Blu-ray disks will grow over the expected or wanted. Although this has been It is difficult to tell what is happening in coming years. Although growth rates will be good for the consumer, it means companies the Blu-ray market at the moment because significant because it is starting from nothing, do not have as much chance of getting a the competition with high-definition (HD) I think initially the recordable Blu-ray disk return on their investment. The industry DVD has only recently been won. The will have more commercial applications than needs to get Blu-ray to the point where it is market needs time to readjust. Up until consumer applications. After all, 50 Gbyte is a a reasonable business proposition again, and now, growth has been slower than hoped lot for one person to need to record. this will encourage more players to enter. This because manufacturers were more focused will then encourage the market to grow at a on winning the format battle than developing What are the main drivers for growth in the healthy rate. the market. Resources that could have been optical data-storage industry? invested in promoting high-capacity storage One of the main advantages optical Nadya Anscombe is a freelance science and to customers were invested in securing the disk storage has over traditional technology journalist based in the UK.