GristyMcFisty and Louie both used our news submit to tell us
that Sony has begun shipping its Professional Disc for Data (PDD) blue laser optical
drives and media. The PDD system, which offers up to 23GB of storage
capacity, is being initially aimed at system integrators and OEMs. However,
the company expects to offer products under its own name during the first
quarter of next year. Sony didn't disclose pricing, but the drives and media
costs are expected to be significant:
 Sony is pitching PDD against today's DAT, CD and DVD back-up and
archiving systems. The electronics giant touts the format's capacity and
data transfer speed of 11MBps - more if data compression is turned on.
PDD's native storage capacity is more than double commonplace MO storage
products.
The 12cm PDD discs are fitted inside airtight protective
cartridges. Rewriteable and write-once versions are on offer. The 5.25in
drive, dubbed the BW-F101, connects to the host system across a Ultrawide
160 SCSI interface.
Sony re-iterated its plan to ship a
second-generation drive by 2005 that offers a 50GB capacity and 22MBps
data transfer rate. Third-generation products will double those
figures. |
Source: The Register
