Ultra Density Optical (UDO) is an
optical disc
In computing and optical disc recording technologies, an optical disc (OD) is a flat, usually circular disc that encodes binary data (bits) in the form of pits and lands on a special material, often aluminum, on one of its flat surfaces. ...
format designed for high-density storage of
high-definition video
High-definition video (HD video) is video of higher resolution and quality than standard-definition. While there is no standardized meaning for ''high-definition'', generally any video image with considerably more than 480 vertical scan lines (No ...
and data.
Overview
An Ultra Density Optical disc, or UDO, is a 133.35 mm (5.25") ISO cartridge optical disc which can store up to 30 GB of data. The second generation UDO2 media format was introduced in April 2007 and has a capacity of up to 80 GB. Utilizing a design based on the
Magneto-optical
A magneto-optical drive is a kind of optical disc drive capable of writing and rewriting data upon a magneto-optical disc. Both 130 mm (5.25 in) and 90 mm (3.5 in) form factors exist. In 1983, just a year after the introduc ...
disc, but using
Phase Change
In chemistry, thermodynamics, and other related fields, a phase transition (or phase change) is the physical process of transition between one state of a medium and another. Commonly the term is used to refer to changes among the basic State of ...
technology combined with a blue violet laser, a UDO/UDO2 disc can store substantially more data than a
magneto-optical
A magneto-optical drive is a kind of optical disc drive capable of writing and rewriting data upon a magneto-optical disc. Both 130 mm (5.25 in) and 90 mm (3.5 in) form factors exist. In 1983, just a year after the introduc ...
(MO) disc. This is due to the shorter
wavelength
In physics, the wavelength is the spatial period of a periodic wave—the distance over which the wave's shape repeats.
It is the distance between consecutive corresponding points of the same phase on the wave, such as two adjacent crests, tro ...
(405
nm) of the blue-violet laser employed. MOs use a 650 nm-wavelength red laser. Because its beam width is shorter when burning to a disc than a red-laser for MO, a blue-violet laser allows more information to be stored digitally in the same amount of space.
Current generations of UDO2 media store up to 60 GB. According to
Plasmon
In physics, a plasmon is a quantum of plasma oscillation. Just as light (an optical oscillation) consists of photons, the plasma oscillation consists of plasmons. The plasmon can be considered as a quasiparticle since it arises from the quantiz ...
, desktop UDO2 drives are priced at around US $5400.
A 30 GB UDO2 Write Once is US $75.
History
UDO
optical disc
In computing and optical disc recording technologies, an optical disc (OD) is a flat, usually circular disc that encodes binary data (bits) in the form of pits and lands on a special material, often aluminum, on one of its flat surfaces. ...
storage media was developed as a replacement for the 9.1 GB
Magneto-optical
A magneto-optical drive is a kind of optical disc drive capable of writing and rewriting data upon a magneto-optical disc. Both 130 mm (5.25 in) and 90 mm (3.5 in) form factors exist. In 1983, just a year after the introduc ...
digital storage medium. The Ultra Density Optical was first announced by
Sony
, commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...
on November 1, 2000. It was later adopted with heavy investment by Plasmon, a UK technology company with extensive experience with computer archival backup systems and solutions.
Currently UDO/UDO2 is being championed by its development partners Plasmon,
Asahi Pentax
The Asahi Pentax series, by the , was a pivotal development in modern photography. They were the earliest Pentax cameras.
Background
In 1957, the Asahi Optical Company (later "Pentax") introduced the Pentax, a 135 film, 35 mm Single-lens ...
(responsible for the opto-mechanical assembly design),
Mitsubishi Chemical
, or MCC, is a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corporation. It is a Japanese corporation, that merged with Mitsubishi Pharma Corporation in 2005 to create Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corporation. Mitsubishi Chemical is the largest ...
, parent company of the
Verbatim
Verbatim means word for word.
Verbatim may also refer to:
* Verbatim (brand), a brand of storage media and flash memory
* Verbatim (horse), an American racehorse
* ''Verbatim'' (magazine), edited by Erin McKean
* Verbatim theatre
Documentary the ...
media storage brand, and various computer and IT solutions companies. Mitsubishi Chemical is the second major development partner of UDO media and the sole manufacturer of UDO media as of the 4th quarter of 2008.
November 10, 2008 – Plasmon creditors (led by Silicon Valley Bank) closed down Plasmon LMS (company) as CEO Stephen "FX" Murphy was not able to secure funding to keep the money-losing company afloat. The UDO media factory in the UK was shut down, dismantled.
January 13, 2009 – Alliance Storage Technologies, a Colorado Springs Manufacturer of optical technology and Service Provider, acquired the assets of Plasmon (including UDO and UDO2 technology) in a liquidation sale. ASTI currently sells and supports UDO technologies sold under the Plasmon brand.
Specifications
ECMA-380: Data Interchange on 130 mm Rewritable and Write Once Read Many Ultra Density Optical (UDO) Disk Cartridges –Capacity: 60 Gbytes per Cartridge – Second Generation
Writing technology
UDO uses a Phase Change recording process that permanently alters the molecular structure of the disc surface.
Disc format
There are three versions of UDO/UDO media: a True WORM (
Write Once Read Many
Write once read many (WORM) describes a data storage device in which information, once written, cannot be modified. This write protection affords the assurance that the data cannot be tampered with once it is written to the device, excluding the p ...
), an R/W (Re-Writable), and Compliant WORM (shreddable WORM).
; Rewritable
: The UDO Rewritable format uses a specially formulated Phase Change recording surface that allows recorded data to be deleted and modified. In practice, UDO Rewritable media operates like a standard magnetic disc. Files can be written, erased and rewritten, dynamically reallocating disc capacity. Rewritable media is typically used in archive applications where the stability and longevity of optical media are important, but archive records change on a relatively frequent or discretionary basis. Rewritable media is typically used in archive environments where data needs to be deleted or media capacity re-used.
; True write once
: The UDO True Write Once format uses a different phase change recording surface than the Rewritable media. Unlike Rewritable media, the write once recording surface cannot be erased or altered, making Write Once the most stable in terms of data integrity, because the physical record is kept authentic. This level of data integrity is not usually matched by other magnetic disc or tape technologies using normal write once emulation.
; Compliant write once media
: UDO Compliant Write Once media has the same operational properties as UDO True Write Once media but with one clear and important difference. Through the use of a specially designed “shred” operation, individual records written to Compliant Write Once media can be destroyed once their retention period expires. The shred function is controlled at an application level and operates only on Compliant Write Once media.
Magneto-optical comparison
The table below summarizes the differences between conventional Magneto-Optical specifications and those of the enhanced Ultra Density Optical disc.
;
Note
Drive mechanism
UDO Drives Specifications Summary
* Media Load Time 5 s
* Media Unload Time 3 s
* Average Seek Time 35 ms
* Buffer Memory 32 MB
* Max Sustained Transfer Rate – Read 8 MB/s (this is on the outer diameter of the media only the inner diameter is a max of 4 MB/sec)
* Max Sustained Transfer Rate – Write 4 MB/s (with verification on outer diameter of media only)
* MSBF – Mean Swap Between Failure 750,000 load/unload cycles
* MTBF – Mean Time Between Failure 100,000 hours
* Interface Wide Ultra 2 LVD SCSI
UDO comes in both internal and external drive guises. External drives are also available as part a robotic
autoloader
An autoloader or auto-loader is a mechanical aid or replacement for the personnel that load ordnance into crew-served weapons without being an integrated part of the gun itself. The term is generally only applied to larger weapons, such as naval ...
. All current drives are designed for heavy duty use.
Laser and optics
UDO systems use a blue-violet
laser
A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word "laser" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". The fir ...
operating at a
wavelength
In physics, the wavelength is the spatial period of a periodic wave—the distance over which the wave's shape repeats.
It is the distance between consecutive corresponding points of the same phase on the wave, such as two adjacent crests, tro ...
of 405 nm, similar to the one used in
Blu-ray Disc
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and c ...
, to read and write data. Conventional MOs use red lasers at 660 nm.
The
blue-violet laser's shorter wavelength makes it possible to store more information on a 13 cm sized UDO disc. The minimum "
spot size" on which a laser can be focused is limited by
diffraction
Diffraction is defined as the interference or bending of waves around the corners of an obstacle or through an aperture into the region of geometrical shadow of the obstacle/aperture. The diffracting object or aperture effectively becomes a s ...
, and depends on the wavelength of the light and the
numerical aperture
In optics, the numerical aperture (NA) of an optical system is a dimensionless number that characterizes the range of angles over which the system can accept or emit light. By incorporating index of refraction in its definition, NA has the proper ...
of the
lens
A lens is a transmissive optical device which focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements''), ...
used to focus it. By decreasing the wavelength, using a higher numerical aperture (0.85, compared with 0.575 for MO), the laser beam can be focused much more tightly. This produces a smaller spot on the disc than in existing MOs, and allows more information to be physically stored in the same area
The opto-mechanism design of current Plasmon UDO drives was jointly developed with Asahi Pentax.
Applications
Archival storage
Currently UDO has an expected data archival life of around 50 years. Apart from the storage size, the discs (like Magneto Optical discs) are designed for durability and long term reliability.
Secure video
A company called Blu-Laser Cinema announced in June 2005 that it was launching a new player using the UDO format to provide a secure viewing and editing platform for film production houses. Targeted towards the high-end video editing and production community, the unit featured a smart card reader and a USB dongle with an embedded biometric fingerprint reader to allow access only to authorized users.
Features
The core technology for UDO is essentially similar to Blu-ray Discs, as well as
Professional Disc, PDD (all were developed by Sony), although there are a number of key differences; the primary ones being:
;
Data authenticity
In information security, message authentication or data origin authentication is a property that a message has not been modified while in transit (data integrity) and that the receiving party can verify the source of the message. Message authentica ...
and
integrity
Integrity is the practice of being honest and showing a consistent and uncompromising adherence to strong moral and ethical principles and values.
In ethics, integrity is regarded as the honesty and truthfulness or accuracy of one's actions. Inte ...
: UDO provides absolute data authenticity for applications where archived information must remain 100% unchanged – banks and legal institutions, for example. UDO uses a phase change recording process that permanently alters the molecular structure of true write once media, ensuring data is integral at the most fundamental level.
; Long-term
data retention Data retention defines the policies of persistent data and records management for meeting legal and business data archival requirements. Although sometimes interchangeable, it is not to be confused with the Data Protection Act 1998.
The differen ...
: Long term archival storage. The design of the UDO, with a tested, stable recording surface, protective coating, and encasement in a cartridge, is expected to give it at least 50 years storage life, minimizing the frequency of
data migration
Data migration is the process of selecting, preparing, extracting, and transforming data and permanently transferring it from one computer storage system to another. Additionally, the validation of migrated data for completeness and the decommis ...
and management for firms requiring storage for large amounts of important data. The UDO disc design is a robust design and reduces the potential for contamination of media.
; High capacity and scalability
: Blue laser technology gives the 30 GB UDO more than three times the capacity of previous generation MO (Magneto Optical) and DVD technologies. Being removable, UDO cartridges, combined with off-line media management capabilities typical of optical storage libraries, makes UDO a much more scalable format. Rarely used data can be removed from a library, freeing up capacity yet remaining managed and accessible.
; Rapid information access
: UDO has a fast 35-millisecond random access capability. An 8 KB sector size helps read/write performance across a wide range of file sizes. UDO is slightly faster as it operates at Constant Angular Velocity (CAV); during reads and writes, the disc spins continuously at a very high speed. In rewritable applications, UDO has a unique, direct over-write capability, doubling rewrite speeds by eliminating the need for a dedicated erase pass.
; Low total cost of ownership
: The cost of a UDO media compares favorably with MO or DVD solutions and has a higher capacity. UDO's ISO standard media cartridge allows the use of MO and UDO media in the same library, if supported by the connectivity software and the controlling application. EMC Legato DiskXtender, one of the most popular Library management and connectivity software does not support this mode of operation.
References
External links
Optical Storage Technology AssociationAlliance Storage Technologies, Inc, owner of Plasmon and UDO copyrights, patents, trademarks and technology*
ttp://www.plasmontech.com/customer/udo2.html UDO2 Windows (XP/2003/Vista) and LINUX (CentOS5/RedHatEL5/Fedora7+) drivers and documentation
{{Ecma International Standards
Audiovisual introductions in 2000
Optical disc authoring
Rotating disc computer storage media
Japanese inventions