Blu-ray is the state-of-the-art optical disc format for the 21st century. It stores up to 10 times more data, movies, music or HD videos on a disc the same size as a DVD and fits perfectly into a wide range of archiving needs such as CCTV footage, medical documentation, financial records, video productions etc.

The format has gained wide acceptance from consumer electronic manufacturers, the IT industry and the entertainment business in the shape of the open industrial Blu-ray Association, currently comprising around 200 manufacturers from all business fields. This ensures a competitive market for this long-life, economically priced media. Some of the key members of the Association are:

1. Standards Based
When building an archive, one must consider whether you can get to your data decades from now. Change has been a constant in the world of enterprise data storage over the past 20 years and will likely continue. Blu-ray is unprecedented in its ability to maintain standards over time:

Standard Media Format – Over 1 billion DVD drives have been shipped, making DVDs one of the most ubiquitous media formats available today. The same is expected for Blu-ray as it replaces DVD as the standard medium for home video production

Standard File Format – Digistore Solutions writes discs in the same ISO standard, Universal Disc Format (UDF) employed in standard CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray discs, ensuring that any disc written through our subsystem can be removed and read in a standard drive thus eliminating the risk of vendor lock-in

Forward and Backward Compatibility – Blu-ray continues a long and consistent tradition of full forward and backward compatibility. Blu-ray drives have three reading mechanisms in order to read CD, DVD, and Blu-ray discs. With close to 25 years of compatibility to date and a roadmap showing compatibility into the future, this format standard holds great promise versus all other media options. No other data format in history can boast this same track record over 25 years

2. Durability and Longevity
Digistore Solutions-qualified, "archive grade" Blu-ray media is unparalleled in its ability to preserve data over long-periods of time. No other technology boasts the durability and longevity of Blu-ray:

• Employs durable coating technologies to protect against scratches, fingerprints, dust and other contaminants
• Demonstrates extraordinary resilience in age acceleration chambers using high temperature, sodium lights and very high humidity over time
• Does not contain any mechanical or magnetic parts – eliminating two very common points of failure in disk and tape technologies
• Carries a minimum warranty of 50+ years 

3. Excellent Capacity Roadmap
Blu-ray offers very attractive density roadmaps. This is one of the primary reasons it won the format war against HD-DVD. With the current 50GB media, Digistore Solutions is able to boast a density of 5TB raw / 10TB compressed. With multiple Blu-ray vendors promising 100GB media by the first half of 2010, Digistore Solutions will be able to boast petabyte-level density by 2011.

4. Ability to Leverage Rapid Innovation by Large Companies
Blu-ray is backed by some of the largest companies in the world. Primary vendors include Panasonic, Verbatim, TDK, Sony, and Hitachi. These companies have massive R&D budgets to pour into the development and improvement of Blu-ray. This, combined with the atmosphere of competition, will drive rapid innovation of the technology as they attempt to differentiate themselves in the market place. Costs will also be lowered as a result of mass production.

5. Low Drain
When a Blu-ray disc is not physically in a drive, it doesn’t consume any power or require cooling. Because of this, our libraries can run on as little as 8 watts. Data is still accessible online, but drain is minimized.

• Leverages dual reflective technology and top-quality materials for maximum resistance to oxidation and highest precision in reading and writing of data