Features - Storage Innovations:

ASACA DEBUTS BLUE LASER LIBRARIES AT NAB

Highlighting its position as a provider of next generation optical storage solutions to the professional broadcasting industry, ASACA Corp will debut the industry's largest blue laser-based library, the TeraCart, during NAB 2004. Based on Sony's Professional Disc for DATA drives, these new libraries offer more than double the capacity of red laser optical libraries and data throughput speeds comparable to tape-based solutions. The new libraries offer familiar optical disc benefits, including virtually instant random access, scaleable capacity and an economical cost per terabyte, giving broadcast and video productions professionals a cost-effective solution for storing and managing video workflow.

Incorporating blue laser technology into the flexible design of the awardwinning TeraCart library opens entirely new possibilities in the way video will be managed. Over-sized files and be moved at high-speed to facilitate editing and project collaboration, ultimately introducing significant new efficiencies to a station's overall workflow. Blue laser technology with a shorter wavelength than red, can read and store data at much higher densities needed for high-definition recordings. For video recording and playback, the blue laser technology provides far greater recording capacity and bandwidth than conventional red laser.

With ProDATA technology, a single disc can store up to two hours of digital satellite high-definition programming at up to 11MB per second, or 90 minutes of DVCAM material, or up to 45 minutes of MPEG IMX material recorded at 50 Mb per second (55 minutes at 40 Mb per second, and 75 minutes at 30 Mb per second). Incorporated into the TeraCart, ProDATA users can access up to 800 hours of HDTV content; yet the TeraCart requires no more than a four foot square of floor space. In addition, the media is rated for more than 1,000 rewrites for even greater cost efficiency to the professional user.

"Existing optical technologies are being challenged due to the growth of content and bit rates," said Chuck Larabie, vice president of sales and marketing for ASACA/ShibaSoku Corp. "The new line of TeraCart libraries based on Sony's Professional Disc for DATA blue laser optical drives gives studios a viable option superior to tape libraries."

Designed to meet the performance and 24-7 operation requirements of today's environments, the new TeraCart is an ideal solution for a broad range of commercial and professional data storage use in all major markets including medical, broadcast, health care and government. Available with SAN and NAS support, the modular library offers the flexibility to start with a single cabinet and expand to as many as eight libraries for capacities reaching hundreds of terabytes. Using pass-through and infrared communications, the libraries can be easily managed as a single physical unit.

A superior option to tape libraries, a single Professional Disc for DATA media cartridge can hold up to 23GB of data and the libraries can be equipped with one to six Sony Professional Disc for DATA drives.