The future of CD-RW and DVD in corporate IT - Storage Networking

Computer Technology Review, March, 2003 by Howard Wing

Overall, it is relatively easy for IT departments to feel comfortable about purchasing CD and DVD recording technology because it's stable and inexpensive. At the same time, the small data storage capacity of CDs makes them somewhat less useful compared with the much larger capacity of DVDs.

Data Storage and Backup Applications

As computer systems and their associated applications grow, demands on data storage also increase proportionally. Five years ago, a hard drive of two gigabytes might have been sufficient for most office applications. Today, 20 gigabytes is probably closer to the norm.

One reason is that individual application files keep getting larger and larger. Data is no longer restricted to simple text or numerical form, but encompasses multimedia and high-quality image processing. A single PowerPoint presentation, for instance, may include embedded audio, pictures, or even video clips, resulting in a file size that exceeds one gigabyte!

Currently, erasable optical storage is too slow to be used as a computer's main storage facility, but as the speed improves and the cost comes down, CD-RW and DVD-RW devices are becoming a popular alternative to tape systems as a backup method. One important advantage in this age of the "mobile knowledge worker" is that CD and DVD burners provide individualized backup of standalone computers, including notebooks, whenever and wherever you want it.

Sometimes people simply need to take work home from the office-or maybe they telecommute regularly from home. Most people don't have magnetic tape or magnetic disc drives built into their home PC, and the floppy disk's miniscule capacity renders it obsolete. CD/DVD is the only removable media with sufficient capacity that works at both home and office.

Optical media is also perfect for storing archives of critical corporate data, such as financials or personnel records. Just consider the average predicted lifespan of various data storage media, and then ask yourself which one you would use to preserve your most precious family pictures:

* Magnetic Discs -- 1 to 5 years

* Magnetic Hard drives -- 3 to 6 years

* Magnetic Tape -- 10 to 20 years

* Recordable CD -- 30 years

* Recordable DVD -- 70 years.

Customer and Corporate Communications

CD/DVD is easy and cheap updateable publishing media for enterprises. This makes optical media very useful in a broad range of both internal and external communications applications. For example, a sales force wants to present a digital brochure to customers. The brochure includes interactive presentations with rich multimedia content that people can navigate and view at their own pace. Only a CD/DVD can provide the storage capacity and the universal playability required for this application.

Other examples of communications applications include menu-driven annual reports for shareholders; interactive workforce and management training; distributing large amounts of updateable documentation such as product catalogs; and distributing software, training videos, etc.