(Ultra Density Optical) A 5.25" rewritable optical disc technology from Plasmon, Broomfield, CO (www.plasmon.com) that also supports write-once (WORM) media. Using blue laser optics and phase change recording, 30GB drives and cartridges were introduced in 2003, and second generation UDO2 with 60GB capacity came out in 2007. The future roadmap includes capacities of 120 and 240GB.
Although conceptually similar to the rewritable CD/DVD drives used by consumers, UDO was designed with more hardy engineering for commercial applications and long-term storage. For example, rewritable UDO uses eight layers in the disk compared to four, which is typical for rewritable consumer media.
Where Magneto-Optic Stopped
Designed to supersede magneto-optic (MO) disks in capacity, UDO's first blue laser 30GB drives offered a big storage jump over 9.1GB, the final format for 5.25" MO drives. UDO's phase change technology provides a stable recording layer that is expected to last 50+ years compared to 25 for MO. See blue laser, phase change disk, PDD and magneto-optic disk.
UDO Bits
This magnified UDO disk shows non-reflective amorphous (grey) and reflective crystalline (light/dark) bits. The crystalline area is not a single crystal, but a multi-crystalline region. Due to different crystal alignments and interaction of the beam used to image the material, the reflective bits appear variously light and dark. The different sizes of bits are due to UDO's encoding method. (Image courtesy of Plasmon, www.plasmon.com)
Although conceptually similar to the rewritable CD/DVD drives used by consumers, UDO was designed with more hardy engineering for commercial applications and long-term storage. For example, rewritable UDO uses eight layers in the disk compared to four, which is typical for rewritable consumer media.
Where Magneto-Optic Stopped
Designed to supersede magneto-optic (MO) disks in capacity, UDO's first blue laser 30GB drives offered a big storage jump over 9.1GB, the final format for 5.25" MO drives. UDO's phase change technology provides a stable recording layer that is expected to last 50+ years compared to 25 for MO. See blue laser, phase change disk, PDD and magneto-optic disk.
UDO Bits
This magnified UDO disk shows non-reflective amorphous (grey) and reflective crystalline (light/dark) bits. The crystalline area is not a single crystal, but a multi-crystalline region. Due to different crystal alignments and interaction of the beam used to image the material, the reflective bits appear variously light and dark. The different sizes of bits are due to UDO's encoding method. (Image courtesy of Plasmon, www.plasmon.com)
 | Reproduced with permission from Computer Desktop Encyclopedia. Copyright (c) 1981-2008 The Computer Language Company Inc. All rights reserved. |
Additional Resources
- uDo notebook (zip)
- uDo notebook allows the compilation of ideas, tasks, and plans into an explorer-like tree format with unstructured information entered via a simple word processor. It is an effective visual way to organize anything from a project, to day-to-day business or personal activities.
- Software downloads 2006-12-06
- Data and Media Migration From the IBM 3995 Optical Library Dataserver to 30GB Ultra Density Optical (UDO) Media in an i5/OS Environment
- IBM introduced the 3996 Optical Library for attachment to the IBM System i platform using i5/OS. The 3996 features the latest 5.25 inch optical technology 30GB Ultra Density Optical UDO drives and media. IBM has also enhanced i5/OS to support and has tested interoperability with the Plasmon G-Series for IBM...
- White papers 2006-10-03
- Plasmon Case Study: Newport Imaging
- Newport Imaging processed all its medical images through a GE Centricity PACS system and stored images simultaneously to local RAID, which would hold images for a period of 30 days, and a Plasmon MO library, which served as their long-term permanent archive. Increasing file sizes caused by advancements in imaging...
- Case studies 2006-02-23
- Plasmon Case Study: Budget Finance Company (BFC)
- Located in Los Angeles, California, Budget Finance Company BFC specializes in lending mortgages on single family residential housing, apartments and small commercial structures in California, Washington and Oregon. The company recognized that it needed to invest in a storage solution to reduce its paper clutter, while also addressing a critical...
- Case studies
- Plasmon Case Study: Lourdes Medical Pavilion (LMP)
- The Lourdes Medical Pavilion LMP in Paducah, Kentucky, is a freestanding outpatient diagnostic medical facility that houses the Women's Health and Wellness Center and the Paducah Diagnostic Center. In order to keep pace with an increasing amount of imaging data and continue to offer the most advanced image-intensive services available,...
- Case studies
- Plasmon Case Study: Saint-Gobain Autover International B.V.
- Maintaining an efficient SAP environment is critical to Autover's business operations and their SAP archive strategy plays a key role. Originally using DVD media to archive older SAP data, Autover needed a professional storage solution that would allow archive growth while ensuring long-term technology support. Their choice was to upgrade...
- Case studies
- Plasmon Case Study: items GmbH
- As a complete application service and document management solutions provider, items GmbH manages a wide variety of SAP, data storage and archiving projects for customers throughout northern Germany. With a growing number of client accounts and two existing MO Magneto Optical archives that reached their capacity limit, items decided to...
- Case studies
- Plasmon Case Study: Cabell Huntington Hospital (CHH)
- Cabell Huntington Hospital CHH opened its doors in 1956 and today serves as a 268 bed, not-for-profit, regional referral center located in Huntington, West Virginia. The longevity and potential disaster recovery issues of a physical archival storage system concerned CHH. After researching the options, CHH selected an archival solution that...
- Case studies
- Plasmon Case Study: Medizinische Hochschule Hannover
- Originally founded in 1965, the Medizinische Hochschule Hannover MHH is one of Germany's most respected and largest teaching hospitals. The hospital must meet their legal obligation to retain patient records for 30 years, but must do so in a way that ensures authenticity while minimizing maintenance and long-term operating costs....
- Case studies
- Plasmon Case Study: Newport Imaging Centers
- Newport Imaging is a free-standing outpatient diagnostic medical facility with two locations in Newport Beach, CA, and a third in Irvine, CA. Increasing file sizes caused by advancements in imaging technology combined with Newport Imaging's expanding operations required Newport to research additional storage capacity that would meet both current and...
- Case studies
- Plasmon Case Study: Citistreet
- CitiStreet, owned by Citigroup, is a premier global benefit provider, and one of the nation's largest retirement plan record keepers. As part of their products and services offerings, Citistreet is required by various regulations, including SEC, Sarbanes-Oxley and HIPPA, to securely maintain and archive its client's data. Citistreet also needed...
- Case studies
- Plasmon Case Study: RAI Radiotelevisione Italiana
- RAI Radiotelevisione Italiana is Italy's leading radio and television broadcasting company. With the radio broadcasts totalling 96 hours a day and the music tapes growing at 3,000 a year, a solution was needed with high initial capacity and flexibility to scale over time. RAI evaluated different storage technologies, including a...
- Case studies
- Plasmon Case Study: German Public Authorities
- Landkreis Unterallgau, Landkreis Landshut and Landratsamt Miesbach are only three of many German administrative districts that have implemented UDO in their evolution from a paper-based to an electronic archiving system. The Bavarian district offices chose Plasmon GSeries libraries Powered by UDO Ultra Density Optical to archive and manage vehicle registration...
- Case studies
- Plasmon Case Study: Dallas Morning News
- With eight presses and circulation of nearly 515,000, the Dallas Morning News DMN maintains one of the largest newspaper printing facilities in the United States. The Dallas Morning News needed a long-term archival solution to deal with the nearly two million images they created and managed each year, as well...
- Case studies
- Security Bank of Kansas City
- Security Bank of Kansas City is part of a multi-bank holding company located in Wyandotte County. Having worked for more than 25 years in the financial industry, Dean Foster, VP of Data Processing for Security Bank, questioned the vendors about archival quality and the backup of images placed into RAID...
- Case studies
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