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Bitcoin: Financial Rebellion or Future of Capital Markets?

Without a doubt, the financial markets drive the world economies to emerge, grow and sometimes collapse. One of the best examples of their negative influence on the world economy is 2008’s World Financial Crisis that was caused by the regional US subprime mortgage market crisis. One may ask: how could one small financial segment failure cause the entire world economy recession?

Everything is interconnected in our heavily globalized world nowadays: a small local market failure or inability to pay against liabilities may trigger a domino effect that will be able to overthrow entire financial systems. Maybe that vulnerability was the main emergence cause of a revolutionary, yet quite questionable financial tool of recent years: the crypto currency called Bitcoin.

World's first cryptocurrency that made it to the international markets — World’s first cryptocurrency that made it to the international markets

Bitcoin became a true phenomenon, despite being something that is underscrutinised and underestimated by many even today. A currency that started off as a scientific project and was worth nothing but the cost of electricity consumed to “mine the crypto-blocks” to get it out of the complex algorithm, now it is traded for more than a $1000 for one unit. How did that happen and why? Let’s look into the history of Bitcoin.

In November 2008, at the time when the world economy was shocked by a massive stagnation provoked by the US banking crisis, a paper was posted on the internet under the name Satoshi Nakamoto titled bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System. This paper detailed methods of using a peer-to-peer network to generate what was described as “a system for electronic transactions without relying on trust”.

In January 2009, the bitcoin network came into existence with the release of the first open source bitcoin client and the issuance of the first bitcoins, with Satoshi Nakamoto mining the first block of bitcoins ever (known as the “genesis block”), which had a reward of 50 bitcoins. The value of the first bitcoin transactions were negotiated by individuals on the bitcointalk forums and the user “laszlo” made the first real-world transaction by buying two pizzas in Jacksonville, Florida for 10,000 BTC.

Bitcoin currency is generated through a complex cryptographic algorithm known as "mining" — Bitcoin currency is generated through a complex cryptographic algorithm known as “mining”

Very soon the advantages of crypto currency were noticed by a number of Internet freedom and anti-establishment associations, and that gave the first impact to the popularization of the new currency. In June 2011 Wikileaks and other organizations began to accept bitcoins for donations. The Electronic Frontier Foundation began, and then temporarily suspended, bitcoin acceptance, citing concerns about a lack of legal precedent about new currency systems. The EFF’s decision was reversed on 17 May 2013 when they resumed accepting bitcoin.

In January 2012, bitcoin was featured as the main subject within a fictionalized trial on the CBS legal drama The Good Wife in the third season episode “Bitcoin for Dummies”. The host of CNBC’s Mad Money, Jim Cramer, played himself in a courtroom scene where he testifies that he doesn’t consider bitcoin a true currency, saying “There’s no central bank to regulate it; it’s digital and functions completely peer to peer”.

In October 2012, BitPay (the World’s first online Bitcoin payment operator) reported having over 1,000 merchants accepting bitcoin under its payment processing service.

In February 2013 another bitcoin-based payment processor Coinbase reported selling US$1 million worth of bitcoins in a single month at over $22 per bitcoin. The Internet Archive announced that it was ready to accept donations as bitcoins and that it intends to give employees the option to receive portions of their salaries in bitcoin currency.

Today the price of Bitcoin has breached the $1,000 mark, hitting a more than three-year high. It was trading at $1,021 at the time of publication, at level not seen since November 2013, with its market capitalization exceeding $16 billion.

During last 3 years Bitcoin price have grown exponentially

Bitcoin has been on a steady march higher for the past few months, driven by a number of factors such as the devaluation of the yuan, geopolitical uncertainty and an increase in professional investors taking an interest in the asset class.

Among other factors which may have contributed to this rise were the European sovereign-debt crisis—particularly the 2012–2013 Cypriot financial crisis—statements by FinCEN improving the currency’s legal standing and rising media and Internet interest. The current all-time high was set on 17 November 2013 at US$1216.73

The success story of the world’s first crypto currency proves that the innovation penetrates all the spheres of human activity and even such a conservative and unchanged thing as a currency may be radically transformed and re-engineered in order to meet the requirements of the present day reality. Bitcoin appeared due to the instability of the financial markets and willingness to save the capital in the currency that will not be controlled by any central authority, but by the mathematical algorithm of extraction.

Once again that proves that the innovation is the driving force of technical progress. And this is something that we believe in in Falcon Technologies International. For more than a decade we never stopped to improve the technology of professional optical media production in order to be always on the top of the industry paramount.

How to Let Your Media Speak for Itself?

Even though we live in the era of flash-memory, hard disc drives and cloud storage solutions, optical disc still remains number one choice for the offline data distribution and long-term information storage and archiving.

Optical disc - still leading archival tool — Optical disc – still leading archival tool

Just like a good old book, an optical media disc also has a cover that contains the summary of what is recorded on it – otherwise it would be impossible to distinguish two absolutely identical glowing circular pieces of pressurized polycarbonate from each other. A disc printable layer (sometimes called simply “label”) is something that gives a disc personality, lets it speak for itself and identifies what is recorded on it. It is important for this label to be vibrant and colorful to replicate the design that was initially tailored by the publisher, so that the end consumer will be able to understand what type of content is on the disc from the very first glance.

Vibrant and colourful disc label - good way to boost the sales potential of the media — Vibrant and colourful disc label – good way to boost the sales potential of the media

There were plenty ways to create the labels for the media: the most common method was to print the design on circular pieces of paper and glue it to the surface, but times have changed and not it is impossible to glue discs that spin at over 5000 RPM instead of 33 RPM back in the days of vinyl. Some manufacturers even tried to implement a technology of “in-drive label burning”, but the labels made with this technology were typically black and white and very faded.

For over a decade, Falcon Technologies International LLC prioritized its Research and Development efforts on printable surfaces and managed to implement high-tech solutions into its production process. FTI’s wide range of printable layers are designed to meet any professional media duplication industry requirements according to highest standards.

FTI is proud to introduce its brand new SMART GLOSSY printable layer – a surface that is able to illustrate your personalized graphics and labels brighter and shinier than ever before. FalconMEDIA Smart Glossy printable discs are perfect to create customized, long-lasting, ultra-vivid design disc labels. Our Research and Development team have invested significant resources to tailor this brand new technology to allows you to have superior image definition, color saturation and vivid quality of printed graphics.

Key Features of the Product:

Superior ink absorption and faster ink drying printable surface (best in class)
Better glossiness surface delivering full color, glossy photo quality printing
Excellent color whiteness
Consistent printing across the full surface giving excellent uniformity
Long lasting print surface
Excellent water resisitant quality makes the printable surface free from scratches, smudging and smearing in wet conditions
High yield on inkjet printer (economic ink consumption)
Excellent Black/White Contrast with economical ink saturation setting
Wider compatibility on all standard professional inkjet printers
Good handling characteristics to ensure smooth operation with leading robotic duplication and publishing systems

To conclude it would be fair to note here that in media duplication and distribution business it is very important to select the right supplier, that is able to ensure high quality of the optical media and compatibility with a wide range of mass-printing equipment.

Critical Role of Data Archiving for the Financial Institutions

Finance is an excessively regulated industry, with many moving parts and data that must be monitored and reported in order to stay protected and compliant with all regulations. One of the most important aspects of regulatory compliance for banks and financial organisations is record keeping and archiving electronic communication data. With the right tools and plans in place, archiving compliance does not have to be a daunting task.

Financial institutions generate a lot of data, which has to be archived by law.

Brokers, dealers, investment advisors, lending agents, futures and transfer agents, and businesses like mortgage companies, credit unions, banks, hedge funds, private equity firms, exchanges, commercial and retail banks, lenders and insurers, payday lenders, foreclosure relief services and debt collectors are all required to capture, monitor and archive business related communication data for review, audits, eDiscovery, litigation, and compliance.

But how do you become compliant? Let’s just jump right into the What, Why, and How of archiving compliance for banking and financial organisations.

Compliance with data archiving regulations is vital prevention of cyber crimes.

In short, a financial institution of any kind should be archiving all business related electronic communication data.

Email has been around long enough that just about everyone realizes the need to have a complete and easily accessible email archive. But you should really be archiving every bit of electronic communication data created by your organization. This includes social media, instant messaging, and content created on mobile devices.

The most obvious reason to archive emails and other business communication data is that your business is regulated and thus, mandated to do so.

Another thing that has to be archived - corporate e-mails — Another thing that has to be archived – corporate e-mails

Another reason why you should archive, that isn’t obvious at first, is data leakage. If you have proprietary data, customer account, transactional or confidential information, you are obligated to make sure that it isn’t shared, either purposefully or accidentally. The use of email, social media, instant messaging, and mobile devices increases the ease at which your employees could share this type of data. Couple that with the fact that the line between personal and business communication is blurred on corporate mobile devices. In addition to data leakage, you need to guard against insider trading, inappropriate financial advice, and stating personal beliefs about a financial investment or trade as fact. Having an archiving solution provides you with protection against these threats by giving you oversight. This oversight on employee communication data, coupled with an effective communication policy, will not only discourage bad behavior, but will encourage proper behavior according to established policy. Your employees will know that, according to your policy, everything they communicate is being stored and can be accessed for review.

As you can see, almost every commercial entity produces and accumulates large amounts of various data on a daily basis, so the “archival question” is becoming more actual nowadays and will become even more critical in the future. Data storage and archival solutions in the age of “informational revolution” we live in are required to provide not only the big data storage and rendering capacities, but also ensure the integrity and accessibility of data for years, decades and centuries.

art4 Falcon Technologies International LLC’s Research and Development team have created a solution that complies with the archival needs and requirements of the financial institutions and government entities. Our FalconMEDIA Century Archival CDs and DVDs with golden and platinum reflective layers showed outstanding results during the internal and third-party benchmarking tests: data stored on these professional archival discs stays accessible and integer for more than 500 years – timeframe that is enough to archive data for almost 7 future generations of the humanity.
Source: GWAVA

GITEX Technology Week in Dubai

In search for future technologies that can enable companies to achieve efficiency and cost effectiveness for business? Well, the 36th Gulf Information Technology Exhibition (Gitex) provided just that.

This 5 day event opened its doors from Sunday 16th October, 2016. It was the largest ICT exhibition in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia, that took place at Dubai world trade centre. The event was inaugurated by Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Dubai Executive Council.

So, what was the Gitex technology exhibition all about? This event showed live demonstrations of future generation technology solutions from various government and international companies that can transform Middle East businesses. Key industry verticals of marketing, healthcare, finance, intelligent cities, retail, education and energy were discussed by industry leaders.

Over 200 investors and influential tech investment companies from Silicon Valley, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, including SoftBank Group International, 500 Startups, and many other venture partners arrived in Dubai to explore, evaluate and potentially fund start up businesses with talent. These ventures also included globally giant investors like Facebook, Dropbox and Spotify.

Key highlights included a large indoor VR activation powered by Samsung logo, Game-changing tech from 4,000 solution providers including AR, VR, AI, Wearables, Drones and more. GITEX Startup Movement examined the global startup movement featuring 350+ breakthrough startups from 52 countries. Customized networking programmes were also on offer for startups to discover how global contemporaries have been there, done that and created an impact.

In today’s era of technology, there is an ever increasing need for entrepreneurs to harness technologies that can enable companies to achieve efficiency and cost effectiveness. FTI has always believed that a strong culture of innovation, in all areas of the company, is an essential contributor to business success. FTI prioritize R&D and technology over cost, as we firmly believe that these functions are critical to ensure our products represent the best quality within the optical media industry.

In line with new innovation for business and services Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) showcased a smart streetlight system at GITEX 2016. According to Eng Maitha bin Adai, CEO of RTA’s traffic and roads agency, there are three systems showcased at Gitex this year and this combination of systems will help sustain green economy requirements by reducing carbon emissions. These systems include the Central Wireless Road Lighting Control System that sets multiple synchronized timetables for dimming streetlights. “A new feature in the smart lighting system is a tentative WiFi service installed in Dubai Water Canal at Sheikh Zayed Road.

RTA also displayed high-definition pedestrian detection camera systems with a twist. These new generation cameras produce pedestrian statistics in terms of number, sex, and age group.

Dubai Customs‘ Smart Virtual Agent initiative was also showcased at GITEX 2016. This venture represents a smart channel for communication with customers, which allows their queries about customs services, procedures and regulations to be answered more efficiently. Without the need for any physical employee the Smart Virtual Agent is an intelligent tool which operates 24/7. This cost effective measure helps efficiently redirect resources to other duties by reducing support cost. The self-improving platform utilizes Dubai Customs’ database and memory of similar cases to answer customer inquiries.

Many GITEX visitors had the opportunity to try out the Smart Inspection Glasses on display at the Dubai Customs stand. These tech heavy glasses facilitate containers’ field inspection, as customs inspectors can browse the customs declaration and x-ray images of the shipment simultaneously as well as its risk level. Inspectors can submit inspection reports using either the virtual keyboard or voice input feature.

Furthermore Dubai Customs showcased 8 happiness-led initiatives and innovations under the umbrella of Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation pavilion. Other innovations included the Authorized Economic Operator, Smart Inspection Lab, Smart Customs Route, Bags Smart Customs Inspection System and the Endangered Species Exhibition.

Five seminal trends have caught the eye at this Gitex event namely; Robotics and artificial intelligence (AI), Biometrics, 3-D Printing, Mixed reality and drones. With artificial intelligence on the rise and the need for huge amounts of data to be stored, the progression and development of cloud storage is on the horizon. Cloud storage is a cloud computing model in which data is stored remotely on servers accessed from the World Wide Web, or “cloud.” Storage servers are built on virtualization techniques all maintained, managed, and backed-up online.

The technology world is increasingly realizing that Optical Digital Media is a safer way to store data compared to cloud technology solutions – this is evidenced by multiple data breaches where personal photographs and other information has been hacked and distributed to the public, and by the fact that Facebook has publicly stated that they have chosen to store their data with Optical Digital Media rather than cloud.

Falcon Technologies International (FTI) leads the way with regard to Optical Digital Media security and memory technology, and is conducting potentially ground-breaking research in this field with academic partners.

Recovering Old Files: Challenge or Lesson to Study?

Informational technology is developing so fast that data we stored only a few years ago is often stuck on old disks with very few drives that are able to read them. Computer forensics experts can uncover old files, sometimes solving crimes along the way.

Computer forensics specialist is investigating an old laptop

When new files relating to the South Yorkshire Police’s handling of the Hillsborough disaster emerged, plenty took the form of dog-eared notebooks and water-damaged folders. But in amongst the evidence handed over to the Independent Police Complaints Commission, there were also 167 floppy disks – containing hundreds of documents that were potentially critical to the investigation.

Paper is a reasonably useful medium; if it gets a bit damp or dirty you can still read the marks that have been made on it. But the same can’t be said for magnetic storage. The exhibits manager for the inquiry, David Wolstencroft, and his team had to purchase an ageing computer in order to read the 5.25-inch floppies – disks much bigger than the 3.5-inch ones most of us remember using on our PCs before they died out, and a medium already well on the way to obsolescence at the time of the 1989 disaster. “We got them all read,” he told the BBC when the analysis was just getting under way in 2013, “and they’ve come back on two small disks [DVDs] that aren’t even full. It’s unbelievable the way technology has changed.”

Old floppy discs may still be a source of important evidences of the old cases

The process of transferring data from old media such as floppy disks to more modern, readable formats might sound relatively easy, but the transient nature of modern technology can make it hugely problematic. Tracking down and purchasing a computer from the era of shoulder pads and Crocodile Dundee would seem like a promising initial step, but the subsequent journey is uncertain.

“If you boot up an old machine,” says Tony Dearsley, Principal Consultant at digital forensics firm Kroll Ontrack, “you have no idea what’s going to happen. It will have been sitting in a cupboard for 15 or 20 years. You’re going to have component failure, capacitors are going to die. Ideally you’d try to avoid doing that altogether.”

Attempting to boot up and old PC very often end up at this point

Our increasing reliance on technology and the related increase in the digital information we all generate has fuelled a massive rise in the number of firms offering digital forensics services. But when old cases are reopened and dusty technology resurfaces, experts face multiple challenges.

Floppy disks, from the 8-inch to the 5.25-inch to the 3.5-inch, become less willing to yield up their contents with every passing day. Even hard disks, which theoretically have some measure of protection from the atmosphere, still experience decay.

Data storage mediums have changed so many times during the last 50 years, that it seems like we are still looking for a perfect way to store the huge volumes of information we generate on a daily basis. And as years go by, the compatibility of data carriers and readers becomes a bigger and bigger problem. If only data archiving would be somehow standardized, then we would we most likely not face such challenges anymore?

Many kinds of sensitive data have to be stored and preserved in a way that can be easily accessed after years, decades or even centuries. As has been touched upon already, paper is a good medium of storage, but it has a number of disadvantages: beginning from large physical volume per unit of information and ending with poor level of environmental influence resistance.

Century Archival DVDs are able to secure data for hundreds of years

Data storage experts agree that as of today, there is no better alternative for optical media in data archiving. Professional archival grade DVDs and CDs with gold and platinum layers are able to secure data for centuries, fact proven by a number of professional tests under severe environmental conditions.

Falcon Technologies International has a specially designed product line called Century Archival, that is a perfect solution for a long term data storage. It is not only a cost-efficient solution, but also a guarantee of secure and lasting data storage.

Alternative Data Storage Solutions: are HDDs and Cloud-based Backups the Only Ones Out There?

Data storage and backups are becoming a more important, even essential, part of operations for virtually all businesses. Third-party, cloud-based storage solutions have become very popular in recent years with many industries that operate with large volumes of data, such as sound, video and graphics. But are these solutions so secure and trusted as they are marketed to be?

Cloud storage solutions such as Dropbox became very popular during last 7-8 years

Thomas Coughlin, a data storage consultant, says that two of the biggest issues for most media and entertainment companies with third-party archiving is cost and trust. When it comes to a handling of archives above a certain size, it becomes more cost-efficient to have supporting proprietary storage infrastructure in-house, rather than continue leasing it from a third party.

The issue of trust in relating to data archiving is being solved using various encryption methods, but according to Coughlin there are still many unanswered questions on long-term data security.

The other significant factor that influences companies towards proprietary data storage solutions is cost: according to the latest case study on Facebook, having data stored on optical media or magnetic tape is up to 80% cheaper than having it stored on HDD or SSD-based storages.

Freeze-Ray storage system helped Facebook to cut almost 80% of its data storage costs.

For enterprises that need to store large amounts of data that is rarely accessed, it is more important to effectively manage costs rather than getting faster performance of the storage solutions (e.g. banks, insurance companies, healthcare organisations, Governmental agencies, etc.). This is the main reason why more secure storage technologies based on optical media or magnetic tapes are more likely to be used by certain industries, Coughlin says.

Lower costs become a meaningful factor due to the difference in technology behind various types of storage systems. Optical discs and magnetic tapes do not require any electrical power when data is not accessed.

Falcon Technologies International LLC (FTI) has invested a significant portion of its resources into archival solutions development. Over a decade of continuous Research and Development, FTI achieved excellent expertise in the optical media production industry and proved its operational excellence through a number of quality certificates, such as ISO:9001 and CE.

The company firmly believes that Optical Media will re-define long-term data storage and archiving through the provision of reliable and high-quality tools, such as FTI’s latest optical disc product line Century Archival.

FTI's Century Archival - reliable solution for long term data storage. — FTI’s Century Archival – reliable solution for long term data storage.

Century Archival discs were specially designed for long-term data storage and exceeded experts’ expectations in a number of accelerated aging tests, showing a minimum lifespan of 300 years when subject to extreme environmental conditions. Gold and Platinum layers of Century Archival ensure that all the stored data will be secured against any external environmental threats (fact proved with series of ISO/OEM Archival Tests).

Dr. Sean Farnan, Head of FTI’s Research and Development Department said: “With the exponential growth of digital data, how we handle data is becoming increasingly important. From the instant gratification to placing a picture onto an online service such as Facebook, memories from a family wedding, business accounts, medical details through to the digital reproduction of ancient manuscripts the list is long and varied. As this journey into the digital landscape continues, the importance of storing digital data over a long period of time is now a real concern. It is also an opportunity for Optical Media to deliver a long lasting, cost effective archival solution.

By using the purest materials and employing rigorous quality control during the manufacturing process, it is possible to produce high capacity optical disks that will last over 100 years and beyond. The data storage works across all formats and is easily scalable depending on the end users’ application.

From learned institutions preserving human history, to online entertainment, healthcare and the business sector, the need for permanent data storage will be met by optical media. It will also allow you to share memories such as your wedding day with your grand children. Memories are always better when shared.”

Healthcare Information Technology Market is Expected to Grow

A recent industry report’s findings confirmed the projected growth of the global Radiology Information System (RIS) market and estimated it to reach a value of $980.2 million by 2024. A large segment of major scientific findings and technological advancements go hand-in-hand with the continuously growing demand for Healthcare InformationTechnology (HIT), which makes it one of the key driving forces of the market growth.

IT became an essential part of modern day healthcare industry.

The in-depth research report on Global RIS (Radiology Information System) Market with detailed charts and figures is available HERE.

Healthcare Information Technology is based on several major pillars, one of them being Electronic Medical Records (EMR). It is considered to be one of the most important HIT’s subsystems, that stores, processes and analyses medical data of patients. With the emergence of Radiology Information System (RIS) and Picture Archiving and Communications System (PACS) the entire Healthcare industry has been taken to the next level. Text-based patient records are now backed up by radiology images, that may be stored safely for decades without any risk of being damaged or lost.

Modern technologies take healthcare to the next level

Next generation Healthcare Informational Systems that are being implemented globally to ensure higher business security and patient confidentiality. RIS and PACS are recognised as most efficient systems of electronic imaging management and are gaining popularity in developing economies such as China and India, where the populations are so big that healthcare sector has no other choice but to implement them.

Falcon Technologies International LLC focuses its Research and Development efforts on niche segments of optical media such as HIT and has developed a special product line that meets the sector’s requirements.

FalconMEDIA MEDILINE - specially designed to meet the HIT needs. — FalconMEDIA MEDILINE – specially designed to meet the HIT needs.

FalconMEDIA MEDILINE is an ideal solution for providing the patients with imaging reports, radiology and treatment history. With its use, distribution of medical reports to the patients becomes more cost-efficient and easy task.

All FalconMEDIA MEDILINE products are fully compatible with Picture Archiving and Communications System (PACS) and Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) standards.

What makes Optical Media better in Data Archiving?

Paper hard copies and handwritten memorandums are gradually being replaced by digital file storage solutions used by corporations to archive all important information. Data storage and regular back up became a significant task for all sorts of private and public business enterprises, many of whom would simply store the data on internal back up servers with redundant array of independent disks (RAID) or on Cloud-based solutions, however these kind of “hot” backup solutions are not suitable for long-term data storage.

"Hot" backup data storage is usually made on HDDs — “Hot” backup data storage is usually made on HDDs

“Hot” backup is a data copy that is accessed relatively often, usually stored on hard drives and flash-memory devices. These data storage devices contain many electronic components, and therefore have a very limited lifespan. Another point to consider is that data on these devices may be easily modified, which makes them not ideal solutions from a security point of view. Long term data archiving requires both security and durability criteria to be met.

“Cold” backup methods, such as optical media and cassette tapes, allow storage of big data volumes for a long periods of time. It is called “cold” because the data that is stored with this method is usually not accessed very often and it cannot be modified. Once a file is recorded on a Read Only disc it remains unchanged, which is perfect for historical data archiving.

Lifespan comparison of different backup storage media

In 2005 Japanese Government approved Japanese Industrial Standards (JIS Z 6017), that require corporations to preserve digital data for a minimum of 10 years. The regulations included official recommendations to use optical media as a main choice of storage solution. With the release of a new format optical disc, storage capacity of one unit grew up to 100GB, which is another driving force behind this media becoming a reliable and low-cost backup solution.

screen-shot-2016-11-21-at-11-09-45-am

Optical disc and drive technology has developed quickly in lifespan and storage capacity dimensions over the last decade. Pioneer introduced a brand new disc drive (BDR-PR1M series) that supports large capacity disc writing and additional error correction layers to minimize writing errors and improve disc quality. A wide range of industry players have already presented 50 /100GB storage capacity discs to the market some of which may last for up to 1000 years!

Facebook’s optical media cold storage systems will be launched on the mass-market

Long-term optical media archival solutions significantly cut costs according to Facebook.

Recently Facebook revealed to the media that it was transferring enormous volumes of its content archives to more cost-efficient storage: new archival solution architecture, based on optical media. Later on, after successful implementation of the technology, some of the biggest optical media industry players announced that the technology would be marketed for other businesses and new optical storage devices are being developed to carry even bigger volumes of data.

Old, but still widely used data storage device - magnetic tape. — Old, but still widely used data storage device – magnetic tape.

The technology was called “Freeze-Ray” due to the specifics of its use: data is preserved in a type of storage known as “cold storage” for long periods of time and rarely accessed.

Typically, users of social networks tend to view photos that are recently uploaded: a week or two old images are accessed very often, so Facebook stores them on spinning HDD’s. At some point in time, when the pictures are no longer accessed frequently, they are relocated on high-capacity optical discs, where they are stored for years without being accessed.

The optical media industry experienced steady decline during the last decade as streaming services such as Netflix took over, but now, with the interest from Facebook and other giants, it is back to life as one of the keys to cost-cutting. Facebook says that optical media storage saves them 50% of the budget for storage solutions and is 80% more energy efficient.

The first version of Facebook’s storage system was based on a 100GB disk. Later this year it is planned to shift to 300GB discs and some companies from the industry are already working on 500GB and 1TB versions. Single system may accommodate hundreds and even thousands of discs, providing petabytes of archival storage.

In addition to being useful to business enterprises, archival storage may also be considered by individual households. Digital media nowadays is so universal, that it captures many personal family memories and stories: home videos, pictures, family portraits – over the course of time this content requires more and more storage capacity. Optical media storage is a reliable way of storing these memories: it does not consume electricity and it is more resistant to external threats.

Would you consider storing your personal archives on optical media? Could it be the next page data archiving history?