Falcon Technologies International – Page 2

“Meet The Team” – Issue 4

IN A NEW SERIES OF ARTICLES, WE WILL LOOK AT THE INDIVIDUAL ROLES OF A CROSS-SECTION OF DIFFERENT FTI EMPLOYEES. FOR OUR FOURTH ISSUE OF “MEET THE TEAM” WE SPEAK TO MR. NEIL BROCK

WHAT IS YOUR NAME?

My name is Neil Brock and I am from Manchester in the UK.

WHAT IS YOUR CURRENT POSITION IN FTI?

I am currently the sales and business development manger for Europe, having worked for the company since 2009 and held a number of different roles.

WHAT DOES YOUR ROLE INVOLVE?

FTI has recently evolved its business strategy to move towards a partner-distribution model, and my principle responsibility is to manage the master distribution agreements FTI has in place with three key distribution partners in Europe. Technically, this responsibility is relatively new for me as the new business strategy was rolled out within the last month, however the distribution partners we have chosen are ones I have been working with for several years so there is an excellent relationship in place already and I see this change in role as a positive development. Also, I am responsible for new sales and business development in new territories such as Eastern Europe where FTI’s brand is less well known, plus I also manage a select number of key FTI customers on a direct basis.

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR TYPICAL DAY AT FTI?

Being based in the UK, I work remotely from the central FTI office in Ras Al Khaimah. Much of my day is spent communicating with the team to ensure that I keep track of product developments which equips me with any new information available to assist with the business of growing sales for FTI in Europe. The other side of my daily activities involves liaison with clients and distributors to enable their requests and needs are effectively communicated to my manufacturing and production colleagues back in the RAK central office. While I would say that no two days are the same, the crucial, central factor to my role which I employ on a daily basis is the ability to both listen and communicate effectively.

WHAT ARE THE MAIN CHALLENGES YOU FACE IN YOUR ROLE?

I would say there are three skills that are essential to my role – communication, innovation and negotiation. I often find myself in a position whereby I am the “interpreter” between our clients and our manufacturing operations. For this, it is essential that I understand enough detail about the requirements and workings of both to be able to innovate different solutions which ensure that our clients needs are met, whilst our manufacturing and production teams continue to adhere to their high working practices and standards. Innovating such solutions is the biggest challenge of my role, however it is one that I enjoy and makes the job interesting and worthwhile.

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE TEAM THAT YOU WORK WITH?

My main contact with the team is via the senior management, especially the leaders of the product management department, who I communicate with on a very regular basis. I also work closely with the ordering processing team, and in general I would describe all the people I work with as very efficient and trustworthy. I also enjoy the multi-cultural nature of the people that I deal with, and during my tenure at FTI I have learned a lot about how cultural norms differ from region to region, and how to adapt my own communication style accordingly. That said, no matter what the cultural background of my colleagues at FTI one common thread is that everyone shares a positive attitude and a willingness to succeed.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE TO DO OUTSIDE FTI?

Running is my main passion outside work – I have run 7 marathons and hope to break the 3 hour mark when I run the London marathon in April this year. I have also ran the RAK Half Marathon on my travels to Ras Al Khaimah, and I must say it is a fantastic event and a great course for runners. I am married with two adult children, who are both following their own career paths in the UK (based in London and Leeds respectively) and I enjoy sampling local cuisines when I travel.

Falcon Technologies International unveils regional partnerships in new global distribution strategy.

Ras Al Khaimah, UAE, January 29th 2018 – Optical Media storage specialist Falcon Technologies International (FTI) has announced the formation of a number of key regional distribution partnerships in support of the company’s new worldwide strategy to increase sales and distribution via closer cooperation with the key players in the global optical media industry.

FTI’s new strategy is a pro-active step towards adapting to the shifting market dynamics of the optical media industry, which have evolved in the last 2 years towards consolidation into a smaller number of larger market players within all major territories globally.

In Europe, FTI has entered into distribution agreements with River Pro Audio to cover UK and Ireland, with Media Range to cover Northern Europe, and with Synoptic to cover Southern Europe. Each distribution partner has specialist knowledge and distribution networks in their respective territories and the existing, long-standing relationship each partner currently enjoys with FTI was a key factor in their selection as partners.

Within China, FTI has entered into an agreement with Yuen Data Technology Limited, who will serve as the official distributor of FTI archival, medical and professional products for the Chinese market. The partnership has been effective since January 2018.

FTI’s new distribution agreements come shortly after two other important news were announced; earlier this month FTI confirmed the opening of FTI US LLC to serve the dual functions of further improving its customer service to its North American customers, as well as gaining a larger footprint in the territory, and during 2017 FTI entered into an agreement with Verbatim to act as Verbatim’s exclusive distributor for their optical media products to countries in the Middle East.

FTI CEO Michael Gutowski said: “The optical media market has seen a number of partnerships and mergers take place in the last few years, and today we can see that the global future of the industry will be more heavily influenced by a smaller number of key companies as the sector moves towards a more consolidated position. FTI is one of those key market players, and given that our core strength is our professional focus and attitude, we have made the strategic decision to focus on being the number one global professional optical media manufacturer and made alliances with strategic distribution partners in our key market territories. This strategy will ensure that FTI is best positioned to take advantage of the current market consolidation and will place FTI’s products at the top of the scale as regards quality and reliability”.

Press Release – Falcon Technologies International to open a new branch office in North America.

Ras Al Khaimah, UAE, January 3^rd 2018 – Optical Media storage specialist Falcon Technologies International (FTI) has announced the opening of a new business unit and branch office to cover the North American market.

The new company, which is called FTI US LLC, has been established to support FTI’s growing portfolio of clients in North America, and to capitalize on their success in that market where FTI has been steadily increasing in awareness and market penetration as one of the key suppliers of quality optical media solutions to multiple industrial sectors.

FTI CEO Michael Gutowski said: “The USA has always been a very important market for FTI and our business operations have been established there as far back as 2007, however in line with the growth that FTI has experienced in many territories and especially in the USA, our existing market infrastructure in North America needed to be expanded to cope with growing customer demand. We have therefore set up FTI US LLC for precisely this purpose, which will serve the dual functions of continuing our customer service to our North American customers, as well as gaining a larger footprint in the territory.”

FTI US LLC will be represented by Fred Perez and his team, who has partnered with FTI since their entry to the North American market. FTI US LLC commenced operations officially on January 1st 2018.

“Meet The Team” – Issue 3

IN A NEW SERIES OF ARTICLES, WE WILL LOOK AT THE INDIVIDUAL ROLES OF A CROSS-SECTION OF DIFFERENT FTI EMPLOYEES. FOR OUR THIRD ISSUE OF “MEET THE TEAM” WE SPEAK TO MR. LOUIS TSU.

WHAT IS YOUR NAME?

My name is Louis Tsu, I am originally from Cork in Ireland and currently live in Geneva, Switzerland.

WHAT IS YOUR CURRENT POSITION IN FTI?

I am the sales manger for the Asia-Pacific region, which from FTI’s perspective is essentially focused on Japan.

WHAT DOES YOUR ROLE INVOLVE?

My role is centered around developing FTI’s marketplace position in Japan, which is the birthplace of optical media technology and where are all the principle global players in the optical media industry are based – this includes Mitsubishi Chemical Medience Corporation (MCM), who are the owners of Verbatim, one of FTI’s key partners in the Middle Eastern region. Japan is where vendors, producers, manufacturers, clients and other important stakeholder groups in the optical media space interact, cross-correlate and form the business basis of the optical media industry on a global basis and my job is to ensure that I have the awareness of the market developments and the relationships in place to ensure that FTI can maximize its reach and influence on the wider industry through our market penetration of Japan. Whilst my role is essentially a “sales” role, the key component to ensuring success for FTI is effective communication, and cultural awareness plays an important part in this. FTI is continuing to work hard on developing effective sales tools and greater infrastructure in Japan to promote greater market penetration, however a cultural understanding of how market dynamics work and an insight into the culture of decision making – which is very different from other global markets and tends to be dictated by market trends rather than by individuals – is central to how I conduct business for the maximum benefit of FTI.

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR TYPICAL DAY AT FTI?

In my role, there really is no such thing as a typical day. Being based in Europe, with a central management office in the Middle East and marketplace in Japan, one of the most important aspect to my job is time-flexibility and an ability to seamlessly flip between different cultural business practices, depending on who I am dealing with. The main department I deal with in the central FTI office in Ras Al Khaimah is the Product Management department, and I often have conference calls with my colleagues to discuss latest product innovations, but also to provide feedback on market intelligence on what is happening within the crucial Japanese market. I also have many contacts in Japan that I deal with on regular basis, spread across a wide range of the different technical specializations of the optical media market. Whilst no two days are the same, every day requires me to be an effective communicator and that skill is key to my role.

WHAT ARE THE MAIN CHALLENGES YOU FACE IN YOUR ROLE?

The main challenge I face is to position FTI on the next level with regard to market influence in Japan. I am working with the central team to get improved tools in place to assist with this objective, plus I contribute to the structural set-up of how we intend to develop our infrastructure in Japan to push FTI to higher level of market influence in Japan, which will in turn positively affect our global influence.

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE TEAM YOU WORK WITH?

I have worked at FTI now for 7 years, and always remotely, and have a diverse range of experience in terms of being part of and liaising with different teams and departments within the company. One consistent feature I have observed during my tenure is that the company is quite robust in terms of its team composition and the tenure of staff – many people that I deal with have been working at FTI for longer than me and some since the company inception back in 2005, so for someone like me working in a different continent and timezone to the rest of the team, it is good to see that so many of the people I have worked with over the years are still working at FTI, which is a testament to the strong working culture which exists there to this day.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE TO DO OUTSIDE FTI?

I am a keen musician and play the guitar and harmonica – and sometimes both together! At a recent FTI seminar in Ras Al Khaimah, myself and some colleagues had the honor of entertaining the wider team with an exhibition of our musical talents when we performed some songs at an FTI social evening. As a resident of Switzerland I take advantage of the great skiing conditions and try to ski regularly, plus I enjoy cooking, wine and spending time with my family.

“Meet The Team” – Issue 1

In a new series of articles, we will look at the individual roles of a cross-section of different FTI employees. For our first issue of “Meet The Team” we speak to Mr. Vishal Sharma.

What is Your name?

My name is Vishal Sharma and I am from Delhi, India

What is your current position in FTI?

I am the manager of the manufacturing department in FTI. I started with FTI back in 2006, shortly after the plant opened, so I now have 11.5 years of service with the company and am one if FTI’s longest-serving employees.

What does your role involve?

My main responsibility to manage the manufacturing and production floor. I manage a large team of people, and I have several managers that report into me who are responsible for different aspects of the manufacturing, however I have the overall responsibility to ensure that production quotas, based on orders coming through from the sales teams, are met on time and adhere to our quality standards.

In addition to this key function, I am also responsible for disc labelling, printing, and the special solutions used for disc manufacturing. Recently I have expanded my remit to also cover warehousing and purchasing, so my role covers many different areas of expertise.

How would you describe your typical day at FTI?

Given the wide range of responsibilities that I cover, I would say that there is no such thing as a “typical” working day at FTI, however I typically like to be in the office early before the rest of the team arrive, so I am usually here by 7.30am. This gives me an opportunity to go through my emails and prepare for the day. Most days involve meetings with the various managers of my wider team where I receive updates on various aspects of the manufacturing operations and provide direction on how whatever issues we could be facing. I also spend some time on most days with the Chief Operations Officer, Mr. Mattia Balestra, whom I report into.

What are the main challenges you face in your role?

The main challenges for me are meeting production quotas for the sales teams and ensuring that the team have the correct mix of skills necessary to keep quality standards at the high level FTI are known for. Both challenges require me to have a combination of flexibility, an innovative approach and total commitment to the company, however I’m happy to say that there is no challenge we have not been able to find a solution for to date.

How would you describe the team you work with?

I would say that there is an excellent spirit and of teamwork within FTI, and the togetherness ethos that we enjoy today is exemplified by the fact that many of my colleagues have worked here at FTI for over 10 years, so there is great synergy and understanding within the team – we are more like a family than a team.

What are the best things about working for FTI?

I would say that the duty of care to employees ingrained in the culture of FTI is one of the best things about working here. The company places a lot of importance on ensuring that the employees are well looked after from a welfare perspective – regardless of what is happening in the wider commercial environment for the optical media industry – and I think that this is one of the reasons why so many employees have been here for so long.

What do you like to do outside FTI?

I am married with one child (a boy), so I like to spend time at home with my family as much as possible. My hobbies include horse-riding, which is something that is a tradition in my family as my Father was serving in the Indian Army and I had the opportunity to ride horses at a very young age. I also enjoy basketball and volleyball, which are sport that I excelled at when I was younger, representing my school and national level in both. I like to follow the Indian cricket team, and to relax I enjoy watching Bollywood movies, especially those which feature the actor Amir Khan. My favorite movie? It has to be the Amir Khan movie “The Three Idiots”.

What is sound mastering and why is it important for professional media duplication?

Modern sound recording industry as we know it today is a result of almost a century of continuous development and technical progress. We very often perceive it to be something that was around forever, and the high-quality FM broadcasts and live concert sound became something that is heard every day. Bot not many do actually think about the volume of work that stands behind that sound quality level.

The professional sound recording is a complex and multi-stage process that employs tens, and sometimes even hundreds of qualified professionals. One of the most important stages of this process is called mastering. You probably heard this term before. But what is sound mastering and why is it so important?

Broadly put, it’s both the final stage in the creative production of a track or album and the initial stage of its manufacture (where a physical product is concerned, such as a CD or vinyl) or output (ie, WAV/MP3 delivery to a download portal). In the early days of mass-produced music, it was the job of a skilled individual to physically transfer a final mix from tape to the ‘master’ vinyl record, which would then be sent for duplication.

As record labels realised that skilfully-applied processing could make a big difference in the perceived quality of music, mastering engineers were given more creative freedom to enhance mixes with equalisation and compression techniques. In today’s digital age, the mastering engineer is still essentially the middle-man between the finished mix and the consumer, correcting any ‘errors’ in the mix, making enhancements where needed, and editing/ submitting the final ‘master’ file for release – all without compromising the artistic vision of the original artist or creatively altering the mix.

So why doesn’t the mix engineer simply take on the task of mastering too? A mastered track should sound as good as possible on as many playback systems as possible, achieving a professional and consistent sound whether listened to on a car stereo, club sound system, cheap earphones, television, mobile phone, and so on. A producer or mix engineer has likely spent countless hours creatively blending multiple elements together to craft the final mix, and in doing so has ‘overlistened’ to the track in the same studio, which may not be the ideal listening environment. The mastering engineer is a final, experienced pair of ears that can objectively listen to the track, correct errors introduced by an imperfect mixing studio, and transparently sweeten a piece of music further.

Fans and listeners are used to hearing modern music coated with a professionally-mastered ‘sheen’ – sparkling highs, deep bass, consistent frequency spread and dynamic balance. Today’s songs and albums must compete with other professional records. A skilled mastering engineer has the equipment, experience, and ears to help a mix sit beside other commercial releases, adding that final 5-10% of polish.

Collections of individual tracks – whether destined for an EP, album or compilation – can each sound tonally and dynamically separate from each other. The mastering engineer will ensure the final collection of songs all sit together as a single cohesive product.

So basically, it is all about consistency and final polishing of the soundtrack. Sort of an additional quality assurance measure on the final stage of a master copy production, that is further on duplicated on a mass-production scale.

Quality of sound will also depend on the quality of the media storage it is recorded to. Therefore, choosing the right means of duplication is probably even more important than mastering itself.

Falcon Technologies International develops and produces professional optical media oriented towards different market sectors for more than 10 years now, and one of the sectors we prioritize, is media duplication.

Our FalconMEDIA DUPLI Line is a product that was tailored to meet the needs of professional media duplicators. It performs to good quality level with benchmark and quality control tests proving that DUPLI Line products have one of the lowest variability rates throughout the industry, which makes them a perfect solution for media duplication.

Next Generation of Optical Media is coming with the Archival Disc

Next generation of the optical disc is announced to be launched in the nearest future. The maximum data storage capacity on a single optical disc that is available on the market now is up to 500 GB, and the new format is going to be able to store twice of that.

The discs are called ‘Archival disc’ and it is claimed that the storage unit can retain its data for more than a 100 years.

Higher capacities in optical storage are made possible due to smaller sized pits and marks and shorter wavelength lasers and improved drawing rates. In the case of the ‘Archival Discs’ alternative approach is used: extra data is recorded on the land areas between grooves that are traditionally unused.

Optical discs have great potential to further enhance their recording density and storage capacity with technological advancements in, for example, signal processing technology. If we compare the growth in the recording density of HDDs, optical discs, and magnetic tapes, in 10 years, from 2016 to 2026, the recording density will improve by 7~15% for HDDs and 30~46% for optical discs. For the magnetic tapes, the increase is estimated to be less than 30%. To estimate the longevity of the media, industry standard acceleration tests were conducted. Error occurrence rates were measured in temperatures 30℃ and above and in less than 70% humidity. These tests estimate that the prototypes of the Archive Discs can reliably store data for more than 100 years. On the other hand, hard disks have a lifespan of a few years, and magnetic tapes a dozen or so years.

Because optical discs have a long life, unlike hard disks and magnetic tapes, there is no need to regularly migrate data from degraded media to new media. Moreover, optical discs do not require operations or cooling of facilities that are associated with hard disks, therefore, long-term storing of data on optical discs can reduce power consumed as well as costs incurred. If 1PB (petabyte) of data is stored for 20 years on HDDs, magnetic tapes, and optical discs, with widely available HDDs and magnetic tapes, the costs come out to be around the same, whereas with optical discs, it is estimated that the data could be stored at half the cost.

Another technology used on the Archival Discs is,”Crosstalk-cancelling technology”. This technology cancels crosstalk noise generated by adjacent tracks. This should ensure playback quality without read errors, even with narrow track pitches.

Falcon Technologies International is constantly monitoring the overall trends of the optical media market and tends to allocate its resources towards innovation and improvement of its professional product lines, in particular, the Century Archival, which is a cutting-edge technology, built with Gold or Platinum layer to ensure maximum security, longevity and protection for stored data proven by a number of internal and independent third-party tests.

Source: guru3d

PRESS RELEASE – Falcon Technologies International to begin official roll-out of Verbatim products in the Middle Eastern region.

Falcon Technologies International (FTI) will begin their roll-out of Verbatim-branded data storage, computer peripherals and accessories to the Middle Eastern market on August 29th 2017. The roll-out follows the announcement of an exclusive agreement with Verbatim back in May 2017 to distribute Verbatim products to countries in the Middle East.

The Verbatim product range, which covers well over 100 individual product lines, has not previously been available to customers in the Middle East via established distribution channels and with high-quality customer services, both of which FTI will supply to the customer service experience. Despite being one of the largest suppliers of optical media and other related products globally, Verbatim’s penetration of the Middle Eastern market has up to now has been very limited.

FTI CEO Michael Gutowski said, “FTI are looing forward to utilizing our well-established connections and distribution channels in the region to effectively launch a new and high-quality brand, which compliments well with FTI own-branded products in terms of quality and associated customer service. We are sure that the roll-out of the Verbatim items in our region will have a positive impact on the brand equity of both FTI and Verbatim as distinct brands, whilst also strengthening our combined presence in the Middle Eastern market as one of the key technology product providers to multiple industries.”

Gary Milner, VP Sales & Marketing at Verbatim GmbH said, “The coming-to-fruition of the partnership between Verbatim and FTI, which has been carefully planned over several months, is a very exciting development in our cooperation and we have full confidence that FTI – with their connections, networks and reputation for quality in the region – will provide an effective vehicle to grow both our respective brands and develop a majority market share within the Middle East.”

The future of archiving

We all know content is king but just as important is the need to prepare, protect and preserve the content through viable and long lasting solutions.

Within the video production industry alone, data-heavy content such as HD, 4K and high frame rate videos are exponentially growing by the day. Subsequently, these newly created assets need to be managed effectively, stored safely, and utilised along with the old assets.

Broadcasters, production companies, and other content holders are not only handling large and growing quantities of daily content, but are also much concerned with digitising the massive VTR assets currently sitting on shelves. As it becomes increasingly possible to effectively manage and rapidly search these materials via shared networks, new potential is discovered for the reuse of such assets.

As data volumes rise, so do storage costs – making it essential to implement storage systems that distinguish between hot (frequently accessed), warm (occasionally accessed), and cold (infrequently accessed) data, and se-lecting the best storage media for each. The main obstacle for content owners is to ensure the ability to preserve, access, and re-use their valuable assets without incurring repeated investment, and huge running costs.

The requirements of long term reliability, the ability to maintain large quantities of data at relatively low costs, and the ability to maintain data integrity in “green environments” with limited environmental controls are essential.

Sony is convinced that optical disc storage fills all of these requirements, and is therefore ideal for warm and cold storage. The new technology, with open and non-proprietary formats, involves the use of multiple bare discs contained within a robust cartridge and a dedicated disc drive unit with an associated software driver able to manipulate the discs individually – providing a seamless read/write capability.

The non-contact read/write technology offers the ability to access data with remarkable speed compared to tape data that necessitates the physical fast-forwarding and rewinding of a tape, 800 metres or more in length, until the location of the required data is reached. Also, it’s never going to jam, tangle or snap.

The fact remains that optical discs are considerably more durable than hard-disk storage systems or magnetic tape based media, with a 100-year shelf life expectancy. The system is highly reliable and optimised for long-term archiving. It also succeeds in keeping down total archiving costs, and has a low environmental footprint. It offers accessibility, high speed, and can be scalable to fit the users’ needs which can begin with small archive stored on a few shelves, and expand into a large library as data accumulates.

Whilst the professional AV media industry has moved steadily from its tape based origins toward file based workflows for acquisition, post-production and distribution, the archive domain continues to remain largely tape-based. An alternative modern day solution, the Optical Disc Archive (ODA), has been created helping organisations achieve safe, long-term storage of video, photos, text, and other important digital assets.

Both LTO magnetic tape and Optical Disc Archive are viable cold storage options. The most common complaint from the user community is the constant need to migrate valuable assets from one form of tape media to the next version upgrade simply to maintain a viable archive. This requirement for copy migration every two generations (approximately five to six years), incurs substantial media and labour costs.

By leveraging the proving optical technologies, and inter-generational compatibility of optical discs, ODA technology can store important data safely, eliminating the need for migration every few years. This eliminates the need for media, hardware and software re-investment, as well as the cost of human resources required to perform copying work, resulting in reduced total cost of ownership.

ODA solutions are also ideal for deep archive, whereas data tape does not provide the assurance or meet the need for very long-term archive requirements. It also provides a second copy broadcast archive solution at a remote site and is suitable for business continuity, disaster recovery, post house and production back-up and, for video, film and stock footage archives or AV national archives. The system can also be used for news and sports clips that need to be near-online and as an on-line browse and proxy clip store.

Recently, Sony unveiled the second generation of its Optical Disc Archive System, which doubles the capacity of a single cartridge, and doubling read/write speeds over the previous generation, accommodating 4K video in real time, and maintains backwards read compatibility with first generation optical disc drives.

Optical disc archive can serve as the core of highly productive archive systems capable of managing and storing valuable, high-volume data—including 4K video, future-generation video, older video assets, and multimedia video content.

The technology is future proof and achieves a revolutionary jump in the world of data storage ideal for any circumstance.

Now and in future, this system delivers an efficient, secure, and reliable archive solution. Unlike data tape technology, where you have to migrate your content or you can’t access it as your technology moves on, the Optical Disc Archive media written today, will be readable by the drives of tomorrow.

Bottom line is with the current region pre-dominantly tape based, it is now time to transition towards the future. Optical disc archiving is the way forward – it is a solution that is long term, economical, and ultimately scala-ble to grow with your business.

Written by Nabil El Madbak

Source: ScreenAfrica

When buying Professional Optical Media, pay attention to these points

Choosing the right product is always challenging. With all this competition on international markets, we may find a wide variety of options on the shelves out there: it is always about choices we make. But what defines our choice: is it price, quality, logo, recommendations of friends? Normally it is a combination of many factors that define our choice.

Choices that consumers make are driven by different types of triggers, but when you are purchasing something very specific and technical, it is necessary to be rational, as your choice can actually influence many things in future. It is very true for the market we operate in – data storage and informational security.

Choosing the right optical media may also be challenging, as there are so many manufacturers and everyone claims superior quality and longevity, however not all of them are transparent and honest in what they actually communicate in their promotional messages.

Here are some points worth paying attention to, when choosing the right optical media:

Raw material: Quality comes from Quality!

Reliable sourcing of high-quality raw materials is the fundamental element to manufacture quality products.

FTI uses the best Polycarbonate, internally develops our high-grade dye and utilizes the best material for its Optical Media recording layers such as Silver, Gold and Platinum in order to minimize batch-to-batch variation and reliable definition and selection of archival grade discs.

Lifetime Claims: Check the source!

Some manufacturers claim product durability that lasts for years, even hundreds of years, but do not explain how they came up with their figures or back up their claims.

FTI Archival grade Optical discs have estimated archival lifetimes exceeding 100 years or even 300 years. These lifetime estimations are obtained using recognize and verifiable Industry storage tests so called accelerated lifetime tests. Mathematical models such as the Arrhenius model 1.1 or the Eyring model 1.2 extrapolates the lifetimes observed at high storage temperatures into expected lifetimes at room temperature and enable predictions of how many years the recorded data can safely be recovered when the discs are stored at normal room or office temperatures.

Dye and Recording Layer Resistance: The Best for Less!

The metal layer(s) used must be corrosion resistant to offer robustness against minor included defects over the lifetime of the disc. Gold reflecting layers offer this robustness at an increase in cost over silver.

FalconMedia Archival grade Platinum-alloy solution is the latest development in archival grade optical discs to offer robustness while maintaining the cost advantages of optical disc storage by producing media with all the benefits of Gold media but at a more competitive price.

Quality Control Production Process: History doesn’t lie!

Finally, select a manufacturing Company that has consistently proven to supply reliable quality products. This is the best guarantee that quality control, product grading, process control and product stability are handled in a professional quality-conscious way that ensures every shipment and every disc meets the archival grade requirements.

We pride ourselves on our dedicated technical support and high-quality Control provided to our customers. FalconMedia is such a product from such a Company. FalconMedia is the perfect solution if you want to be assured your data will be retrievable and usable in the years, decades and centuries to come.

Printable Options: Consistency!

All FTI printable layers, regardless of product, adhere to FTI’s internal quality standards to ensure a consistently high-quality product regardless of product line. Our internal testing has demonstrated the following features compared to competitors:

Superior sustainability of printable layers before and after testing
Improved water resistance of the disc
Greater durability due to excellent bonding with substrate
Better results for ink drying

Guarantees: Be Covered!

The Company warrants that the Goods will be free from material defects under normal conditions of use and when used in conjunction with the appropriate equipment.

Customers can return to FTI, within 6 months of receipt of a shipment, products which are alleged to be defective or which do not comply with the order.

Security: No Forgeries Allowed!

In the security Law enforcement and legal world, security is key.

Make sure that your Optical Media is traceable and has a unique number to avoid forgeries and unauthorized copies.

FTI discs have a unique serial number and are 100% traceable!

Falcon Technologies International LLC is continuously performing benchmark and quality control tests under extreme conditions to ensure consistent batch to batch quality and product longevity.

Tests versus competitors have shown that FTI products:

Show up to 25% better results in accelerated aging test in comparison to any other analog products
Perform extremely well compared to notable competitors in standard industry measurements such as Tracking Errors (41% less errors) and Focus Errors (37% errors)
Show an error rate 50% lower compared to notable competitors after 250 hours of extreme environment conditions tests (PISum8)
Have excellent cross-compatibility with the major disc drive manufacturers including Pioneer, TEAC, Asus, Samsung and LG.
The sustainability of FTI discs and printable layers is superior to competitors before and after testing, with a lower possibility of disc failure based on internal comparison tests.
Show minimal disc-to-disc variation on key mechanical deviation measurements (vertical / radial / tangential deviations).