[ARSCLIST] Optical disc testing and standards

[Marcos Sueiro <mls2137@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I just learned about this, even though it is from 2006. I do not think 
it has been mentioned here in the ARSCList.

http://www.ecma-international.org/news/PressReleases/PR_TC31_July2006.htm

Archival quality test for optical discs

OSTA and Ecma Join Forces to Establish Industry-wide Optical Disc 
Archival Testing Standard

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 25, 2006

The Optical Storage Technology Association (OSTA) announced today that 
it has signed an agreement with Ecma International to work together to 
finalize an industry-wide archival-grade optical disc specification. The 
purpose of this initiative is to address end user needs calling for 
established practices in media archive life testing and classification. 
The final goal is the issuance of an ISO standard available to industry 
for broad implementation.

Since its formation in Sept. 2005, OSTA’s Optical Disc Archival Testing 
(ODAT) Committee has worked with a multi-national group of industry 
experts to develop a draft specification for an archival standard. The 
ODAT Committee is composed of global manufacturers of 120mm optical 
media and drives, as well as university and government members. 
Participating manufacturers include Fuji, Imation, MAM-A Inc., Maxell, 
Memorex, Panasonic (Matsushita Electric), Ricoh, Sony, TDK, Toshiba, and 
Verbatim. The committee has also received support from other industry 
organizations, including Japan’s CDs21 and the Digital Content 
Association of Japan (DCAJ), and has held seminars and working sessions 
in the U.S. and Japan. Technical editing of the specification is led by 
Fred Byers of the US government’s National Institute of Standards and 
Technology (NIST) organization.

The ODAT Committee’s defined charter is to develop optical media 
archival test methodology and promote its implementation. Two working 
groups have addressed the technical and business promotion aspects of 
the archive test specification. Recently, the technical working group 
completed a first Ecma draft of the proposed archival test standard. The 
project was unanimously accepted by the Ecma TC31 committee at its 
recent meeting in Sapporo, Japan in late June. Further processing will 
take place under its charter.

Ecma is the inventor and main practitioner of the concept of "fast 
tracking" of specifications drafted in international standards format 
through the process in Global Standards Bodies such as the ISO. “Since 
1986, when fast tracking was introduced to ISO, over 75 percent of the 
total of about 300 fast-tracked standards have been managed through 
Ecma,” said Jan van den Beld, Ecma Secretary General.

“Under the OSTA organization, we brought together various independent 
groups that were working on similar ideas, in order to reach consensus 
on test methodology. Now we are partnering with Ecma in order to 
leverage their expertise in the creation of broadly adopted 
international standards,” said Chris Smith, chairman of OSTA’s ODAT 
Committee, general manager of Sony Corporation’s Data Media Business 
Development Center in Boulder, CO, and active member of Ecma TC31 that 
will develop the international standard. The anticipated end result is 
increased user awareness of archival quality of optical media as a 
critical purchase parameter,” explained Smith. “This will enhance 
customers’ ability to make informed purchases appropriate to their 
application needs by providing a standardized evaluation result 
indicator. This product differentiation is intended to eliminate any 
guesswork that takes place when deciding which media to use when long 
life of data is a desirable attribute.”

“From consumers who want to protect treasured photos and important 
school, business or tax records to commercial users who must comply with 
an increasing array of regulations requiring archival of correspondence, 
email and financial records, we believe there is a demand for a reliable 
optical disc archive standard rated for a longer life for storing 
important files on CDs and DVDs,” said David Bunzel, president of the 
Optical Storage Technology Association.

About the Optical Storage Technology Association (OSTA)

The Optical Storage Technology Association (OSTA) was incorporated as an 
international trade association in 1992 to promote the use of recordable 
optical technologies and products. The organization's membership 
includes optical product manufacturers and resellers from three 
continents, representing more than 85 percent of worldwide writable 
optical product shipments. They work to shape the future of the industry 
through regular meetings of DVD Compatibility, Commercial Optical 
Storage Applications (COSA), MPV, ODAT and UDF committees. Interested 
companies worldwide are invited to join the organization and participate 
in its programs by contacting an OSTA representative at (408) 253-3695, 
by fax at (408) 253-9938, or by addressing its Web site at 
http://www.osta.org.

About Ecma International

Since its inception in 1961, Ecma International (Ecma) has developed 
standards for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and 
Consumer Electronics (CE). Ecma is a non-profit industry association of 
technology developers, vendors and users. Experts from industry and 
other organizations work together at Ecma to develop standards. Ecma 
submits its work for approval as ISO, IEC, ISO/IEC and ETSI standards 
and is the inventor and main practitioner of “fast tracking” of 
specifications through the standardisation process in International 
Standards Organisations (ISOs) such as the ISO and the IEC. Publications 
can be downloaded free of charge from http://www.ecma-international.org/

--
Marcos Sueiro Bal
Audio/Moving Image Project Archivist
Preservation Division
Columbia University Libraries