Sony and Panasonic have jointly announced that they have signed an agreement to team up and develop the next-generation of optical discs - discs that can hold at least 300GB of data by the end of 2015.
One can of course, safely assume that these discs are intended for 4K resolutions, despite the fact that sales of physical media is down and streaming content continues to increase in popularity.
Both companies feel however, that optical media is "a robust medium for long-term storage of content." It's hard to argue that with Blu-ray, the discs are quite durable and don't scratch, unlike CDs and DVDs, though Blu-rays currently have a capacity of 25GB, while there are some extra large Blu-ray discs that can hold more, though they are typically for broadcast products.
In a statement, Sony said of the need for optimized optical media that:
In recent years, there has been an increasing need for archive capabilities, not only from video production industries, such as motion pictures and broadcasting, but also from cloud data centers that handle increasingly large volumes of data following the evolution in network services. Both Sony and Panasonic have a proven track record in developing Blu-ray Disc format technologies, and by actively promoting the adoption of a new standard for next-generation high-capacity optical discs, they intend to offer solutions that preserve valuable data for future generations.
Though Sony has already developed a 4K streaming video solution, don't be surprised to see 4K-capable discs on shelves in the near future if all goes according to plan.
via Examiner National Edition Gadgets & Tech Channel Articles http://www.examiner.com/article/sony-and-panasonic-teaming-up-for-next-gen-optical-discs?cid=roadrunner