Sony, Panasonic to work on 300GB optical disc

From the 650MB CD to the 4GB DVD and to the 50GB Blu-ray, the next optical media disc may contain a whopping 300 GB once it is release by 2015.

Sony and Panasonic have agreed to jointly develop the standard for these "professional-use next-generation optical discs."

"Both companies aim to improve their development efficiency based on the technologies held by each respective company, and will target the development of an optical disc with recording capacity of at least 300GB by the end of 2015," they said in a joint statement.

They will also continue to discuss the specifications and other items related to the development of the new standard.

Sony and Panasonic said optical discs have "excellent properties to protect them against the environment, such as dust-resistance and water-resistance, and can also withstand changes in temperature and humidity when stored."

Also, they said optical discs allow inter-generational compatibility between different formats, "ensuring that data can continue to be read even as formats evolve."

"This makes them a robust medium for long-term storage of content," they said.

It will not be the first time Sony and Panasonic work together, as they had developed products based on the Blu-ray format.

But they also noted optical discs will need to accommodate much larger volumes of storage in the future.

Before the joint work with Panasonic, Sony commercialized a file-based optical disc archive system in September 2012, housing 12 optical discs in a compact cartridge.

This July, Panasonic launched its LB-DM9 optical disc storage devices, using a magazine to house 12 100GB optical discs. — VC, GMA News