Sony has begun shipping its blue laser Professional Disc for Data (PDD) optical drives and media.

The system, which offers up to 23GB of storage capacity, is being initially aimed at system integrators and OEMs, but Sony expects to offer product under its own name during Q1 2004. Sony didn't disclose pricing, but the drives and media costs are expected to be significant.

Sony is pitching PDD against today's DAT, CD and DVD back-up and archiving systems. The electronics giant touts the format's capacity and data transfer speed of 11MBps - more if data compression is turned on. PDD's native storage capacity is more than double commonplace MO storage products.

The 12cm PDD discs are fitted inside airtight protective cartridges. Rewriteable and write-once versions are on offer. The 5.25in drive, dubbed the BW-F101, connects to the host system across a Ultrawide 160 SCSI interface.

Sony re-iterated its plan to ship a second-generation drive by 2005 that offers a 50GB capacity and 22MBps data transfer rate. Third-generation products will double those figures. ®

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