Covering the Period from June of 2006 through
May of 2007
Title of INCITS Subgroup: Optical Digital Data Disks
Links:
For around 10 years, standards for optical disks and their cartridges have been formalized by Ecma/TC31 first and then submitted to JTC 1 as fast-track candidates by Ecma, which holds Category A Liaison in JTC 1. B11’s activities correspondingly declined to its own administration and its TAG assignment for JTC 1/SC23. Recently, however, new work was approved in SC23 on (archival) data migration using writable DVD discs.
B11 was restarted in 2007 and currently has 6 members with 5 having acquired voting rights at the first meeting on June 4. A second meeting will be necessary later this summer to prepare for a joint meeting of SC23 and Ecma/TC31 in Montreux in September. B11 also expects to participate in new work in SC23 (N1435) on data migration using writable DVD discs
During the period covered by this report, B11 responded to INCITS requests for recommendations on maintenance of national and international standards and other SC23 issues including approval of the following fast-track ballot:
B11 had minimum participation at the beginning of this period, and two of the four organizations did not renew their memberships for the INCITS fiscal year that started in December. This decline probably reflected lack of interest by the promoters of the next-generation Blu-ray and HD DVD formats in pursuing formal standardization of their specifications. B11 was subsequently disbanded by the Executive Board at its meeting in January.
In February, the National Body of Japan proposed new work in SC23 on data migration using writable DVDs. This development attracted new B11 members including AIIM International, Electronic Image Designers, MAM-A and Verbatim. The INCITS Executive Board, at their meeting in April, re-established B11 with its SC23 TAG assignment and requested that the due date for the new work proposal be extended by one month. The SC23 Secretariat subsequently extended the due date to June 13, and B11 recommended approval at its formation meeting, which was held by teleconference on June 4. The NP ballot closed on June 13 with five P members committed to participation. Since this is the minimum set by the JTC 1 directives, re-establishment of B11 with its SC23 TAG assignment was essential.
The biggest challenge for B11 and SC23 is the perception that JTC 1’s national-body process is very slow. Furthemore, Ecma has made effective use (as Category A liaison) of JTC1’s fast-track process for standardization of physical formats and cartridges for optical discs for more than 10 years. Now SC23’s new project presents an opportunity to regain the confidence of the optical-disc industry in the national-body process.
|
Meeting Number |
Date |
Location |
|
1 |
June 4, 2007 |
Teleconference |
|
Meeting Number |
Date |
Location |
|
2 |
September 10, 2007 (tentative) |
Teleconference |
At the first meeting of the new B11, Terry Nelson was appointed its liaison to AIIM in their capacity as the US TAG for ISO/TC171 (Document Management Applications).
|
Position (and training date) |
Name and organization represented |
|
Chair (acting) |
Terry Nelson, Panasonic Technologies |
|
Vice Chair |
|
|
Secretary |
|
|
International Representative (acting) |
Terry Nelson, Panasonic Technologies |
|
Vocabulary Representative |
|
This list reflects the status of B11’s members as of the first meeting on June 4, 2007.
Because of the low cost per unit of storage
already achieved with writable optical discs, archival applications should
be attractive. However, reliable long-term data
retention has different requirements from data interchange. A number of organizations have begun working on these
requirements. Ecma and OSTA, in particular,
are finalizing a specification for testing to qualify writable DVD media
for archival applications. However, such testing
is necessarily destructive, so the results are only statistical for media
in actual use, which should therefore be periodically tested and eventually
replaced. ISO/TC171 is working on testing
designed to verify that data on UDO and holographic media
has been recorded correctly and remains readable for the required amount
of time. For writable DVDs, the National Body
of Japan proposed new work (SC23N1435) to develop a “Data
migration method for DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD-RAM, +R, and +RW disks.” B11 supported this proposal and also indicated our
intent to participate in the work.
B11 has no finances to report as no money was carried over, collected or spent. It is not clear yet whether the 50% increase in TC dues will be a problem next year. However, members might like to know whether INCITS costs, allowing for inflation, are rising in proportion the amount of work performed for the TCs.