Weekly Readings - 30 June 2006

The National Archives and the San Diego Supercomputer Center Sign Landmark Agreement to Preserve Critical Data. Press release. U.S. Newswire. June 28, 2006.

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC), with the National Science Foundation, signed an agreement that provides a way to preserve valuable digital data collections. "Preserving our most valuable digital assets is critical for leadership and competitiveness in research and education.” The agreement will allow SDSC to “expand and formalize its role as a national data repository, and provide a venue for the preservation of valued digital collections from federally sponsored research.”


EMC Plans to Bring Out Data Classification System. Bradley Mitchell. Computerworld. June 26, 2006.

EMC announced plans to ship data classification software later this year that will allow storage administrators set up policies automatically categorize data by its importance and store it using a hierarchical storage management system. Critical data will be more accessible and on faster devices; less frequently used data will be store on slower and less expensive devices. The system will initially work with unstructured information, but will eventually support databases as well, a company executive said last week.


PowerFile Introduces Permanent Storage Appliance. Computer Technology Review. June 19, 2006.

PowerFile, Inc., which develops archive appliances for permanent storage of digital content and assets, has introduced the Permanent Storage Appliance. The appliance is a network-attached storage system that uses a patented, highly scalable DVD-based subsystem with the capability to store files online for many years.


Toshiba to Launch World's First HD DVD Recorder. Kiyoshi Takenaka. eWeek. June 22, 2006.

Toshiba announced that in July it will launch its new high-definition optical disc recorder based on the HD DVD format. It will come with a 1TB hard drive. They will not be available outside of Japan at this time.

Sun, Microsoft answer Mass. call for ODF/Office converter. Eric Lai. Computerworld. June 29, 2006.

Several companies, including Sun and Microsoft, have responded to a call for software plug-ins to would allow Microsoft Office users to read and write files in the OpenDocument format (ODF). ODF is a free XML file international standard which is based on the open-source OpenOffice suite. Microsoft is supplying technical documents and intellectual property rights to third-party developers working on such a plug-in.