Japanese electronics major buys Optical Archive from former Facebook executiveBy Don Clark
Photo: Bloomberg NewsSony Corp. , known more for selling to consumers than companies, is taking a step outside its comfort zone by backing an effort by a former Facebook Inc. executive to bring optical data storage to corporate data centers.The Japanese electronics giant said it purchased the startup Optical Archive Inc. from Frank Frankovsky and would combine its technology with Sony’s established optical media offerings—like Blu-ray discs and players—to market new products to business customers.The companies announced the deal Wednesday without disclosing financial terms.Mr. Frankovsky led Facebook’s hardware design and supply-chain operations for about five years before leaving the social network in March 2014 to found Optical Archive. He is equally well known as head of the Open Compute Project, a multicompany effort that promotes open-source designs for computer servers and network switches of the sort used by Facebook and other Web companies.The startup never formally disclosed its product plans, which Mr. Frankovsky said would be unveiled soon. “We never came out of stealth mode,” he said in an interview. But he previously discussed his underlying goal-to provide an alternative to tape for long-term data storage that doesn’t have to be used frequently. Mr. Frankovsky argued that optical discs are the best option because of their lower cost, faster data-transfer speeds and durability.One of the startup’s goals is boosting data-storage capacity. Where Blu-ray discs typically store about 50 gigabytes, Mr. Frankovsky said, the company expects to market versions that will store 300 gigabytes. Another goal is developing jukebox-like hardware that can hold discs, fetch them and insert them in drives so data can be retrieved, Mr. Frankovsky said.Many companies use tape-cartridge storage systems that do much the same thing. But they often keep the devices in special repositories outside their data centers because of their size, Mr. Frankovsky said. As a result, retrieving archived information can take hours or days, he said.Optical Archive’s hardware will be compact enough to store tens of thousands of discs in a row of cabinets in a data center, allowing data to be retrieved much more quickly, Mr. Frankovsky said.Fujifilm Corp., a major supplier of tape cartridges as well as optical discs, disputed the idea that optical discs were superior for archival storage.While Blu-ray disc capacities as high as 1 terabyte have been announced, researchers have produced tape cartridges that store 10 terabytes, said Peter Faulhaber, president of Fujifilm Recording Media U.S.A. Other research has pointed to the possibility of cartridges with capacities up to 220 terabytes, he said.“In addition to far greater data density achievements, tape has significant advantages in transfer rate speed, reliability, scalability and total cost of ownership for small or large archives,” Mr. Faulhaber said in an emailed statement.He added that optical technology most likely would be suited only for small corporate archives.Mr. Frankovsky, for his part, predicted many companies would phase out hard disk drives in favor of devices that use flash memory chips, which are faster and have no moving parts to break down, while backing up data for long-term storage on optical discs.“Hard drives are nearing the end of their useful lives in the data center,” Mr. Frankovsky said.As part of Sony, Optical Archive would have greater financial resources to hire more people, set up distribution channels and collaborate with Sony engineers, he said.Sony, meanwhile, said it planned to expand its existing optical disc product lines to accommodate corporate demand for such technology.“This acquisition marks the beginning of our commitment to this growing market,” Terushi Shimizu, a Sony senior vice president and deputy president of its device solutions group, said in prepared remarks.