OSTA’S 6th ANNUAL OPTICAL STORAGE SYMPOSIUM SLATED FOR SEPT. 18th and 19th IN S. SAN FRANCISCO

OSTA’s Annual Symposium sessions and panelists are complete and a New Technology Venue and Opening Reception will be inaugurated to showcase new storage technology

CUPERTINO, Calif., August 27, 2007 — The Optical Storage Technology Association (OSTA) announced today that it will hold its sixth annual Optical Storage Symposium (OSS), “Perspectives and Prospects for Optical Storage,” on Wednesday, September 19, 2007, from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm, at the Embassy Suites Hotel in South San Francisco, California.  On the evening of September 18t,h, from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm, a New Technology Venue and Opening Reception at the Embassy Suites will feature optical RAID systems, holographic storage products and other advanced technology or future storage solutions under development. 

OSTA’s annual Optical Storage Symposium draws business and technology leaders from a diverse range of industry segments including consumer electronics, digital photography, entertainment, music, PCs, optical and archival storage to exchange ideas and keep pace with the latest industry trends.  Presentations and roundtable forums will focus on perspectives and prospects for optical storage technology and how it impacts each of these industry segments.

“OSTA’s OSS event has grown each year, and we hear from the attendees what a great benefit the symposium has been for them by providing a means to meet with executives
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from different industry segments to exchange ideas and the information needed to keep pace with the latest trends in the marketplace,” said David Bunzel, president of OSTA.  “Few events offer as focused an audience in the data storage market as OSS, and the New Technology Venue will allow emerging data storage technologies to be showcased,” added Bunzel.

Highlights follow for Optical Storage Symposium – 2007.  Registration information can be found online at http://www.osta.org/oss or call (408) 253-3695.

Wed., Sept. 19, 2007
8:30 am – 10:00 am - Market Perspectives of the Data Storage Industry
Moderator:
Parker Lee, VP, WW Business Development, XPLANE and OSTA Vice-Chairman
A panel of analysts and industry representatives from the optical drive, semiconductor, display, and camera markets will provide information on the current state of these industries and developments that might influence future trends.  Likely topics will include the current state of the blue laser markets, emerging holographic technology, and alternate magnetic data storage products.
Panelists include:
Charlie Andrews, IBM System Storage Tape Products, Director of Offering Marketing
Stephen Baker, NPD Group, Vice President of Industry Analysis
Jonathan Hubert, SanDisk: Director of Strategic Marketing
Stephen Manley, NetApp, Chief Architect, Data Protection and & Retention

10:15 am – noon – Photo Archiving – Where Have All Your Digital Photos Gone?!
Moderator: Melissa Perenson, PC World Magazine, Senior Products Editor

Digital photography has changed the way people use and store photo images.  The quantity of photos taken has grown exponentially because of the perception that digital pictures are free.  Photos are no longer saved in a shoe box or an album, but are typically
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stored on someone’s computer.  The hard disk drive is the main repository for digital images, but few users understand the vulnerability of this technology and that their whole photo collection can disappear in an instant.  Photo archiving is a concept the industry needs to understand and end users need to embrace.  This panel will discuss some of the critical issues in digital photography and what alternatives are available to protect consumer’s photo collections.
Panelists include:
Alexis Gerard, Future Image, CEO
Tony Stieber, Hewlett-Packard Company, Business Development Manager, Digital Photography
John Christopher, DriveSavers Data Recovery, Senior Data Recovery Engineer

Lunch:  OSTA Update – Developments in Optical Disc Archive Testing,
Commercial Optical Storage Archiving for Critical Applications, Achieving Compatibility Across CE Devices with the EVERPLAY  Specification
2:00 pm – 3:15 pm High-Capacity Optical Storage: Will Blue Laser or Holographic Storage be the Solution?
Moderator: Mike Johnson, Computer Upgrade Corporation, Director of Business Development.
Optical storage has not been able to realize its full potential in large-scale storage applications despite offering some compelling attributes.  A new chapter for optical may be opening with the commercialization of blue laser formats and holographic storage.  A new wave of optical systems featuring library and RAID type options could provide new opportunities for optical storage products.  Speakers representing these emerging technologies will discuss where optical storage can find a place in the data storage hierarchy.
Panelists include:
Horst Schellong, DISC Storage LLC, President
Nancy Fisher, CEO Data Distributing
Andy Richards, Plasmon
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3:30 pm – 4:45 pm New Technology Roundtable: Very “Big” Disks: the Coming Wave of Very Large-scale Optical Recording.
Moderator: Robert Zollo, President Software Architects, Inc., OSTA Chairman
Learn about the next big wave of optical recording technology that is about to impact our industry and lives.  Hear from executives of technology companies about a variety of next generation optical technologies designed to deliver hundred of gigabytes to terabytes of data in a single disk to novel compact configurations. Also find out about the next innovation of applying recordable DVD technology in a way that will impact each of us as consumers.
Liz Murphy, InPhase
Al Dripchak, Manager, Technical Support, Maxell  Corporation of America
Beth Erez, VP of Marketing, Mempile
Takashi Shigetomi, President, Intelligent Disc

For more information, please contact Debbie Maguire at debbie@osta.org, or call (408) 253-3695.  To register, visit the OSTA Web site at www.osta.org.

About the Optical Storage Technology Association (OSTA)

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