The cloud is getting bigger and bigger every single day. But with the cloud comes the increased ability for hackers from either government or non-government entities to access vital information. That makes the need for physical data storage more paramount than ever before. Enter Sony, and their brand new physical optical mass storage solution due for release this fall. The new technology contains twelve optical discs which will be seen as one volume sized between 300GB and 1.5TB. This is about the same size as 12 full capacity blu-ray disks.

The cartridges will be released alongside compatible hardware in the form of the ODS-D55U USB 3.0 Optical Disc Archive. Sony also announced that several companies including BSkyB, CBS News, Time Warner Cable Sports, Fuji Television, and Tohokushinsha Films have all signed up already to use this new technology.

Furthermore, in addition to the production of media and drive units, Sony will collaborate with a variety of other manufacturers in related business areas such as storage media, robotics (automated media exchange systems), middleware (hierarchical storage management and control) and application software for media asset management (including media management and search) for the purpose of developing system solutions for media archive applications.

Sony lists these highlights on their product page for this device. But Strangely there is no price listing:

-Best suited for archiving any data file, long term

-Direct and quicker access than legacy linear data tape systems

-New optical disc cartridge, scalable capacity up to 1.5TB per cartridge

-USB3.0 interface

-Robotics for ODS-D200U planned for the future

-Available Fall 2012