C3D and Plasmon agree to collaborate on manufacturing protocols

17 Jun 2002

Two companies develop mass-production processes for FMD media

Data-storage firms Constellation 3D (C3D) and Plasmon have come to a formal agreement to jointly develop manufacturing processes for the mass-production of fluorescent multilayer disk (FMD) media.

Under the agreement, Plasmon and C3D will collaborate on the creation of an FMD-media production process that will be adopted by the optical-disk manufacturing industry. This partnership, say the companies, will ultimately result in the first FMD pilot production line.

"Plasmon is a world leader in the development of recordable optical-disk technology," said Dr Eugene Levich, chairman and CEO of C3D. "The making of any optical disk involves input from an array of plastics and dye suppliers and the use of assembly and mastering equipment and quality-control technologies. For mass FMD production to be a success, all of these vendors and technologies need to work in harmony."

"Using its unique FMD technology, C3D has demonstrated multilayer readout at a level that is significantly greater than that for the 2 layers that are achieved with current reflective recording layers," said Nigel Street, CEO of Plasmon. "Our collaboration will focus on the industrialization of the production processes, to provide future manufacturers of FMD disks with efficient, low-cost and durable mass-production techniques."