CDs21 solutions, an association that promotes the CDs and other optical storage media, announced plans to contribute in the development of a longevity certification program of DVD +R and DVD-R media.

The association, which was founded in 2001 and was organized to promote CDs (compact discs), announced that its plans to start a series of tests in DVD recordable discs available today and provide specific certifications to all those media that would successfully show a longevity and reliability of 30 years or more.

The tests, which will be performed by the NPO Archive Test Center in Japan in four different labs, are expected to start in the following three months. The testing procedure will be based on the ISO/IEC 10995, a global standard for optical media archive life testing for recordable and rewritable DVDs. ISO International approved the standard last year and it is the culmination of joint development efforts by OSTA and ECMA. It defines the standard procedures for media archive life testing and classification.

The standard specifies an accelerated aging test method for estimating the life expectancy for the retrievability of information stored on recordable or rewritable optical disks. The methodology includes the effects of temperature (T) and relative humidity (RH).

The method includes specific measurements of the electrical signals on the discs (readability), during the various phases of the aging test. The results are combined and the specific formulas such as the "Arrhenius? provide an estimation of the life cycle of the disc, which is actually the period in which the disc remains readable.

Note that the specific methodology does not attempt to model degradation due to complex failure mechanism kinetics, nor does it test for exposure to light, corrosive gases, contaminants, handling, and variations in playback subsystems.

CDs21 solutions has also proposed a certification for all those media that will prove to be reliable at least for 30 years. Today, the majority of DVD disc makers claim that their discs are reliable for more than 50 years.

The certification can be printed on the package of the DVD recordable discs. As a result, end-users will be able to select the media life expectancy best suited to their application requirements.