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Vivastar is expanding its DVD product range; from February, the Swiss full-range supplier of solutions in the area of optical storage technologies will also be providing DVDs with Random Access Memory (RAM). With a storage capacity of 4.7 to 9.4 GB and a life expectancy of a good 100,000 write cycles, the format is the ideal removable storage medium for backup solutions. Three different versions of the Vivastar disk are available.

Vivastar's new media range includes a DVD-RAM, described throughout the industry as a Type 2, with 4.7 GB storage capacity. It comes in a rectangular plastic sleeve to protect it against scratches and dirt, thus ensuring that the 100,000 write cycle capacity is actually achieved in practice. This cartridge is also essential if the disk is to be recorded and read in a DVD-RAM drive. However, the DVD-RAM can also be removed from the sleeve, so that it is also compatible with certain DVD-ROM drives. As a space-saving alternative, Vivastar also offers a DVD-RAM in a jewel case, which can then be inserted into a plastic cartridge if the customer already has one. The range is completed by a DVD-RAM which can be written to on both sides. The blank disk, generally known as a Type 4, thus has a storage capacity of 9.4 GB. If the plastic cartridge is removed, the data can be accessed using a compatible DVD-ROM drive.

Vivastar promises a write capacity of 100,000 times for all three types of DVD-RAM. The products are formatted for both PC and Mac. IT professionals from both camps like the fixed division into sectors of these mega-storage products. Just like on a hard disks, data is laid out on the DVD-RAM in concentric rings, the size of which is defined by pre-determined sector headers. In contrast to the other DVD formats, each sector can be accessed and written to particularly fast. No burner software is required. The RAM medium can be utilised by the operating system like a hard disk, using drag and drop. "Vivastar's DVD-RAM media offer professional users all the advantages that they expect from a reliable removable disk – a large storage capacity, durability and a fair price", says Atanas Zafirov, Chairman and CEO of Vivastar AG. "As DVD experts with our own production plant at the company's head office, we can supply both professionals and home users with exactly the right DVD formats to suit their needs." Vivastar sees itself as a full-range supplier for customers who want to use the latest optical storage technologies for music, video and other contents. Alongside the DVD-RAMs, the Vivastar range also includes DVD-Rs, and further formats are set to follow. On the hardware side, the company recently launched the RS-111 internal DVD-R recorder, which will be followed in spring 2002 by the RS-121 external DVD burner.