Sony and Panasonic kick off joint development on the next generation of optical storage standard-- with hopes of creating an optical disc with "recording capacity of at least 300GB" by end 2015.
The two companies already have experience working together, having both developed products based on the Blu-ray format.
The team-up currently aims at professional applications (chiefly archiving), but the technology might trickle into consumer space further in the future.
When it comes to professional storage, Sony already offers an XDCAM-based optical disc archive system. It houses twelve 25GB discs inside a compact cartridge offering capacities ranging from 300GB to 1.5TB.
Meanwhile Panasonic has the LB-DM9, a similar device housing twelve 100GB discs inside a magazine just 20.8mm thick.