QStar Technologies, Inc., a global leader in archiving, data protection and compliance solutions, today announced that it is the first independent software vendor to support Panasonic’s ADA (Advanced Disc for Archive) Blu-ray storage technology, having completed technical certification with its HSM archival storage software platform. Designed specifically for the professional storage market, ADA is the first Blu-ray media enclosed in a protective cartridge, enabling much greater data integrity and more secure offline media management than bare media. While ADA technology is applicable to digital archives across a wide range of industries, QStar, Panasonic and Rorke Data have created a network-attached DICOM Store appliance to focus on major OEMs in the medical PACS and imaging market. The 50GB storage capacity, fast random data access and robust protective cartridge make ADA ideally suited for the needs of a PACS environment.

Providing sophisticated multi-level archive management with advanced mirroring options, QStar’s HSM archive software controls the storage location and retention periods of archive records throughout their life cycle. The Panasonic ADA technology plays a critical role in the archive process by providing a very secure and long-life WORM (Write Once Read Many) or rewritable storage media for the cost-effective retention of digital assets. The new ADA cartridge format is a major differentiator from the traditional bare Blu-ray media offered by competitors as it significantly enhances the security and media handling within medical facilities and data centers.

“QStar is very pleased to be selected as the first software vendor to provide support for the Panasonic ADA technology,” commented Riccardo Finotti, CEO at QStar. “We are focusing our initial efforts on the CT (Computerized Tomography) market because we see strong interest from medical imaging vendors for the ADA technology. Blu-ray media in a protective cartridge is an excellent fit for capturing images from a range of medical modalities and our joint network-attached appliance has been designed for simple integration into a PACS workflow environment.”

“ADA was designed for professional archiving and we selected QStar as a strategic software provider for its value-added solutions. The company has world-class archive technology and strategic relationships that complement the strengths of ADA,” explained Robin Sweeten, group manager for strategic marketing at Panasonic Industrial Company. “ADA enhances QStar’s data retention and offline management capabilities with WORM recording for record authenticity and robust offline media handling. The combined solution from Panasonic and QStar provides a strong foundation for compliance with industry regulations governing data preservation and delivers a very flexible and affordable archive solution. ”