Message from the CTO: Blu-ray Disc Technology

At Dell, we believe that customers and partners can best benefit from the collective intellectual capacity of the IT industry—what we like to call open innovation. We believe that standards-based computing provides the best value for customers. When the industry innovates through industry standards, it focuses on open solutions that can address customer needs, rather than proprietary offerings that can restrict customer choice. In this spirit, Dell joined a broad industry effort to develop the next-generation optical storage technology—the Blu-ray Disc.

Blu-ray Disc is the next-generation removable optical storage technology. Slated for widespread release in 2006, it is the next logical step in the CD and DVD evolutions. Blu-ray Disc technology is important because its storage capacity and technical features are designed to enable a broad new set of high-definition content capabilities. Industry adoption of the Blu-ray Disc is gaining momentum as it garners a broad base of support from consumer electronics, content, and PC companies, including Dell, HP, SONY, Walt Disney Studios, and 20th Century Fox. For instance, SONY has announced that it will adopt the Blu-ray Disc ROM (BD-ROM) format as a medium for the next-generation PlayStation^® . The Blu-ray Disc can also expand the role of the PC in the emerging digital home by transforming the PC into a full-fledged high-definition multimedia entertainment center. Dell strongly supports Blu-ray Disc technology and believes that it will be the dominant next-generation optical storage technology.

—Kevin Kettler, Ph.D., Chief Technology Officer