sws4420
04-17-2005, 08:48 AM
The disappearing DVD has given rise to a new business at General Electric Co.
When a DVD that could only be played for 48 hours before becoming unusable hit the market two years ago, GE's Global Research Center in Niskayuna was at the core of its development. Those discs relied on a chemical twist to a common GE resin called Lexan so they'd become cloudy at a preset time after being removed from their airtight packaging.
The company that hired GE to develop the chemistry behind the discs, Flexplay Technologies Inc., was sold last year. Disney dropped its experiment with the technology; Flexplay's Web site indicates that one movie, an independent feature released last year, is currently available on the format.
But GE has taken the knowledge it learned about dyes and copolymers on the Flexplay project to generate a new technology aimed at companies that burn customized CDs and DVDs for their customers.
Richard Crosby, the global Lexan product manager for GE's Advanced Materials division in Pittsfield, Mass., said the company's SecurOQ product helps media companies ensure that content can only be burned to special discs.
"There is a CD burner that's been developed that when you put our disc in, it authenticates this as a true Universal music disc and then it allows it to be burned," Crosby said.
The benefit to the companies is that only consumers who buy these special discs -- rather than any garden-variety recordable CD or DVD -- can copy music or movies.
Ultimately, the technology could be used for a variety of applications, such as protecting the security of corporate documents.
A program at Starbucks coffee shops launched in two cities has enlisted the GE technology.
http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?category=&storyID=351850&BCCode=&newsdate=4/17/2005
When a DVD that could only be played for 48 hours before becoming unusable hit the market two years ago, GE's Global Research Center in Niskayuna was at the core of its development. Those discs relied on a chemical twist to a common GE resin called Lexan so they'd become cloudy at a preset time after being removed from their airtight packaging.
The company that hired GE to develop the chemistry behind the discs, Flexplay Technologies Inc., was sold last year. Disney dropped its experiment with the technology; Flexplay's Web site indicates that one movie, an independent feature released last year, is currently available on the format.
But GE has taken the knowledge it learned about dyes and copolymers on the Flexplay project to generate a new technology aimed at companies that burn customized CDs and DVDs for their customers.
Richard Crosby, the global Lexan product manager for GE's Advanced Materials division in Pittsfield, Mass., said the company's SecurOQ product helps media companies ensure that content can only be burned to special discs.
"There is a CD burner that's been developed that when you put our disc in, it authenticates this as a true Universal music disc and then it allows it to be burned," Crosby said.
The benefit to the companies is that only consumers who buy these special discs -- rather than any garden-variety recordable CD or DVD -- can copy music or movies.
Ultimately, the technology could be used for a variety of applications, such as protecting the security of corporate documents.
A program at Starbucks coffee shops launched in two cities has enlisted the GE technology.
http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?category=&storyID=351850&BCCode=&newsdate=4/17/2005