The French corporation DigiFilm has developed an archival data storage system based on its own film system Archiflix, reported the resource Blocks&Files. Co-founder of the corporation, Antoine Simkine, has worked in the film industry since the 1990s, which was then beginning the transition from analogue data archiving formats to digital ones, which cost a lot of money.
According to Simkin, a typical American film studio spends about $20,000 a year on storing each film. Over 50 years, $1 million has already accumulated, and forced migrations between technologies and manipulations with archives “inevitably lead to errors and losses.” DigiFilm’s Archiflix technology was originally created specifically for film archival storage, but the company now offers it for long-term storage of other digital assets.
Archiflix uses the principle of recording visual digital codes on film and is an alternative to traditional microforms, which are obtained through photographic copying and which are essentially analog reproductions of the original materials. When restoring microforms, a raster file is obtained without any metadata.
Image source: DigiFilm via Blocks&Files
Simkin claims that the data stored on Archiflix film will “last 100 years.” The company even simulated the aging of the film under the influence of light and heat to demonstrate the durability of the media. “If you have readers to access your data—and you always will, the way the film industry is going—you will be able to read your data in 100 years,” says Simkin.
DigiFilm has developed a storage system with local and cloud access, the production of which is carried out by a partner company. The commercial launch of the new solution is expected next year. The new product may be of interest to organizations that need long-term access to data, including film laboratories, architects, transport companies, space agencies, meteorological organizations, mining companies, the public sector, etc.
DigiFilm’s main investor is BPI France. According to Simkin, the company recently received another €200 thousand in seed funding “in anticipation of the Series A round,” as a result of which its market value is estimated at €1.8 million. As Blocks&Files notes, Piql’s technology, which is similar in essence, has become available three years ago, and the stated durability of piqlFilm film is from 500 to 1000 years.