In LSN Vol. II, No. 10 (October 1982, pp. 78-79) we described the image storage system developed by Omex of Santa Clara, CA. That system is unusual in that rather than using videodisks as the storage medium, it applies the optical scanning technology used in videodisk-based image storage systems, but stores the data on 5 by 5 inch glass slides. Recently, we have come across reports of another image storage system which uses videodisks as the storage medium.
Based in Lawrenceville, NJ, Mnemos, Inc. offers a system which combines micrographics, image scanning, videodisk and computer technology to support the storage and retrieval of text and graphic material. The Mnemos System 6000 uses the MnemoDisc, a twelve inch clear plastic disk to store the optically reduced images of up to 6,000 8 1/2 by 11 inch pages and up to one million characters of digital data--or various combinations of the two. The digital data on the disk holds retrieval information which allows the user to immediately access the appropriate pages. The method of searching depends upon the type of data that the user opted to input when setting up the system; possible approaches include page! document number, keyword or menu-driven indexing.
Although at first glance, the OMEX and Mnemos systems-and related systems such as that offered by Toshiba-may appear to be the same as that developed by LaserData, the latter is significantly different in that the disks are readily, easily and inexpensively reproducible in commercial quantities through regular videodisk stamping techniques. The data stored on the Omex, Mnemos, and Toshiba products could be reproduced, but only sequentially, by reading the data and rewriting it to another disk/slide. LaserData offers, for the first time, the prospect of using the disk technology as a publishing medium capable of supporting the low-cost mass production of machine- readable data.
[Contact: Mnemos, Inc., 3131 Princeton Pike, Lawrenceville, NJ 08648. (609) 896-3450.]
