ASTI Buys UDO Distribution Business of Verbatim

November 5, 2013 Alex Woodie

Alliance Storage Technologies (ASTI), which bought Plasmon’s Ultra Density Optical (UDO) business in 2009, bolstered its grip on the worldwide market for UDO products last month when it completed the acquisition of the UDO distribution business of Verbatim, which continues to manufacture UDO media.

UDO may be dead in many people’s eyes. After all, Plasmon, which developed the technology with the idea of serving the long-term data storage needs of IBM mainframe and IBM i customers in heavily regulated industries, couldn’t make a viable business out of it and called it quits.

But the folks at ASTI–in particular its CEO, Chris Carr–think the technology has a definite place in this big data world. Carr pulled together a group and bought Plasmon’s UDO business with the idea of taking another whack at the UDO market.

The company bolstered its UDO business on October 30, when it announced the completion of the deal to buy Verbatim’s UDO distribution business. Verbatim is a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation, which has been involved in the optical storage business for decades, including UDO, magneto optical (MO), and CD/DVD technologies. It has been a licensed manufacturer of UDO media for years, and will continue to make the optical products, which are designed to last at least 50 years.

“We believe that transitioning our UDO media channel to Alliance Storage Technologies is a positive step forward for our customers, wholesalers, and distributors of UDO media,” stated Robert Burkhardt, vice president of operations for Verbatim/MKM, in June, when the companies announced the deal. “Alliance is not only dedicated to the development and support of professional archive solutions, but is the original developer and manufacturer of UDO technology and associated product lines, providing an excellent technology base as well as an established worldwide distribution channel.”

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. ASTI, which is based in Colorado Springs, Colorado, is privately held.

ASTI’s Carr says the acquisition of Verbatim’s distribution business makes ASTI’s UDO business stronger. “ASTI firmly believes that UDO optical media is a critical component to professional archiving solutions, providing exceptional quality, reliability, and longevity,” he says.