Cold storage for computer reports

About 20 years ago, information management and technology industries were predicting the paperless office. Today, there are super computers, linked mainframes, networked PCs on every desk, and the reality of producing more than twice as much paper. The concept of "paperless" has been reduced to "less

Why so much paper? With more computing power, more data is generated and more analysis and computer modeling is performed. The output of these functions is usually paper. Since much of the paper output is in the form of reports, organizations have strived to minimize the physical impact of this information. In the 1970s, COM (Computer Output to Microfilm/Microfiche) was developed to fill this need. But as users became accustomed to the relative speed and ease of access to information on computer networks, microfilm/microfiche seemed slower and more clumsy to use. With the development of the optical disk, the concept of generating computer reports directly to the optical platters was introduced. COLD (Computer Output to Laser Disc) has evolved beyond optical platters as the only storage media, but the benefits of this technology are still great.