A
new era of ease-of-use is about to dawn for users
of automated CD-Recordable production systems. ARTH
International will soon be shipping Young Minds'
new CD-Q software package for automated CD-Recordable
job management. This product will allow our robotics-enabled
CD-Recordable systems to be used easily and efficiently
without the end users or integrators having to do
any programming. At the same time, this software
will provide an unprecedented level of flexibility
in system configuration and job creation and processing.
CD-Q
allows multiple users and any number of shell scripts
or application programs, to easily set up and launch
jobs to automatically format, record and/or label
CD-Recordable discs using autoloader equipped products.
Each of these systems can record different disc
images simultaneously on from one to four independent
recorders in a single robotic disc autoloader, with
shared access to an integrated disc label printer
allowing each individual disc to be clearly and
uniquely labeled for easy identification and professional
presentation.
But
CD-Q is much more than a simple job-queuing product.
Multiple PAS, PAS Jr., or PASsport equipped products
can be configured to be controlled by a single copy
of CD-Q, or with multiple copies of CD-Q running
on separate servers, using either separate or shared
job queues, allowing for both redundancy and automatic
load balancing across all the configured systems.
Controllers managing recorders in the same robotics
unit can even be attached directly to separate servers
in your data center.
Each
CD-Q job can be assigned a priority level and a
scheduled execution time to allow efficient resource
management. A database of jobs which have been completed,
and/or which are currently pending or in progress,
is kept to allow for easy tracking of, or accounting
for, discs created. This database also can be configured
to be accessed from major database management systems
if comprehensive reporting capabilities are required.
When a job is completed, the system can also send
a notification email directly to the end user.
Historically,
automated CD-Recordable production systems had to
be controlled either by the user or integrator developing
custom control software, or by tightly restricting
who could use the systems and how. This led to many
systems either being underutilized, or being dedicated
to a single, high-volume, high-value application.
While there will always be applications justifying
such an approach, CD-Q opens the door to easy access,
multiple-use applications, allowing the capital
expenditure to be allocated over many potential
uses. Better yet, CD-Q makes it easier than ever
to integrate CD-Recordable capabilities into other
automated applications, either for dedicated use
of the PAS, PAS Jr., or PASsport, or for shared
use with other applications and/or ad-hoc, user-generated
jobs.
The
combination of advanced capabilities, flexible configuration,
and ease-of-use offered by the CD-Q product will
open the door to a wider range of applications for
automated CD-Recordable production technology. At
the same time, these systems will be quicker and
easier to set up and operate, and more efficiently
used. This is truly the dawning of a new era in
automated CD-Recordable production.
CD-Q
is written in Java for flexibility, maintainability,
and easy portability. It will be immediately available
for most major Unix platforms, as well as Linux
and Windows NT. A DVD-R version of this product
will be available later this year (capabilities
may vary depending on the hardware technology which
is available to support DVD-R applications at that
time).
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