Annals of Library Science and Documentation Vol 42, I; 1995; 27-34.

TECHNOLOGY WATCH - CD-ROM*

A.K. CHAKRAVARTIB. VASANTAN.SHROFFA.S.A. KRISHNANDepartment of ElectronicsNew Delhi - 110 003

CD-ROM state of the art technology - technologyand industry; new technology and (lpplications -trends analysis; new investments made/planned -companies, level of investments; /Jew products/markets; new alliances - inter - and intra-compa-nies/countries; and marketltechnology forecast,as revealed in the literature, are discussed.

INTRODUCTION

Optical disks are spearheading second com- puterrevolution. CD-ROM & CD-R (Compact Disc ReadOnly Memory and Compact Disc-Recordable) withstabilisation of optical disk mastering & replica-tion technologies multimedia applications and as-sociated standar- disation for systems & softwarehave provided the already entrenched PCs in net-working environment with large-volume storage &data retrieval capabilities unavailable hitherto.

CD-ROM & CD-R belong to a family of Opticaldisks covering, besides these two, CD Audio,VideoCD, LaserDisc, CD-I, PhotoCD, EMODsetc. These operate on the basic principle ofstoring data by altering some optical propertiesof the media corresponding to digitised informa-tion, read through the laser mechanism.

Importance of CD-ROMs can be gauged from thefact that a typical 12 cm dia CD-ROM has a ca-pacity of about 650 million characters, equiva-lent of 1,500 high aensity floppies or over 200,000pages of printed text. Before CD-ROM, therewas no practical way to deliver large volumes ofdata required to create big databases, or mixedtext, data, graphics, audio, video & software. CO-ROM has enabled applications of multimedia ina practical way. Since CD-ROM is read onlymemory disc, there is no chance to accidentally

overwrite any information on a CD-ROM or infectit with a virus as normally encountered in floppydisk. Only 1.2 mm thick weighing about 50 gms, itis highly portable. With almost every aspect get-ting standardised (described later), technical stan-dards enable a CD-ROM to be "portable" in acomputer sense, across many types of systems.

With prices falling, CD-ROM databases are alsogradually taking over from online databases, par-ticularly those which are required in large volumethus amenable to mass production. Online searchand retrieval costs are generally not fully predict-able by its very nature, as in practice a lot of timeis wasted on inefficient searches; it is also de-pendent on telecom links costing. On the otherhand, CD-ROMs are targetted to specific needs;it puts the power of search back into the hands ofthe user. Generally, CD-ROMs have on thempowerful user-friendly search software with po-tential for complex searches. Multi user accessaround already existing infrastructure of PCs &network with addition of only CD-ROMs and drivesmake cost-benefit ratio in favour of CD-ROM. Ju-dicious selection of subject-specific CD-ROMsalongwith organisation-specific CD-Rs have en-visioned "Subject-Specific Total Information Sup-port" accessible right at the working-desk in multi-users environment a reality. This concept is evenmore pertinent for developing countries.

CD-ROMS TITLES TODAY: APPLICATION-MIXANALYSIS

From its initial appearance in 1986 where just 48CD-ROM titles and 48 companies were involved,in 1993, the industry grew to more than 5000 CD-ROMs with than 2500 companies and organi-sations involved. If the present trend continues,

"Reproduced from the Electronics.-Information & Planning. 22; 1994, November; 106-112, with permission of the authors.

Vol 42 No I March 1995 27

A.K. CHAKRAVARTI, B. VASANTA, N. SHROFF and A.S.A. KRISHNAN

the total number of commercial CD-ROM titlesavailable in 1994-end would stand at about 8,500.This itself is a perfect illustration of the develop-ment of CORaM industry and its acceptance byusers.

Nicholls, Sutherland and Julien (May 1994 CO-RaM Professional) have analysed the CD-ROMtitles in print in 1993. A total of 4,422 unique, com-mercially available CD-ROM titles were identifiedand analysed from the 1993 editions of the mainprinted directories, viz.,

(1) The CD-ROM Directory, Ed. M. Finlay, TFPLPublishing, London, UK 1993.

(2) CD-ROMs in Print, Ed. R. Rega, Meckler Cor-poration, Westport, CT, USA, 1993.

(3) CD-ROM Finder, Ed.J. Shelton, Learned In-formation, Medford NJ, USA, 1993.

The 4,422 titles represent an exponential growthof 38% over 1992 figures. Subject-wise distribu-tion analysed as : Science & Technology (1070,24%), General (931, 21%), Social Science (776,18%), Business/Law (750, 17%), Art/Humanity(593, 13%) and Medicine (298, 7%). The over-all proportion of indexing/abstracting databasesconstituted 16% ; source databases continue tobe the most common type (44%) followed closelyby directory and reference titles (40%). Of thesource databases, most (47%) contained full-text,but those containing images, sounds or video clips(25%) are the fastest growing category. Othersource databases contain numeric data (11%),software (7%) or mixed content (10%). Science& Technology continue to be the most commonsubject area.

Many observers have noted that CD-ROM finallybecame mainstream in 1993 and 1994 has seenconsolidation and increasing larger role of multi-media.

PRE-MASTERING, MASTERING AND REPLI-CATION FACILITIES: SERVICE PROVIDERS,MANUFACTURERS

The manufacturing processfor all CD-ROMs con-sists of premastering & repliction process,summarised as follows :

Pre Mastering - This includes the input datapreparation and application software development

28

to generate the required pre-mastered CD-tape.This is normally a U-MATIC or EXABYTE tape.This tape is then used in the mastering step.

Mastering - This consists of writing the data fromthe tape onto a disc master by a laser writingmachine to produce a lacquer coating glass mas-ter disc. The pulse laser aimed at the rotatingblank master discs vapourises microscopic por-tions to form tiny pits in the lacquer coating as thelaser is switched on and off according to the codi-fied information on the computer tape. This leavesa spiral track consisting of tiny pits in the lacquer.Glass master is then coated by Nickel to obtainnickel stamper which has all the information of theoriginal glass master. This metal stamper is nowused in the second process which is the replica-tion process.

Replication process - Polycarbonate granulesof the required purity are dried with hot air. Themetal stamper (Aluminium stampers for CD au-dio; Nickel for CD-ROM) are inserted in the injec-tion moulding machine cavity into which the poly-carbonate granules are injected under high pres-sure and heated to about 300 degree C. Afterthe cavity is full, the temperature is lowered andthe mould opened. The polycarbonate with thedesired pits formed on it is the next taken roboti-cally to the sputtering cavity for vacuum meta-lisation. Aluminium vapours provide the reflectiveAluminium coating. To protect the CD from con-tamination and surface damage a clear laquercoating is applied by spin coating process. Afterfurther cleaning the label printing is done on theback of the disc, giving the information regardingthe contents. Quality control and packaging arecarried out next.

Worldwide several companies offer the capitalequipment required for manufacture of CD-ROMsinvolving mastering and replication process.

Mastering equipment is available, amongst others,from:

1. ODME Holland2. Nimbus UK3. Leybold Germany4. Optical Disc Cooperation, USA etc.

Suppliers of Replication technology & equipmentinclude:

Ann Lib Sci Doc

1. ODME Holland2. Robij Switzerland3. TOOLEX Alfa4. Sweden data Disc Germany5. Firstlite USA6. Multi-media Machinery Manufacturers, Swit-

zerland7. Sumitomo Electric, Japan etc.

Some of the companies which carry out CO-RaM - Premastering, Mastering and Replicationfor third party include:

1. AMERIC Disc Inc., Canada2. Sony Subsidary Companies such as a. DADC

Austria - GmbH, Austria b. Digital Audio DiscCorpn., Terrahaute, USA c. Publishing DataServices Corporation, USA d. Soni ElectricPublishing Company, N.York, USA.

3. Denon Digital West Coast, California, USA.4. DigiPress S.A. Cedex, France.5. Disctronics Manufacturing (UK) Ltd., West

Sussex, UK6. JVC Disc America- Tuscaloos A L, USA.7. Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Ltd.,

Osaka, Japan (National Panasonic TechnicsQuaser Brand Names)

8. Metatec Corporation, Dublin OH, USA (Alsodistributes titles published by third parties)

9. Mitsubishi Corporation, Tokyo, Japan10. Nimbus Information Systems USA and UK11. PDO Professional media, Netherland (sub-

sidiary of Philips Electronics) (factories in Ger-many and UK also)

12. Sonopress Gutersloh Germany and London,UK

13. 3M Pre-recorded optical media St. Paul Mn.,USA.

14. US Optical Disc Inc., Sanford ME, USA.15. WEA Manufacturing, N.Y, USA.

CD-ROM DRIVES, PLATFORM AND SOFT-WARE

CD-ROM Drives

CD-ROM drives are rapidly evolving to keep upwith the giant growth in the CD-ROM applications.As a result, drives with more features and higherperformance have emerged and the cost of suchdrives have fallen from $1200 in 1991 to the presentprice of $600. There are a number of manufactur-ers of new generation drives; the notables be-ing Hitachi, Philips, Sony, Pioneer, Toshiba, Apple

Vol 42 No 1 March 1995

TECHNOLOGY WATCH - CD-ROM

Computers. Performance, physical charateristics,reliability and compatibility are the main issueswhile evaluating and selecting a suitable drive.

Performance is decided by the transfer rate of thedata from the disc to the CPU. The rotationalspeed of the disc determines the speed of trans-fer. Double speed drives with a raw transfer rateof 300 KB/Sec have become the standard. Fasterspinning speeds and the resulting greater datatransfer rates benefit many multimedia applica-tions. Hence, for the last few years, speed hasbeen the single determining factor in the selec-tion of a CD-ROM drive. Realising this, NEC hasintroduced recently, triple speed and quad speeddrives to increase the throughput. By providingdata buffers (64 KB or 256 KB) at the interfacelevel, 1.5 to 4 MB/Sec burst data transfer rate isachieved. Drives with such faster data rates havea typical seek time of 200 to 300 milliseconds.The data capacity is either 540 MB or 680 MBdepending on the laser read head and armmechnism.ln the future, we expectto see improvedaccess time and transfer rates, increased reli-ability, smallerlthinner design and many timesthe present storage capacity, with multilayer re-cording surfaces.

Physical oharacteristlcs of CD drives includeadapterlinterface card, audio connections, the useof caddy, drive mounting mechanism etc. The CO-RaM kit comes with interface card, MS-DOS CO-RaM Extensions MSCDEX utility software anddevice drives software. Most of the CD-ROMdrives support SCSI 1 and SCSI 2 adapter cards,except in some cases, where vendors provideproprietry interface. SCSI-2 compatibility is im-portant for network environments and high-endmultimedia applications, where throughput is es-sential. Almost all models use the standard SONYcaddy which prevent damage to discs.

Because of the improvements in performance ofCD-ROM drives, major microcomputer vendorshave endorsed the CD-ROM technology by re-orienting their systems to include CD-ROM drives.There are bundled offers of CD-ROM titles anddrives from major database vendors. Also majorcomputer vendors like DEC, Apple, SUN and oth-ers have been using CD-ROMs as an efficientmechanism for distribution of programs, manualsand other instructional materials. Freeman asso-ciates predict that by 1996, CD-ROM drives willaccount for 60 % of the optical drive market.

29

A.K. CHAKRAVARTI, B. VASANTA, N. SHROFF and A.S.A. KRISHNAN

Platform Selection: CD-ROM on PC or Mac

In the present day scenario, CD-ROM applicationsare being built around either DOSIWindows basedPCs or Apple Macintosh, as the majority of per-sonal computing coomunity falls into these cate-gories.

Machintosh's built-in graphics and audio strengths,its reliance on single SCSI interface for connect-ing various peripheral devices, ease-of use forDTP work and rich tools for multimedia applica-tions, make Apple system, with a CD-ROM drive,an ideal choice for multimedia applications. Butdespite the advantages, the market base of Applesystems is much smaller compared to PCs.Hence CD-ROM products are targetted more to-wards DOSIWindows based PC customer base.

With wide variations in PC configurations, bothin hardware and software, to take care of the com-patibility issue, Multimedia Market Council hascome out with a hardware standard called theMultimedia PC (MPC) specification for seam-less integration of any CD-ROM product into anyPC. The minimum components of MPC compli-ant system are: 16MHz 386SX with 2MB ram andabove, super VGA display, CD-ROM drive with 32KB cache and 8/16 bit audio interface and run-ning MS-DOSIWindows 3.1.

As a result of the MPC specification, the marketfor CD-ROM/multimedia products on PCs hasgrown at the rate of 100% in the last two years.With the advantage of the known spectificationto work with, publishers are also adding hundredsof new titles or applications on CD-ROM each year.

The past two years were important for the entireCD-ROM/multimedia industry, due to the devel-opment of advanced technologies and standardsin hardware and software and putting them to-gether. Apart from information revolution, CD-ROM has opened the doors to the next computerrevolution, the next wave of applications that makecomputing power even more important to a grow-ing audience.

CD-ROM Retrieval Software & Networking ofCD-ROMs

Information on CD-ROMs, text,audio or video canbe accessed through the proprietry retrieval soft-

30

ware built into the CD-ROM. The access softwareis available for DOS, MS Windows and MAC Win-dows with Graphical User Interface and onlinehelp facilities. The software from each publisherhas been designed with powerful and efficientsearching techniques for fast and optimised re-trieval of information. Printing, downloading fromCD to hard disk, browsing only topics or titles, view-ing in multiple formats truncated phrase search-ing, security are some of the other features, thatare built into the software.

Since the majority of CD-ROM applications, pres-ently, are targetted towards PC and MAC environ-ment, software solutions for multi-user access tothe information on CD-ROMs are campus LANbased. Hence almost everyone provides simulta-neous CD-ROM access to many users by puttingmultiple drives on a PC Server and connectingthe server to the campus network. Another solu-tion is to connect CD drives on a VAXNMS orSUN/UNIX machine, with NFS software. Theunix system is connected to the LAN and theserver portion of NFS runs on UNIX machine.The CD drives are defined as "exportable" via NFSto the LAN. Any PC on the network and runningthe client version of NFS can access the CD-ROMson the UNIX system.

SCSI Express from Micro Design International isa package of device drivers and utility software forSCSI devices and it is available for DOS and unixversions. The Unix version translates CD-ROMfile format into a read-only mountable UNIX for-mat. If the Unix machine is on the campus net-work, all UNIX users can access the CD-ROMfiles through normal UNIX commands. However,the search software, that comes along with theCD-ROM database, cannot be directly run with-out having DOS emulation software on the UNIXmachine. DEC's Infoserver is the latest CD-ROMserver, which coonects directly to Ethernet and istherfore, accessible by any machine on theEthernet or on a LAN attached to the Ethernet.So Infoserver systems serve information fromdevices to different client platforms in the nativefile format of that particular client.

STANDARDS

One quantity that makes CD-ROM stands out fromother optical storage media is the existence ofindustrial standards and compatibility. Those who

Ann Lib Sci Doc

are in CD-ROM profession are all familiar withYellow Book and ISO 9660 standards, and its in-ter-relationship with Red Book, Green Book &Orange Book and now White Book and BlueBook w.r.t. CD-Audio, CD-I, CD-R, Video CD andHigh Density Compact Disc of ODC respectively.For details, readers may refer to these Booksand some recent articles appearing particularlyin CD-ROM Professional (May, 93, July/August94 issues).

The Red Book gives the physical standardsspecifications for CD-audio. It specifies the AJDsampling rate (44.1 KHz). The parameters suchas the pits and lands, sub code channel, indexpoints and limited error corrections.

CD-ROM disc are recorded using the Yellow Bookstandard for the physical parameters. The fileformat is. not defined in the yellow book. Forthis logical standards are required. The YellowBook specifies two-kind of tracks, mode I andmode II. Mode I is for text and computer data andincludes additional error correction code. ModeII is for audio and video data where datadegradation is not so catastrophic or noticeable.

ISO 966.0was conceived as a joint effort of in-dustry leaders called the High Sierra Group to pro-vide a common file format for CD-ROMs for Apple,DOS and UNIX platforms. This logical standardprovides for a system of files and directories toindex the data consistently in all CD-ROM discs.

CD-ROM XA (extended architecture) was devel-oped to extend the ability of CD-ROM to deliversynchronised mixed media. Whereas with stan-dard CD-ROM, mixed media presentation wouldbe done by chunks, causing a delay and lack ofsequence, specially between audio andvideo, XAsolves this problem by interleaving audio andvideo appropriately so that there is perfect syn-chronisation between the two while playing. Multimedia presentations are thus considerably im-proved with regard to real time video and audio.XA provides for several levels of compressedaudio in ADPCM form.

MPC (Multi media Personal Computer) is the stan-dard for multi media, which defines both the mini-mum configuration for the hardware as well as

Vol 42 No 1 March 1995

TECHNOLOGY WATCH - CD-ROM

software which can play on this hardware. MPCmay be considered a logical standard using CD-ROM physical standards. The audio is normallyPCM (Pulse Code Modulated) at sampling rate22.5 KHz or 11.023 KHz.

The Green Book standard which defines CD-Icombines audio, video, text and computer datainterleaved to allow seamless presentation withnecessary error correction. This Green bookstandardhas been incorporatedpartly in CD-ROMXA also called bridge disc. The green book de-fines an entire hardware and software system in-cludingtheCPU,memory operatingsystem, videoand audio controllers as well as spatial com-pression methods. CD-I players are designed toconnect with television and stereo system. Theaudio is ADPCM condensed. CD-ROM XA isgeared to the computer market whereas CD-I isgeared to the consumer market.

The Orange Book specifications have been devel-oped for all CD-R appendable media. The or-ange book standard definesmediaonly notdrives.Photo CD, a application which need multi ses-sion write capability to store 35 mm photographson CD-R uses Mode II of the Orange Book.

CD-R/CD-write-once require a new file of formatwhich allows multi session recording and readingof partially recorded discs. This will require anew ISO format which is under development bya Committee called the Frankfurt group. Thisstandard may eventually replace ISO9660 sinceit is more flexible and supports UNIX and ISO10646 etc. The main change would be the addi-tional volume discriptors to be placed in sector 16of each track rather than sector 16 of the firsttrack only.

Recently specifications are being evolved for digi-tal video on CD format. The logical standard isMPEG, a universal standard created by the Mo-tion Picture Experts Group. MPEG-1 was an-nounced in December 91 for limited bandwidthtransmission. MPEG II is beingdesignedfor higherbandwidth transmissions. The physical platformfor motion picture is still being decided upon.

Philips alongwith the other companies has an-nounced the White Book standard for video CD in

31

A.K. CHAKRAVARTI, B. VASANTA, N. SHROFF and A.S.A. KRISHNAN

August 93 [this is not the same as the CD videostandard announced in 1988]. The White book wasfirst published as CD Karaoke (already well es-tablished in Japan as a standard) in March 93and is a concept implementation of CD-ROM XAusing MPEG-1 video.

Optical Disc Corporation (ODC), USA has recentlyannounced a Blue book standard in May 1994for high density compact disc systems. Basedin part on the IEC 908 specifications, and saidto be conforming to applicable parts of ISO 9660,ISO 11172, ISO MPEG-2 (tentative specs.), theODC Blue book is a standard tor HDCD ( HighDensity CD) with a maximum specifications of upto4 times standard CD density using a 12 cm disc.(By specifying 6770 nm laser and 0.55 NA lensupto 3.3 Gbytes data can be supported).

MARKET F;ORECAST

While predictions are always difficult there aresome trends which point to the future. The expo-nential growth of (i) CD-ROM titles, service pro-viders, publishers, (ii) installation base of CD-ROMdrives, (iii) software activities associated with CD-ROMs, (iv) company-interest-driven activities vy-ing with each other to have their standards ac-cepted at international level, (v) alliancesamongst hitherto competitors to encash the fu-ture markets built on mutual strength etc., give aclear indication that CD-ROM business is set forrapid growth. Some of these indicators have beentouched upon in the preceeding Sections.

In terms of organisations in CD-ROM business, ithas already exceeded 2500 (Para 2.1); in termsof CD-ROM titles internationally documented andgenerally widely used, it has exceeded 8000 nos.Range of coverage has also increased.

Another indicator is the installed CD-ROM drivesbase which has, been estimated at 11.4 millionunits by Optical Publishing Industry Assessment(OPIA) in 1993; predictions of the installed baseof CD-ROM drives over 15 million and more bythe end of 1994 has been made. This rapidgrowth could be attributed to standardisation ofMultimedia PC(MPC) specifications partially andalso the fact that one has crossed over the criticalmass to ensure CD-ROM and its drive as a stan-

32

dard attachmentlinterface and its acceptance inthe computer world. Further, OPIA report putsworldwide CD-ROM titles and drive revenue toreach above $35 billion in 1995.

That a large number of mastering and replicatingfacilities for CD-ROM manufacturers are alreadyavailable in the world and the continuing invest-ment in the sector is taking place also gives theindication of the future scenario.

TECHNOLOGY TRENDSThe developmental activities taking place inCD-ROM Technology are in the following mainsectors:

Various ways to increase the storage capacity:

(a) Using a Blue laser which has a shorter wave-length instead of the present Red laser be-ing used for reading the CD-ROM, therebyimproving the resolution and hence the datadensity. However, this blue laser technoloqyIS still at laboratory level.

(b) Increasing the density of information usingmulti-level approach i.e. increasing the re-cording surfaces.

To reduce the size of CD-ROM to 3.1" (withoutloosing storage capacity) to increase the portabil-ity of CD-ROM drives.

To improve the economics and turn around time ofproduction: In this regard, developments in CD-Rare noteworthy. CD-R is a recordable compactdisc with an additional photo absorption layer anda gold reflection layer in place of the aluminium.During recording energy of the focussed laserbeam gets absorbed by photo absorption layerand lasers for temperature about the decomposi-tion temperature of the dial. The polycarbon-ate substrate in direct contact with this gets heatedto its glass transition temperature, expands andmigrates into the photo absorption layer leadingto tiny transperant pits analogous to those formedby pressure moulding in the case of CD-ROM. CDRecordable (CD-R) is especially useful for usersneeding limited number of copies, having com-pany specific information, classified and sensi-tive information etc.

Ann Lib Sci Doc

To provide for Multi-session Recording: Newerstandards are being set up for CD-R to enablemulti-session recording and reading of partiallyrecorded discs. This is specially useful in PhotoCD where 35 mm photographs may be stored onCD format.

INDIAN SCENARIO

Though CD-ROMs manufacturers and serviceproviders with diverse application-mix have madesignificant impact in developed countries as canbe seen from previous sections, it is yet to makemajor inroads on Indian scenario. Interest gener-ated in recent times can be seen from the three-days ''Workshop on CD:.ROM Technology" organi-sed by NICDROM, NAL Bangalore in collabora-tion with NISSAT, DSIR during 16-18th Novem-ber 1993 followed by 3rd National CD-ROM/OnlineUser Group Meet held at CLRI, Madras duringAugust 9-10, 1994 again in collaboration withNISSAT.

A recent development in this regard is setting upof AHEAD - Asian Health, Environmental and Al-lied Databases- a consortium of owners of eightmajor Asian databases and information resourcesrelating to health and environment. The consor-tium sponsored by International Development Re-search Centre IDRC, Canada,has initiated workon three CD-ROM databases - on environmen-tal & water resources management, on occupa-tional safety, health, natural toxins and tropical dis-eases and on Asian medicines & natural products.These are expected to be ready for sale by May'95and will be marketed by Publication and Informa-tion Directorate (PI D) of CSIR. The CD-ROMswould be initially published in Canada. There isscope for indigenous manufacturing with suchfacilities being set up within the country.

INSDOC has come out with CD-ROM version ofthe National Union Catalogue of Scientific Seri-als in India for the first time. Other organisationslike National Patents Office, UPSC, NIC etc. arealso exploring the different application & market-ing for various possible CD-ROMs databases andsome of them (NIC, INSDOC etc.) are setting upCD-R facilities to bring out specific CD-Rs of inter-est to limited users.

Vol 42 No 1 March 1995

TECHNOLOGY WATCH - CD-ROM

In terms of CD-ROM manufacturing facilities inIndia, recently a unit under EHTP scheme of DoEnamely RC Laser Tech (India) Ltd. is being set-up at Gandhinagar, Gujarat with foreign collabora-tion. The company intends to provide comprehen-sive CD-ROM and other CD products and services.

CD-ROM Users Sector

The user segment of CD-ROM databases is fairlydiversed and is enlarging continuously. As in thecase of world market the demand for scienceand technology titles and bibliographic informa-tion is more than any other sector with institutionslike IISc, IITs, AIIMS, and a few universities hav-ing and using the CD-ROMs for quite some time.National Centre for Information Science at IISc,Bangalore provides certain select CD-ROM searchfacilities.

At national level, the Department of Science andIndustrial Resources (DSIR) has initiated aprogramme called National Information Systemfor Science and Technology (NISSAT) to promoteand support the development of a compatible setof Information systems on Science & Technologyand interlinking these on a network. The tensectoral information centers set up by NISSATuse the CD-ROM databases extensively for pro-viding information support. One of the centrescalled NICDROM at NAL, Bangalore, promotesapplications of information technology through CD-ROMs and provides information to various intend-ing centres on CD-ROM hardware, software, sup-pliers, list of titles available, reference tools etc.The services are particularly useful for the newentrants into the CD-ROM information services.

Besides, there are quite a few information serviceproviders covering a wide spectrum of speciali-sation. The major ones being NIC for health &patents sectors, Department of Electronics for elec-tronics, computers and communication sector,DESIDOC for Defence & Standard, Central Pollu-tion Control Board for pollution & environmentsector, BioinformaticsIDBT for Biotechnology andthe like. The user list is increasing day by dayand it may not be possible to provide an exhaus-tive list. These efforts arepre- dominatly depen-

33

A.K CHAKRAVARTI, B. VASANTA, N. SHROFF and A.S.A. KRISHNAN

dent upon specialised international CD-ROM da-tabases available in respective areas.

CONCLUSION

The article attempts to cover all objectives of Tech-nology Watch. From the analysis presented, it maybe concluded that CD-ROM (with their relatedversions) and their applications are going to bethe biggest growth markets in the informationtechnology in the next five years and India mustplug-into this global market. India must also

34

encash on its comparative strength through: (i)its relatively low-cost data capturing capabilitiestied-up with international CD-ROM producers &publishers; (ii) in premastering including softwaredevelopment; (iii) in preparing CD-ROMs of Indianmusic, handicrafts, fashion & garments, jewellerydesigns using proper CAD tools and marketingabroad; (iv) in creating its own CD-ROM databaseson cultural heritage, tribal arts, archaeology, herbal& medicinal plants, traditional medicines and thelike.

Ann Lib Sci Doc