"On April 12, 2005, U.S. Patent No. 6,879,556 titled Method and Apparatus for Optical Data Storage was issued to Iomega. This patent is the first in a series of nano-technology-based subwavelength optical data storage patents sought by Iomega. The patent covers a novel technique of encoding data on the surface of a DVD by using reflective nano-structures to encode data in a highly multi-level format. This technology, termed AO-DVD (Articulated Optical - Digital Versatile Disc), allows more data to be stored on a DVD and could allow future optical discs to potentially hold 40-100 times more information with data transfer rates 5-30 times faster than today's DVDs, and at similarly low costs." Another DVD format, hurray. Seriously though this might just be the format we need for archiving whole hard drives onto one disc. We'll have to keep our eyes on this and see if Iomega can actually move beyond Zip disks.