Preventing data loss due to obsolete clinical laboratory IT solutions

Scientists working in industries where data generated by clinical laboratory IT solutions must be retained for legal reasons could soon have a new way of avoiding the issues that arise from technological progress.

A team from Gemeinsame IT-Stelle der hessischen Justiz and the Vienna University of Technology have been looking into ways of storing data in a platform-independent way, to make sure it can be read in the future even if the hardware that generated it no longer exists.

Their solution is to encode digital data in analogue form on old-fashioned microfilm - a process which could also enable significant compression levels to be achieved.

For instance, by using a two-dimensional bar code pattern in place of a direct digital-to-analogue encoding of data from clinical laboratory IT solutions, 191 microfilms' worth of information could be stored on about 12 films.

Colour encoding could extend the range of compression options and the maximum ratios that could be achieved.

The research is published in the International Journal of Electronic Governance by Inderscience, a specialist engineering and science media company tracking the emergence of new technologies worldwide.