Austria's kdg mediatech, which provides media services throughout Europe, has now become the first independent company in the sector to have obtained certification for the entire BD manufacturing process. In addition to being certified as a BD replicator the company has now also received BDA certification for kdg mediascope, its authoring arm.

"The certificates may look fairly unspectacular in themselves, but they're actually cost over $20,000," says kdg mediatech director Michael Hosp. "The BDA certification process is certainly an obstacle for independents." He firmly doubts that all providers will be able to afford this investment.

According to Hosp, the actual list of European authoring facilities which have received official certification in Europe is relatively short. "It's still very much a minority programme at the moment, you might say that we, as an independent company, are pioneers in this field."

"This year has seen a massive rise in demand for BD authoring among independents, so it was a logical step for kdg mediascope to gain BDA certification for this process," explained kdg mediascope division manager Arno Weger, before conceding that this investment had to be earned first. "As a general contractor we simply want to offer our customers the complete BD package," emphasised Alex Wörle, division manager at kdg mediafactory. "So, it was important for us to obtain BD 2D and BD 3D licenses both for the pressing plant as well as for kdg mediascope."

Story filed 03.12.12