Ideas in Action

Our latest idea: Automated backup to DVD for your critical data
with Veritas Backup Exec [read the white paper]>>

At Young Minds, we solve problems. From our early days in 1989 to the present, Young Minds, Inc. (YMi) has been in the business of providing solutions to data storage challenges. A consistent history of industry firsts highlights the innovative thinking that has made YMi the leader in CD/DVD data storage.

• 1989: Young Minds, Inc. founded
• 1990: MakeDisc released, the first CD premastering software for Unix
• 1992: CD Studio released, the first complete CD recording system for Unix
• 1995: MPS released, the first high volume CD recording system for Unix
• 1999: JobTicket technology introduced, the first software to simplify centralized CD-R production
• 2000: DVD Studio released, the first complete DVD recording system for Unix
• 2002: microData Center released, the first comprehensive DVD library solution
• 2004: Verification on Demand released: the first simple data verification program for
  CDs and DVDs
• 2005: iStudio released, the first complete and extensible DVD archival solution

Andrew Young, Chairman and co-founder of YMi, led the group that authored the Rock Ridge Interchange Protocol (RRIP). RRIP allows recording Unix file system information on CD and DVD discs. With the publication and acceptance by IEEE of RRIP, the use of CD-ROM technology with Unix computers was possible and let to the widespread adoption of CD, and later DVD, as a cross-platform storage media.

YMi released MakeDisc in 1990, the first and still the best, CD premastering software for Unix. MakeDisc has continued to evolve and improve over the years, adding numerous features. MakeDisc was "honored" by the open source community, which cloned an early version to become the most widely distributed CD premastering program in the world.

While MakeDisc was very popular, the next YMi product introduction was spectacularly popular. When CD Studio was released two years later, it was a runaway success - the first (and only) CD recording system for Unix that worked consistently and that was easy to install, configure and use.

Other ideas were also successful, such as the first automated CD recording system, developed with Kodak's Digital Imaging division.

YMi's approach has always been with an eye towards cost-effective solutions that preserve the usefulness of our customers' information, and provide a low total cost of ownership. Merely preserving data is not enough, particularly in today's distributed computing environments where data viewpoints affect whether or not a particular link to another machine will work. YMi provides the tools that allow our customers to preserve all the value of their data.