A NORTH-EAST university is piloting a £1m computer system that can store vast amounts of words and pictures.

Sunderland University's School of Arts, Design and Media has joined forces with Sony BPE UK and North-East firm Newland Electronics to test the Sony Media Management Service.

It will be used in the university's Sony Media Centre, the only one in the country that has the latest digital broadcast technology.

Mike O'Brien, principal lecturer at the university's School of Arts, Design and Media, said: "Normally we use a computer's hard drive to store data and access it quickly. But images, in particular, use up a huge amount of memory which is expensive and could mean a hard drive the size of a room.

"This equipment archives large amounts of material by storing it digitally and allows it to be accessed quickly.

"This new technology means we can call up individual pieces of carefully coded data such as clips from a film and re-combine them very quickly.

"Our work will explore how the technology can be developed and used in today's world.

"In higher education alone it could revolutionise research and curriculum development while it also has applications in fields as diverse as medicine, marketing and music."

David Alexander, Sony BPE UK's business solutions manager, said the project would "help create and develop relationships between the university and large corporations seeking to develop this exciting area, placing it at the forefront of digital asset management".