24 Karat gold archive discs (made by MAM-A Inc.).

• Position: COMPUTER & COMMUNICATIONS EQUIPMENT/SOFTWARE

Colorado Springs

Mam-a.com

Formerly a division of Mitsui, MAM-A has been an independent company since 2003 and touts its CD-Rs and DVD-Rs as the gold standard for archiving data, thanks in large part to a reflective layer of 24 karat gold. Explains Lora Swenson, MAM-A's sales manager: "24 karat gold is a noncorrosive and nonoxidizing metal. This is really the safest way to store data."

MAM-A touts a 300-year longevity on its 24 Karat Gold CD-Rs, outlasting hard drives, Blu-Ray discs, and even microfilm. Swenson says law enforcement is a big market for MAM-A: The NYPD and LAPD are customers. So is the Smithsonian Institute, the Library of Congress, and a host of other...