In five to ten years, there is a very real chance that small businesses in IT will be using discs which can hold up to 10,000 times the capacity of a regular DVD, it has been announced.

Scientists based at the Swinburne University of Technology in Australia found that through the harnessing of nanoparticles, it was able to create so-called "five-dimensional" discs.

Professor Min Gu, who led the project at the institution, believes they have hit the first step in being able to manufacture a disc which is capable of storing as many as 200,000 DVDs.

Commenting on the breakthrough, Professor Gu said: "We were able to show how nano-structured material can be incorporated on to a disc to increase data capacity without increasing the size of the disc."

DVDs first started hitting the global scene in earnest during the late 1990s, with the format being the most popular way of viewing films across the world by 2003.

According to a recent survey by Connect, the two biggest IT headaches for businesses were 'everyday hassles with IT' (37 per cent) and 'security concerns' (32 per cent).