¹The National Library of the Netherlands, The Hague, The Netherlands
²Tessella Support Services plc., Abingdon, United Kingdom   
³The National Archive of the Netherlands, The Hague, The Netherlands  

 In recent years, opinions have varied on which digital preservation strategy to follow. Although the digital preservation community has now embraced the idea of applying both emulation as well as migration in their strategies, emulation is still looked upon with skepticism due to its technical complexity and initial costs. As early as in 2004, the Koninklijke Bibliotheek –  National Library of the Netherlands (KB) – and National Archive of the Netherlands acknowledged the need for emulation, especially for rendering complex digital objects in the future without affecting their authenticity and integrity. For these reasons, a project was started to investigate the feasibility of emulation by developing and testing an emulator designed for digital preservation purposes. In July 2007 this project ended and delivered a durable x86 component based computer emulator: Dioscuri, the emulator for digital preservation.

¹The National Library of the Netherlands, The Hague, The Netherlands
²Tessella Support Services plc., Abingdon, United Kingdom   
³The National Archive of the Netherlands, The Hague, The Netherlands  

In recent years, opinions have varied on which digital preservation strategy to follow. Although the digital preservation community has now embraced the idea of applying both emulation as well as migration in their strategies, emulation is still looked upon with skepticism due to its technical complexity and initial costs. As early as in 2004, the Koninklijke Bibliotheek –  National Library of the Netherlands (KB) – and National Archive of the Netherlands acknowledged the need for emulation, especially for rendering complex digital objects in the future without affecting their authenticity and integrity. For these reasons, a project was started to investigate the feasibility of emulation by developing and testing an emulator designed for digital preservation purposes. In July 2007 this project ended and delivered a durable x86 component based computer emulator: Dioscuri, the emulator for digital preservation.

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