The world's appetite for more storage is endless -- or so it looks. Three companies, from three different continents, are developing new devices based on holographic data storage technologies: Polight Technologies, based in England; InPhase Technologies, from the U.S.; and Optware of Japan.
I particularly enjoyed InPhase Technologies's motto: Imagine holding 100 movies in the palm of your hand. Holographic Storage makes it possible.
Peter Williams looked at their future offerings.
Polight Technologies is developing the Holodisc, a CD-sized unit that uses three-dimensional holographic data storage technologies. The discs can hold 500 GB to 1 TB of data and have read/write transfer speeds of over 1 Gbps.
This compares with the current limit of 4.7GB for a DVD and a read/write maximum around 3 MBps.
Michael Ledzion, chief executive at Polight, told vnunet.com: "Big corporations will eventually use this technology. "It could, for instance, reduce a 12-hour back-up to half an hour, overcoming pressures on the daily archival window. Also, tape has a low archival life whereas holographic storage could last up to 50 years."
The two other companies have similar goals, but are using different technologies.
InPhase, which signed a deal with Hitachi earlier this year, is working on a 100 GB disk and 20 MBps transfer speeds. But its products could work out cheaper as it will use the low-cost red and blue lasers already developed for DVD.
Optware, whose venture capital funding includes $5m from Intel, is also aiming to reach a 1 TB capacity and a similar transfer speed to the Holodisc. But, whereas the first two use new photo-polymer materials, Optware claims to have developed a reliable way of storing in 3D format on existing CD and DVD media.
According to what these companies are saying, these future products look attractive. But will they ever reach the market?
Source: Peter Williams, NewsFactor Network, October 21, 2002
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