Close
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Latest News
    • Storage

    Making a Clearer Case in Data Storage

    By
    Sonia R. Lelii
    -
    February 12, 2001
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      Holographic storage—the ability to store data three dimensionally for high-density capacity and speed—still has light-years to go before it is an off-the-shelf product.

      The technology, which promises to store billions of bits on a device the size of a postage stamp, is still in the invention phase. But Lucent Technologies Inc. and its research arm, Bell Laboratories, said they have cleared a major hurdle that until now has prevented holographic storage from becoming a commercial product.

      Lucent officials said the company has designed a stable proprietary medium—something that resembles a transparent CD or DVD—that can make this radical technology viable.

      Holographic technology could enable IT managers to store more data on smaller devices and transfer the data faster. But some—worried about such issues as a lack of standards and reluctant to take great risks in such an important area as storage—said it could be several years before holographic storage is accepted.

      Inventors have been stymied in attempts to make holographic memory a commercial technology because previous attempts to use crystals and lithium nibate cubes for holography proved impractical. And attempts to find a better medium often result in the deterioration of data after frequent use.

      “Up until recently, that has been the main stumbling block in the holographic storage technology. Now, we have a new medium, so you can read the data a thousand times with no deterioration of the data,” said Nelson Diaz, president and CEO of InPhase Technologies, in Longmont, Colo., which recently spun off from Lucent to continue holographic memory research.

      “Now we have to develop a product that writes the data and reads it back [on the same device],” Diaz said.

      InPhase executives said they are about two years away from developing a holographic storage product. IT managers now store information one bit at a time in a serial pattern along the length of a magnetic tape. Unlike other storage methods, where data is placed only on the surface of the disk, holographic storage records data throughout the material and stores it in page formats, each containing millions of bits.

      Since all bits contained in a holographic page are stored in overlapping page formats, the transfer rate can be as high as 1GB per second. Higher-density capacity means data is stored and retrieved faster.

      “Its so dense that it completely changes the amount of storage you can put into something the size of a nail,” said Arun Taneja, an analyst with The Enterprise Storage Group Inc., in Milford, Mass. “If [InPhase] breaks these technology barriers, then it could completely change the capacity paradigm.”

      Imation Enterprise Corp., of Oakdale, Minn., a provider of data storage media, will be working with InPhase to develop holographic disks with the potential to store 125GB of data in a removable 5.25-inch disk, with read rates greater than 30M bps. That equals 27 4.7GB DVDs. Imation officials said the transfer rate will be about 25 times faster than with todays DVD media.

      By the fourth generation, holographic products are expected to store about a terabyte of information on a single disk—with 150 times the transfer rates of current DVDs, according to Imation officials.

      Analysts expect that commercial products probably will hit the market in about five years. “The first few years will be experimental,” Taneja said. “None of these guys are going to put their mission-critical data on it at first. And God knows how many years it is going to take to put standards in place.”

      Min Christopherson, director of IT at DNA Sciences Inc., in Fremont, Calif., likewise doesnt expect holographic storage to take off soon. Unlike networking, storage is not considered an area in which to gamble on experimental technology.

      “People are less experimental with storage devices. Retention is the name of the game in storage. Then, there are no standards. That worries me,” Christopherson said.

      In an industry where you still cant get a Brocade Communications Systems Inc. switch to work with a Gadzoox Networks Inc. switch, Christopherson said he wonders how long it will take to standardize an alternative storage method like holographic storage.

      “There is some bickering between vendors in the storage [industry], and I think that will hurt that market,” he said. “So something like [holographic storage] is going to take a long time.”

      Others are not as conservative, taking the view that a radically new technology can move from the testing lab into customers hands.

      “If someone would have told you in 1994 that you would be putting your mission-critical information on a handheld [personal digital assistant], you would not have believed them. But you do today, and so do I,” said Eric Goldfarb, CIO and chief technology officer of Macmillan USA, based in Indianapolis. “We just have to sit back and learn … and keep an open mind.”

      Sonia R. Lelii
      Get the Free Newsletter!
      Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis
      This email address is invalid.
      Get the Free Newsletter!
      Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis
      This email address is invalid.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Latest News

      Zeus Kerravala on Networking: Multicloud, 5G, and...

      James Maguire - December 16, 2022 0
      I spoke with Zeus Kerravala, industry analyst at ZK Research, about the rapid changes in enterprise networking, as tech advances and digital transformation prompt...
      Read more
      Applications

      Datadog President Amit Agarwal on Trends in...

      James Maguire - November 11, 2022 0
      I spoke with Amit Agarwal, President of Datadog, about infrastructure observability, from current trends to key challenges to the future of this rapidly growing...
      Read more
      IT Management

      Intuit’s Nhung Ho on AI for the...

      James Maguire - May 13, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nhung Ho, Vice President of AI at Intuit, about adoption of AI in the small and medium-sized business market, and how...
      Read more
      Cloud

      IGEL CEO Jed Ayres on Edge and...

      James Maguire - June 14, 2022 0
      I spoke with Jed Ayres, CEO of IGEL, about the endpoint sector, and an open source OS for the cloud; we also spoke about...
      Read more
      Applications

      Kyndryl’s Nicolas Sekkaki on Handling AI and...

      James Maguire - November 9, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nicolas Sekkaki, Group Practice Leader for Applications, Data and AI at Kyndryl, about how companies can boost both their AI and...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2022 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×