GE developing holographic memory
General Electric, a multinational technology conglomerate based in the US, recently revealed that it had achieved a breakthrough in terms of next generation storage.
Holographic storage, a process in which chemical changes in the form of patterns will be stored onto disk and unlocked through the use of lasers, will allow up to 500GB to be stored onto a single disk. A single disk therefore will have the capacity of 500 CDs or 100 DVDs.
Brian Lawrence who manages General Electric’s holographic project says that “these holographic disks could offer 20 times the capacity of a single layer Blu Ray disk”.
The idea behind the project lies in the fact that CDs and DVDS are limited to a layer of metal contained within the disk which is used to store information. Instead of using a single layer holographic technology will harness the entire sphere of the disk itself to store information in an almost three dimensional layer.
Each disk will contain information in the form of holographic patterns and certain lasers will be used to unlock and decode this information in the correct sequence.
GE’s holographic project has been running since 2003 although the economic possibilities behind the technology have only recently come to light. Despite this Lawrence admits that the technology is still a few years away from being rolled out and aims to have it ready by 2011 or 2012.
Discuss GE’s holographic plans
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