InPhase plans first commercial holographic storage systems
By Russ Arensman, Contributing Writer -- 5/15/2007
Scientists and science fiction fans alike have been tantalized by the concept of holographic data storage for the past 40 years. But a lack of reliable, affordable storage media has made the technology stubbornly difficult to commercialize.
Finally, however, Longmont, CO-based InPhase Technologies—which spun off from Bell Labs in 2000—is about to introduce the first commercial holographic storage systems. It plans to ship evaluation units to customers this summer, followed by volume shipments in the fall.
InPhase has developed “two-chemistry” media that blend a stabilizing matrix with a photosensitive monomer. When exposed to laser light, they permanently record patterns of light and dark pixels. Earlier lithium niobate-based holographic media had durability issues, says Murphy, and were prone to accidentally erasing previously recorded data. InPhase claims that its media—housed in protective cartridges—have solved those problems and will retain data for at least 50 years.
The company plans to increase its media’s storage capacity, by changing the mix of recording materials. Within 18 to 24 months, a second generation, 800-Mbyte discs, should be available, followed by a third generation, 1.6-terabyte discs. Data transfer rates should increase at a similar rate, from the initial 20 Mbytes per second to 80 Mbytes and then 120 Mbytes per second. Japan’s Hitachi Maxell is manufacturing the media, and Germany’s Bayer Material Science is supplying chemicals for the recording material. Both companies are InPhase investors.
A spatial light modulator in the drives converts data into optical patterns, which are recorded by two intersecting beams of laser light. Slight variations of the beams’ angle with a mirror makes it possible to record as many as 350 “pages” of data in a single location.
Unlike in most optical and magnetic recording systems, the disks do not spin. Instead, the media rotate only slightly to move the recording head to a new spot after page locations are filled. Without spinning media, system design is simpler and the drives are less damage-prone than conventional hard disk drives. But there’s also less technology and fewer components for InPhase to borrow from the disk drive industry.
Initial drives will sell for $18,000. Media will cost $180 per disc. “It seems quite expensive,” says Mike Russak, a technical advisor with research firm Trend Focus. He also notes that magnetic disk drives offer higher recording densities and data transfer rates than InPhase’s first-generation products.
Murphy responds, however, that InPhase’s product isn’t trying to compete with hard disk drives. The company’s target, she says, is the archival storage market served by high-end tape drives, which cost up to $30,000. Holographic storage is longer-lasting than tape and offers the convenience of random data access. She expects strong interest from broadcasters and medical, government, and business users looking for high-capacity archival storage.
Wolfgang Schlichting, research director at International Data Corporation, calls holographic storage “one of the very few product candidates” to replace DVDs and other optical storage technologies as they approach their theoretical recording limits. He says he expects annual holographic drive sales to reach $100 million in 2010, although unit volumes will grow slowly, not hitting the 100,000 mark until 2011.
“I don’t see it having much impact on the traditional disk drive space,” he says, “but it could have a significant impact on the archival tape industry if InPhase really comes through on all the promises it’s made.”
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