http://biz.yahoo.com/iw/070327/0231331.html
Mempile, a leader in next generation optical storage technology, announced today that it has proven its TeraDisc technology to be capable of storing up to one TeraByte (TB) of data. The company recently demonstrated this concept to several Japanese CE manufacturers by recording and reading over 100 virtual layers on a single DVD-size optical disc.
The demonstration attendees were amazed to see this breakthrough which showed Mempile's capability of recording at least 500GB of data on what appears to be a simple plastic transparent disc -- 300GB more than the announced roadmap of competing blue-laser technologies in the year 2010.
"From iPODs to Tivo, the amount of digital content that consumers are recording and storing in their homes is increasing like never before. The resulting problem is that the information is stored as 'islands' on various devices as well as on home PCs, which often function as a central repository by backing up the content of the devices, with the inherent risk of the hard disk drive crashing," said Avi Huppert, CEO of Mempile. "Mempile's TeraDisc technology will, for the first time, enable consumers to permanently store one TeraByte of data on a single, removable DVD-size disc at a fraction of the price of alternative solutions on the market."
Existing optical media store the data through the use of light-reflective semi-transparent technologies. While increasing in capacity, even the newer blue-laser technologies are nonetheless limited to a very small number of layers. The partial reflection from the multiple layers leads to signal reduction simultaneously raising background noise and coherent interferences.
Mempile's patented non-linear two-photon technology allows for 3D recording of transparent virtual layers on the entire volume of the disc. Mempile's recent demonstration proved that more than 100 layers could be recorded and read -- showing storage capabilities of slightly less than 300GB over a thickness of 0.6 mm of active material. By increasing this active material to the thickness of a DVD, 1.2 mm, Mempile will be able to demonstrate the recording and reading of at least 500GB of data. Future optimization will allow the recording of 200 layers and of up to 5GB of data per layer.
