Following the recent growth in popularity and availability of disk drives for small devices, standards are now being created to ensure that this small drives can be used in many different handheld systems.

A new hard drive has been released by Hitachi that can hold up to half a terabyte of information, which will be especially useful for storing audio and digital video material.

In a move that will be welcomed by businesses and consumers alike, HP and Panasonic have agreed to support each other's new recordable DVD formats in their respective devices.

The Monash Medical Centre in Melbourne has incorporated handheld computers and a new wireless networking infrastructure to allow doctors, nurses and other caregivers to locate patient history reports, x-rays and pathology results at the bedside.

Holographic information storage developer Optware Corporation plans to blaze a trail by becoming the first company to create an industry standard for holographic storage.

The latest release from Apple will allow video professionals, such as editors in production companies, to access centralised storage systems that can be used by up to 64 other people, via a Fibre Channel.

IT research firm Gartner has reached agreement with META Group to acquire the rival IT research and consulting company for around US$162 million (AU$211.5 million), or US $10.00 (AU$13.06) a share.

The idea of water coursing through their storage array may fill storage managers with dread, but scientists at IBM's Almaden research centre near Silicon Valley are currently developing a highly modular storage system that does just that.

IT vendors are likely to work more closely together as partners as the market shifts towards providing integrated solutions along the supply chain, according to recent trends observed by IDC.

The outlook for 2005 looks even brighter for smaller businesses with storage products normally designed for big companies being tailored specifically to meet the needs of smaller companies.