300Gb on A Single Disc by 2006

December 1, 2005 InPhase Technologies confirms that it will launch its range of holographic storage media and devices in September 2006.

The announcement is the first real salvo in a new storage format war: The HVD (Holographic Versatile Disc) Alliance versus InPhase Technologies and its backers, Hitachi/Maxell. This conflict will bring the end-user, if the specifications are to be believed, 1Terrabyte (Tb) of storage on a single disc by 2010. Although the initial offering will serve up 300Gb at US$100 per 12cm-diameter disc.

The technology was successfully demonstrated in the hard-to-please broadcast environment in October. InPhase Technologies' Tapestry disc array stored and retrieved a TV-broadcast quality advert for Turner Broadcasting. The capability of Tapestry to record up to 26 hours of broadcast-quality footage on a single 300Gb disc - recorded at 160 mega-bits per seconds (Mbps) - makes it highly suitable for today's digital media requirements.

InPhase, an offshoot of Lucent, is the main engine behind the September 2006 roll-out. It has big plans for big data capacities, with 800Gb due for 2007. The media is set to reach its uncompressed peak of 1.6Tb three years after this.

Hardware Costs
The obvious question for consumers seeking this sort of heavyweight storage is: "How much are the drives?" At the outset, InPhase is quoting $USD12,000 to $15,000 for the WORM (Write Once Read Many) hardware.

On the other side of the format war sits The HVD Alliance. Outside of its 'roadmap' which predicts 500Gb by 2006, the Alliance is yet to announce firm plans for technology releases. Bearing in mind its affiliation to the European Computer Manufacturers Association (ECMA) - a not-for-profit organisation formed in 1961 that seeks to maintain fixed standards - and the fact that that the Alliance is a formation of many actively competing companies, this is hardly a surprise.

One member of the Alliance, Optware, however, was the beneficiary of US$14 million from Toshiba to push the Holographic Versatile Disc format on. Optware was the first company to successfully demonstrate holographic storage and retrieval with its Collinear system - back in July of 2004.

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