Chicago (IL) - InPhase is edging closer to a commercial release of its holographic storage system "Tapestry". The technology will offer 300 GByte space on one disc and will be marketed as high-end archival storage solution - but may also appeal to some pro-sumers and small businesses.
Originally scheduled to be released back in 2003, then delayed to 2005, Tapestry drives are now scheduled to become available late next year, according to Kevin Curtis, chief technology officer at InPhase.
Curtis hopes that Tapestry will convince high-end customers such as universities to purchase the technology because of potential cost savings and the robustness of optical Tapestry media. "Optical media tend to be less expensive than tapes. In order to protect content, data needs to be moved from one tape to another every few years, which can be very costly" he said. Tapestry media will offer more capacity and will be more robust: "We will guarantee a data integrity of 50 years," Curtis said.
Holographic media will be manufactured for example by Maxell and Hitachi. Tapestry drives are likely to be offered by OEMs as 5.25" units.
InPhase does not plan to offer a consumer version of its holographic drive at this time. "The mass market is a difficult game for a startup," Curtis said. However, he believes that some power users or so-called pro-sumers as well as small businesses will be interested in a holographic storage solution: "It is especially interesting when for example video data need to be safely stored."
