Optware to release 30 GB holographic card for less than $1 in 2006

June 10, 2005

w00t! That's what I would say when thinking of a 30 GB storage that costs less than $1. Hmm! That's what I thought when reading that this was announced by a company named Optware. The company has been in the news a lot as it is developing holographic storage. In 2002 we mentioned that the company would bring a Terabyte disc to the market within one year and unless I have been missing something, I haven't seen it. Last year we also posted that the company was bringing technology on the market which would allow 200 to 300 GB on one single CD sized disc.

Well today they are a little less optimistic as the company has announced a 30 GB Holographic Versatile Card. This product (HVC) should become on the market at the end of 2006. The card itself should be the size of a creditcard and cost nearly one dollar. An device that can read and write it should cost nearly $10,000 (Â¥1 million) and a reader around $2,000 (Â¥200,000)

Collinear holographic technology developed by Optware is used to read from and write onto the holographic card. The technology requires only one objective lens, because the information beam and reference beam are arranged into a single laser beam on the same axis, which is used for both reading and writing. In the HVC, hologram data are recorded in either longitudinal or lateral directions. A reader system moves both the medium and the optical head horizontally to pickup specified holograms. For example, card might be shifted to the right and left, with the optical head shifted back and forth. The company has designed the card to be almost as large as a credit card for users' convenience. Optware said that, technically, the size can be reduced to that of a memory card.

The launch of these HVC-related products is expected in
December, 2006. At the same time their should become a standard for
it, approved by Ecma
International, an organization promoting standardization of information and
communication technologies. Read the entire article here. Discuss this in our Optical
Storage Technical Discussions Forum.

Source: NikkeiBP