General Electric has introduced a micro-holographic disc that can store up to 500GB of data today, aimed at the archive industry and users with massive movie and music collections.
The company knows the market for the disc is small now, but believes it can eventually be used in standalone players, just like DVDs and Blu-rays are now. DVDs can hold up to 8.5GB and BD-50 can hold up to 50GB.
Micro-holographic discs can store so much data because the store information in three dimensions, rather than just having the info written on the surface of the disc.
Brian Lawrence, head of GE's Holographic Storage team added, "Very recently, the team at GE has made dramatic improvements in the materials enabling significant increases in the amount of light that can be reflected by the holograms."
Now that the higher reflexivity is a possibility, the technology can be used in new standalone players that are backwards compatible with DVD and Blu-ray discs.
Added GE: "The hardware and formats are so similar to current optical storage technology that the micro-holographic players will enable consumers to play back their CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray discs."
"GE's breakthrough is a huge step toward bringing our next generation holographic storage technology to the everyday consumer," noted Lawrence in a separate statement.
Lawerence concluded, "The day when you can store your entire high definition movie collection on one disc and support high resolution formats like 3D television is closer than you think."
Micro-holographic discs can store so much data because the store information in three dimensions, rather than just having the info written on the surface of the disc.
Brian Lawrence, head of GE's Holographic Storage team added, "Very recently, the team at GE has made dramatic improvements in the materials enabling significant increases in the amount of light that can be reflected by the holograms."
Now that the higher reflexivity is a possibility, the technology can be used in new standalone players that are backwards compatible with DVD and Blu-ray discs.
Added GE: "The hardware and formats are so similar to current optical storage technology that the micro-holographic players will enable consumers to play back their CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray discs."
"GE's breakthrough is a huge step toward bringing our next generation holographic storage technology to the everyday consumer," noted Lawrence in a separate statement.
Lawerence concluded, "The day when you can store your entire high definition movie collection on one disc and support high resolution formats like 3D television is closer than you think."
