The technology dream of storing terabytes of data on a single disk has taken a step closer to reality

Information storage media company Maxell has said it will launch its first holographic storage products in September 2006. The first drive will have a capacity of 300GB and a throughput of 160Mbps.

Holographic storage works by storing information using light-sensitive crystals. Because it uses the whole volume of the disk, not just the surface, it’s possible to store much more information than is possible on a DVD.

With a single holographic disk able to store 1.6 million high-resolution colour photos or over 240 hours of TV broadcast, holographic storage is starting to draw the attention of many in the IT industry.

“Holographic media makes it possible for millions of pages of information and high definition images to be held on one small, relatively inexpensive disc,” said Steven Pofcher, senior marketing manager at Maxell.

“Imagine having a person’s entire medical history, complete with MRI images, or storing a broadcast network’s entire HD [high-definition] Library on a single disc. These are both possible with holographic technology, which has such large capacity that approximately half a million 300-page books can be stored on a single disc.”

Holographic recording technology uses intersecting signal and reference laser beams to store data in a number of 3D holographic images.

According to Maxell, one 13cm optical disc can store up to 150 million pages — more than 63 times the capacity of DVD.

Earlier this month, Turner Entertainment’s vice-president of broadcast technology Ron Tarasoff said his company is planning to sell holographic disks that will retail for $100, and which in five years time will have a capacity of 1.6TB each.

“That’s pretty inexpensive,” said Tarasoff. “Even the first versions can store 300GB per disk, and it has 160Mbps data throughput rates. That’s burning. Then combine it with random access, and it’s the best of all worlds.”

The technology also has an impressive lineage. Hitachi-owned Maxell is working with InPhase Technologies, a subsidiary of Lucent, which has led development of holographic media.

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D-Link ’s Media Lounge Wireless Media Player with DVD takes Wi-Fi into long overdue territory. Unlike most wireless media players, the new MediaLounge is as much consumer electronics device as networking peripheral.

In fact, the DSM-320RD, a 802.11g device, can function quite nicely without a network. Its disc player lets you play DVD, SVCD, CD-RW, MP3, VCD, CD-R, audio CD and DVD±RW discs, and the two memory card slots let you show digital photos stored on SD (Secure Digital), MMC (MultiMedia Card), Compact Flash (Type I and II) and Memory Stick cards.

Also unlike some other products in this category – including the new Squeeze Box from Slim Devices and D-Link’s own MediaLounge Wireless Music Player DSM-120 - this MediaLounge can send any kind of digital media over a Wi-Fi network: music, video and images stored on network-connected PCs, plus Internet radio.

At $285 and much less in some places , the price seems about right. There is much to like about the product, including generally great performance. But there is also much that is annoying.

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NEC has said its first DVD burners with Labelflash technology will be available from December onwards. Labelflash burns custom motifs, lettering or images onto the top side of DVD media.

NEC’s ND-3551A

The drives will not only support DVD +R(W) and DVD-R(W) but also DVD-RAM.

Labelflash delivers high image quality because it enables 256 brightness shades. The labelling process takes only around seven minutes. One special feature is that both the top side and the data side of the blank can be labelled - provided that there is enough available memory.

Labelflash can be used for blanks with a writable Labelflash top surface. On these media, the labelled top surface is covered by 0.6 millimetre-thick, protect layer which ensures that even labels that are exposed to light are extremely durable.

The burner supports DVD-R and DVD+R media recording at up to 16x DVD speed, while rewritable (DVD +RW) and double-layer DVDs (DVD +R9) are written at up to 8x DVD speed. DVD-RW and DVD-R DL are processed at 6x speed. 5x speed applies for DVD-RAMs. As a read drive, the burner delivers 16x DVD, 5x DVD RAM and 48x CD speed. NEC will also be marketing a lower cost model without Labelflash, the ND-4550A, which has the same write and read speeds as the ND-4551A.

The two new DVD burners ND-3551A (with Labelflash) and ND-3550A (without Labelflash) are also available in two further versions which do not support DVDRAM.

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