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Like a carrion crow, the need for faster, bigger and cheaper data storage hovers over human industry. The hunger for new and improved data storage is palpable among corporations, universities, the research sector and consumers around the world, and it is just a matter of time before new ideas and technologies step up to the plate and deliver what society and the private and public sectors have been clamouring. The world may change significantly in the process.
What new and exciting data storage technologies are on the horizon?
Holographic storage
Last year, General Electric unveiled a micro-holographic disc that can store 500GB of data. The same size as DVDs, the holographic disc stores data three-dimensionally rather than as pits in a disc. Expected to be available at first as a pre-recorded medium, the new technology may store the exciting digital content of the future – 3D TV, or images with higher resolutions than Blu-ray's 1080p.
Handheld devices
Handheld devices that can tap into key networks may also become a part of daily reality sometime in the future. José Iglesias, a director of storage products at IBM, predicts the day will come when you will be able to walk into an airport and hook your handheld device into the airport network to tell you your departure time, gate number and seat assignment. You'll even be able to inform the airline whether you'll be wanting the chicken or roast beef for your in-flight meal. All this will require robust and flexible storage management software that has the ability to inter-operate with a host of different platforms.
Handheld devices may also be made to read barcode labels placed on products – both retail and privately owned – that can instantly inform the user of whatever information the product owner wants the user to know. Label printing, in this way, could bring about a revolution in how information is delivered in today's world and cut down on the need for personal customer service or help. Of course, people who object to play the barcode label game because of privacy concerns may hinder the establishment of such an information-ready world. Rules would have to be put in place, but even they might not be enough to stop the world from dramatically changing.
So many possibilities… what will the future bring?
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