Folio Photonics Announces Breakthrough Multi-Layer Optical Disc Storage: 10 TB for $50

[TheLostSwede]

Folio Photonics, a leading pioneer of immutable active archive, today announced that it has achieved a significant breakthrough in multi-layer optical storage disc technology that will enable an unprecedented level of cost, security and sustainability advantage. Leveraging patented advancements in materials science, Folio Photonics has developed the first economically viable, enterprise-scale optical storage discs with dynamic multi-layer write/read capabilities, which will enable the development of radically low-cost/high-capacity disc storage.

"Folio Photonics is on a path to engendering far greater data densities than was thought possible several years ago," said John Monroe, lead analyst at Furthur Market Research and former VP analyst in the data center infrastructure group at Gartner. "Using next-generation materials, patented polymer extrusion, and film-based disc construction processes (distinct from mere optical layering), in concert with customized optical pickup units (OPUs), Folio Photonics appears poised to deliver a new optical technology that enables eight or 16 film layers per side per disc, as opposed to only three optical layers per side per disc for archival discs today, with a roadmap to add additional layers over time."




Data growth is overwhelming existing storage technologies, and today's outdated enterprise storage technologies fail to address three key pain points of cost, cybersecurity and sustainability. The high cost of storage is untenable with exploding data growth, cyber threats continue to escalate, and data centers are a major contributor to energy/water usage and CO2 emissions. Current hard disk drive (HDD) and LTO tape roadmaps reflect insufficient technological advancement to meet user needs and desired price points in the future.

Folio's technology milestone proves the feasibility of its materials, manufacturing and optics and shifts the company from the research phase to product development. With disc availability targeted for 2024, Folio's multi-layer disc capacity is expected to start at 10 TB per cartridge (1 TB per disc) with an aggressive roadmap to multi-TB capacities. The roadmap is enabled by the addition layers due to its easily scalable polymer co-extrusion process as well as significant increases in capacity per layer.

"Our talented engineering team - under the leadership of founder and CIO Dr. Kenneth Singer - has pioneered a fresh approach to optical storage that overcomes historical constraints and puts unheard of cost, cybersecurity and sustainability benefits within reach," said Steven Santamaria, Folio Photonics CEO. "With these advantages, Folio Photonics is poised to reshape the trajectory of archive storage."

Folio Photonics optical discs will provide a powerful combination of game-changing characteristics that make data archives ACTIVE.

Folio Photonics is well positioned to be a leader in the archival storage market, projected to be $10B+1, 2.68+2 Zettabytes in 2025. It plans to start with adoption in the immutable active archive use case and expand to become a standard for all archive data. Folio's manufacturing advantages drive room for significant channel/partner margin and profitability and position the company for sustainable growth and continued investment in the business.

"Archival storage data comprises up to 80 percent of all data according to industry estimates, and Folio Photonics is in a strong position to be a leading player in this large, fast-growing market," said Fred Moore, president, Horison Information Strategies. "Archival data is typically unchanging, presenting itself as 'write once' and requiring immutability. At the same time, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and Big Data analytics are increasing activity and accessibility requirements for archival storage systems. As a result, the demand for immutable active archives will only increase as immutability and higher performance requirements reshape the exploding secondary storage paradigm."

Unlike tape, Folio Photonics ACTIVE archive storage will provide random access to archives to ensure effective data retrieval. Unlike HDD, its ACTIVE archive storage is Immutable by Design and offers a 5X lower acquisition price - roughly $25/TB for HDDs and less than $5/TB for Folio. Folio Photonics discs are highly sustainable and will provide 80 percent power savings over HDDs. In addition, its ACTIVE archive storage is not vulnerable to electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attacks, offers an air gap to ensure cybersecurity and provides a media lifespan of 100 years.

"Folio's next-generation storage media will radically reduce the upfront cost and TCO while making data archives active, cybersecure, and sustainable - an ideal combination for data center and hyperscale customers. We believe that it will disrupt and reenergize the multi-billion-dollar data storage industry with its breakthrough financial and sustainability upside," added Santamaria.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source

 

[Denver]

I've seen many promising technologies that look revolutionary on paper, despite the promises they never become real products and usually only serve as a front to extract money from investors.

Let me know when the product exists and I can buy it..

 

[Wirko]

I've seen many promising technologies that look revolutionary on paper, despite the promises they never become real products and usually only serve as a front to extract money from investors.

Let me know when the product exists and I can buy it..

This looks like something that humans can actually manufacture, not some kind of science fiction. LTO-10 comes out in 2024-2025 probably, it's what these new discs will compete against if they will be available in the same time frame. It's not impossible.

 

[konga]

This sounds like something that won't be marketed to home users, but if it is, $5/TB sounds pretty amazing. Back in my day, we used to store our "media collections" on CD-Rs and later DVD-Rs. I still have a box somewhere with many spindles full of those discs. I wonder if there would be a place for those 10TB cartridges for media hoarders in today's world.

 

[ExcuseMeWtf]

That DOES indeed look interesting.

I hope it won't suffer from readability issues down the road like current optical disks do.

 

[Blue4130]

This sounds like something that won't be marketed to home users, but if it is, $5/TB sounds pretty amazing. Back in my day, we used to store our "media collections" on CD-Rs and later DVD-Rs. I still have a box somewhere with many spindles full of those discs. I wonder if there would be a place for those 10TB cartridges for media hoarders in today's world.

And if it is enterprise based, the media will be cheap but the hardware will be thousands. Just look at lto tape drives...

 

[neatfeatguy]

I've seen many promising technologies that look revolutionary on paper, despite the promises they never become real products and usually only serve as a front to extract money from investors.

Let me know when the product exists and I can buy it..

I remember some years ago there was an article in a magazine I read about a company that designed (or was in the process of designing) and cube shaped storage medium that would sit in the palm of your hand. Data was to be read/written using multiple lasers to access data at any point inside the cube. It was supposed to revolutionize data storage due to the massive amount it could hold and the speed info could be read/written. Clearly nothing came from it, that I know of.....I don't know how practical it would have even been for a personal computer, but it sure did look and sound cool.

It'll be interesting to see what comes of this disc technology.

 

[Chaitanya]

I remember some years ago there was an article in a magazine I read about a company that designed (or was in the process of designing) and cube shaped storage medium that would sit in the palm of your hand. Data was to be read/written using multiple lasers to access data at any point inside the cube. It was supposed to revolutionize data storage due to the massive amount it could hold and the speed info could be read/written. Clearly nothing came from it, that I know of.....I don't know how practical it would have even been for a personal computer, but it sure did look and sound cool.

It'll be interesting to see what comes of this disc technology.

Do you mean this one?

Optical data storage enters a new dimension – Physics World

Holographic data storage promises increased storage densities and improved access times that could lead to a new range of novel memory devices

physicsworld.com

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

Do you mean this one?

Optical data storage enters a new dimension – Physics World

Holographic data storage promises increased storage densities and improved access times that could lead to a new range of novel memory devices

physicsworld.com

I read that too! geez thats an old read. There was a theory (never manifested) about using crystal prisms at one time (Superman didnt want to share that tech...).

New 'Superman' crystals can store data for billions of years

Researchers in the U.K. have developed a way of storing digital data inside tiny structures contained in glass that can last for billions of years.

money.cnn.com

BTW @TheLostSwede did they send that to you/TPU or did you find it? If the later, good find!

 

[TheLostSwede]

BTW @TheLostSwede did they send that to you/TPU or did you find it? If the later, good find!

Via Tom's, I have to admit.

 

[Xajel]

I've seen many promising technologies that look revolutionary on paper, despite the promises they never become real products and usually only serve as a front to extract money from investors.

Let me know when the product exists and I can buy it..

Some of these tech are not intended to the end user in the first place, they target data centres, enterprises & large organisations where they need to archive large amount of data, sometimes to be accessed once in several years.

Consumers stopped using data tapes decades ago, yet they're still popular among companies for archival purposes. Yes some people have these at home as a part of their homelabs, and some might actually use them, but mostly they acquired it second hand as initial cost is high for any home user.

 

[Assimilator]

10TB by 2024 when HDD manufacturers are promising at least triple that capacity by then. It may be 1/5 the cost of HDDs today but will that still be true in 2 years' time?

There's also zero mention of performance here, yes for archive purposes that doesn't matter as much but it still matters.

 

[Readlight]

Geting cheap 5TB disk for old optical disk reader would be great. 5TB disk in DVD RW drive for backup

 

[ymdhis]

This was already a planned new tech back in 2006:

Holographic Versatile Disc - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Nothing came out of it.
Just like nothing comes out of the revolutionary new battery technology we hear about once every year for the past 20 years.

Here's hoping this one will turn out different, but I'm not really interested until we have actual drives to purchase.

 

[Denver]

10TB by 2024 when HDD manufacturers are promising at least triple that capacity by then. It may be 1/5 the cost of HDDs today but will that still be true in 2 years' time?

There's also zero mention of performance here, yes for archive purposes that doesn't matter as much but it still matters.

High capacity HDDs don't need to be filled with helium or something and only last for five years?

 

[Metroid]

10TB by 2024 when HDD manufacturers are promising at least triple that capacity by then. It may be 1/5 the cost of HDDs today but will that still be true in 2 years' time?

There's also zero mention of performance here, yes for archive purposes that doesn't matter as much but it still matters.

Yeah, the time they release this, the price of 10tb will be around 10 usd or less, right now is around 180 usd.

 

[lexluthermiester]

which will enable the development of radically low-cost/high-capacity disc storage.

Excellent! Been waiting for this breakthrough to hit!

 

[AusWolf]

Nice!

All I'll be interested in (besides the obvious: market availability) is the historical drawback of all home-burned optical media: data retention over long periods of time.

 

[neatfeatguy]

Do you mean this one?

Optical data storage enters a new dimension – Physics World

Holographic data storage promises increased storage densities and improved access times that could lead to a new range of novel memory devices

physicsworld.com

Nice read, but that wasn't the one I remember reading. The article I read sounded more like this one, The Opticube:

Features - IT and Computing - ComputerWeekly.com

www.computerweekly.com

Anyway, lots of interesting ideas have come and gone....

 

[lexluthermiester]

Nice!

All I'll be interested in (besides the obvious: market availability) is the historical drawback of all home-burned optical media: data retention over long periods of time.

That's been solved for a while. Chemistry formulations on recordable media are very stable and have been for more than a few decades. The key is recording speed. The slower the more stable.

EDIT: A few decades, had to look something up before stating that.

 

[Wirko]

That's been solved for a while. Chemistry formulations on recordable media are very stable and have been for more than a decade. The key is recording speed. The slower the more stable.

My experience with CDs has never been bad. I verified each CD in my old collection a couple years ago. Of about 100 CDs, about 5 were bad, mostly Maxell branded. ALL of the bad ones had visible signs of deterioration - silver layer peeling off (or at least changing colour) near the edge. Only part of data was unreadable, I suppose it was data written close to the edge. A CD I have in my hands right now is a Yamaha CDM12Y74 with 4x writing speed, recorded in 1997, it's visually flawless and ... let me check ... all the data is still readable. Yeah, CDs had model numbers on them back then.

 

[Aquinus]

That's been solved for a while. Chemistry formulations on recordable media are very stable and have been for more than a decade. The key is recording speed. The slower the more stable.

An important thing to call out is that modern optical media is not the same as CDs in the past. Blu-ray is far more resilient to disk rot because the reflective layer is a silver alloy unlike DVDs and CDs where it's aluminum, which is much more reactive to things you'd find in the atmosphere, like oxygen.

 

[Dr. Dro]

Pass. Even for archival, optical media is the last thing i'd be looking at nowadays.

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

That's been solved for a while. Chemistry formulations on recordable media are very stable and have been for more than a decade. The key is recording speed. The slower the more stable.

The key is the hardware. The media might be cheaper but how much is the hardware?

 

[lexluthermiester]

unlike DVDs and CDs where it's aluminum, which is much more reactive to things you'd find in the atmosphere, like oxygen.

CD's maybe, but not DVD's. DVD's are sandwiched together between two layers of plastic. As long as the glue layer stays sealed(and it's nearly impossible to break those seals without using force that would destroy the disc anyway), degradation is extremely unlikely. DVD's are as physically hardy as BluRay discs, just without the antiscratch coating. So that concern really isn't something to worry about.

The key is the hardware. The media might be cheaper but how much is the hardware?

It will not be very expensive once adoption takes place. Even if the consumer drive turns out to be a few hundred, worth it!

Pass. Even for archival, optical media is the last thing i'd be looking at nowadays.

Suit yourself. Kinda narrow thinking but whatever.. Think about it, 10TB(that's 10,000 gigabytes) for $50. You're not getting that amount of space in an SSD, cloud storage or even HDD's for anywhere near that price. Let those facts sink in. Yes, yes.