GE Global Research, the technology development arm of the General Electric Company, today announced a major breakthrough in the development of next generation optical storage technology. GE researchers have successfully demonstrated a threshold micro-holographic storage material that can support 500 gigabytes of storage capacity in a standard DVD-size disc. This is equal to the capacity of 20 single-layer Blu-ray discs, 100 DVDs or the hard drive for a large desktop computer.

GE's micro-holographic discs will be able to be read and recorded on systems very similar to a typical Blu-ray or DVD player. Holographic storage is different from today's optical storage formats like DVDs and Blu-ray discs. DVDs and Blu-ray discs store information only on the surface of the disc; holographic storage technology uses the entire volume of the disc material. Holograms, or three-dimensional patterns that represent bits of information, are written into the disc and can then be read out. Although GE's holographic storage technology represents a breakthrough in capacity, 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 BDs.

High-performance storage solutions vendor Fusion-io may have gone way ahead of setting a record, when during the Storage Networking World event, the company demonstrated its 640 GB PCI-Express ioSAN card to support as many as 768 simultaneous DVD-quality video streams. To do so, the engineers set up a storage network consisting of a host workstation for the ioSAN card, 12 disk-less servers with quad-socket, quad-core processors, using an InfiniBand backbone, two 10 gigabit Ethernet switches, and NVIDIA graphics cards to provide the video acceleration. The resulting display consisted of about a dozen 50-inch HD LCD TVs running to form a compound display panel, onto which the 768 video streams were played on.

Joshua Aune, Fusion-io systems architect, says that the ioSAN card could have stored 2,500 DVD-quality movies, and will further be able to support 1,024 video streams, which the company plans to demo in two weeks time at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) show, in Las Vegas USA. The ioSAN 320GB PCIe card boasts a 1.5GB/sec. read speed and 1.4GB/sec. write speed with 32k packets or 186,000 IOPS for reads and 167,000 IOPS for writes using 4k packets. The card used in this feat had 640GB of single-layer cell (SLC) NAND flash memory in two 320 GB modules. A video of the feat can be watched here.

Demonstrating its ongoing commitment to provide small businesses with solutions that meet both current and future storage needs, Seagate, the world's leading provider of storage solutions, today announced a complete portfolio of products designed to protect data for sustained business continuity and optimum uptime. First introduced in 2008 as a portable Full Disk Encryption drive, the new Seagate BlackArmor product line is the family name for a suite of network-attached, workstation and portable storage solutions designed to meet the digital asset management needs of small business professionals.

Today, LaCie announced a merger with Caleido AG, the creators of the innovative online storage service, Wuala.
Luzius Meisser, Co-Founder of Caleido said, "Wuala is an exciting technology that builds its reliable and secure cloud storage by harnessing idle resources."
Wuala assembles centralized and distributed storage; the result is a reliable and scalable service. Once files are placed in Wuala, they are securely encrypted before being cut into several redundant fragments disseminated and stored on a cloud of computers.

Iomega, an EMC company and a global leader in data protection, today announced exciting new features for the Iomega StorCenter ix2 Network Drive, including remote access and peer-to-peer file sharing, as well as ease-of-use enhancements that make the ix2 NAS appliance one of the most versatile home and small business network storage drives available today.

"With the simplest set-up process in the industry, the ix2 not only provides home and small business network storage users with such important features as media serving, Bluetooth and video surveillance capabilities, now we've added remote access so users can connect to their files from anywhere in the world, as well as the new standard in peer-to-peer file sharing and much more," said Jonathan Huberman, President of Iomega and the Consumer and Small Business Products Division of EMC. "That's the power of network computing with Iomega and EMC."

Storage and peripherals specialist Buffalo announced the HD-PEU2-RD external hard drive. It is designed to woo the fairer sex with its glossy coloured shells, available in red, white and black. The 81 (W) x 16 (H) x 130 (D) mm shell houses a 2.5 inch hard drive, which comes in capacities starting from 250 GB to 500 GB. The unit tips scales at 190 g. The drive uses USB 2.0 to connect to any PC or Mac. Depending on the capacity of the hard drive, the HD-PEU2-RD is priced between $95 for the 250 GB model, and $171 for the 500 GB model.

A-DATA Technology, a worldwide leader in high-performance RAM products and Data Storage, announced today its new 2.5-inch SATA 3.0Gbps SSD 300 Plus, a next generation solid-state drive with performance significantly increased. Adopting some latest SSD controller design with 64 MB SDRAM of data buffer, the new 300 Plus SSD is able to read data at 250 MB/sec and write at 160 MB/sec. A-DATA will ship 32 GB, 64 GB, 128 GB and 256 GB models of the drives, sometime this year.

WD, the world's leader in external storage solutions, today announced that WD ShareSpace network storage systems now offer 8 TB (terabytes) of capacity, up to 30 percent faster transfer speeds, and DLNA media streaming capabilities. Combined with its ease-of-use and small footprint, WD ShareSpace is now a more compelling solution for small offices and digital media enthusiasts who want to store, protect and share massive amounts of content.
Responding to small-business customers' needs for increased shared storage, WD incorporated its industry-first 2 terabyte WD Caviar Green drive into WD ShareSpace's flexible four-bay design, creating a massive 8 TB's of storage in a small footprint.

An innovative and easily implemented technique in which nanoscale elements precisely assemble themselves over large surfaces could soon open doors to dramatic improvements in the data storage capacity of electronic media, according to scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst).
"I expect that the new method we developed will transform the microelectronic and storage industries, and open up vistas for entirely new applications," said co-lead investigator Thomas Russell, director of the Materials Research Science and Engineering Center at UMass Amherst, visiting Miller Professor at UC Berkeley's Department of Chemistry, and one of the world's leading experts on the behavior of polymers. "This work could possibly be translated into the production of more energy-efficient photovoltaic cells, for instance."

VIA Technologies, Inc, a leading innovator of power efficient x86 processor platforms, today announced that Samsung has adopted the VIA Nano processor in the new Samsung NC20 mini-notebook.

Mobility is enhanced by 802.11b/g and Bluetooth wireless connectivity, and a six-cell battery that provides up to 6.5 hours of use independent of any power supply, while storage options include either a solid state disk or a SATA hard disk drive. Other features include an integrated 1.3 mega pixel digital motion camera, 3-in-1 memory card reader and three built-in USB ports.

Kingston Digital, Inc., the Flash memory affiliate of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., today announced it is increasing the capacity of its CompactFlash Elite Pro Flash memory cards to 32GB. Shipping immediately, the new cards offer larger capacity and fast data transfer rates to allow amateur and professional photographers to maximize the performance of their high-end digital cameras.

"The Kingston 32GB CF Elite Pro card is designed to keep pace with and not limit the productivity of the most advanced digital camera equipment on the market," said Wendy Lecot, Flash business development manager, Kingston Digital. "Combining the large storage capacity along with fast read and write speeds makes this card ideal for continuous capture and download of images."

Seagate today introduced its Constellation family ofnew enterprise storage solutions for Tier 2 nearline storage applications. The two new drive models, the 2.5-inch Constellation and the 3.5-inch Constellation ES hard drives, include a combination of features that enable high capacities, increased power efficiency, enterprise-class reliability, and data security. Both drives also include PowerChoice from Seagate, which decreases power consumption by up to 54% for record power savings in enterprise environments.

"The need for greater storage capacity will continue to expand in multiple directions and dimensions, but there will be an increasing scrutiny of all storage system purchases, with an eye to decreasing power consumption, footprint, and cost per GB in unprecedented ways," said John Monroe, a research vice president at Gartner. "Performance will not be ignored, but a flexible balance of capacity, cost per GB, power and speed will become more crucial in fulfilling end-user storage demands at varied price points."

The guys over at VRZone have got their hands on the roadmap for Intel's SSD products. It has been said that Intel will be moving to a smaller fabrication process from 50 nm to 34 nm by Q4 2009 with capacities available up to 320 GB. The successor to Intel Turbo Memory has also been detailed, known as Braidwood and set for release in Q1 2010, it is said to, "provide SSD-like performance on second generation Ibex Peak chipsets like Q57, P57 and H57." Though to use Braidwood you will need, "Firmware support, Intel Rapid Storage Technology as well as the Braidwood module." These come in smaller capacities ranging from 4 GB to 16 GB, and will also be based on Intel's new 34 nm fabrication process. There is no official word on pricing as yet, but these new products are not expected to be cheap.

VIA Technologies, Inc, a leading innovator of power efficient x86 processor platforms, today announced the VIA NSD7800 home server, supporting up to 8 full sized hard drives with a fraction of the hassle associated with larger servers, enabling system integrators to offer the ideal solution for SOHO and family storage needs. Measuring only 13.4" x 13.4" x 5.9" (34cm x 34cm x 15cm) and powered by an energy-efficient 1.5GHz VIA C7-D processor, the VIA NSD7800 offers substantial storage space through its eight easy access 3.5" drive bays. The VIA NSD7800 server is fully compatible with Microsoft Windows Home Server so that users can now securely store their personal data and enjoy peace of mind with automatic data mirroring, as well as easy access to documents while away from home.

Toshiba Storage Device Division (SDD) is yet another manufacturer that is enhancing its storage line-up, by releasing a new half-terabyte external hard drive, after the start of Consumer Electronics Show 2009. The new 500GB Toshiba USB 2.0 portable external hard drive (model number HDDR500E03X) comes with a glossy black finish and frost white contemporary graphics that will appeal to most customers. Inside the case is a new 500GB ultra-quiet hard drive, with 8MB buffer size and improved acoustics. The drive also ships with NTI Shadow real-time backup software pre-installed. Toshiba's new 500GB USB 2.0 external HDD is priced at $179.99 (MSRP) and available now at Toshiba Direct and through major retailers and online outlets.

QNAP Systems, Inc. today announced a series of next generation iSCSI network-attached storage (NAS) products based on Intel architecture to deliver the performance and enterprise-grade features that customers are looking for in 2009.

The new Turbo NAS family consists of 4-bay, 5-bay, 6-bay, and 8-bay (with redundant power supply) models which are well suited for small and midsize businesses (SMB) and enterprises. The powerful all-in-one feature is designed for businesses that require storage solutions of performance, features, capacity, and manageability.

Today LaCie announced its Hard Disk MAX high capacity storage system for users who want advanced RAID features with consumer-level ease of use and style. Designed exclusively for LaCie by award-winning industrial designer Neil Poulton, the Hard Disk MAX delivers 2 TB (terabytes) of ultra-reliable storage capacity in a stunning package that will satisfy high-performance requirements for the discriminating user.

The Hard Disk Max includes two large-capacity disk drives that can be set in either a RAID 0 or RAID 1 configuration with the simple flick of a switch on the back panel. RAID 0 stripes data across both disks for the fastest data retrieval response time, while RAID 1 mirrors data exactly on both disks for maximum data reliability.

Seagate, a vetran with fixed data storage solutions, already holds the reputation of making the conventional HDD with the highest unformatted capacity, 1.5TB. The company now looks to step-up the per-platter storage density with the introduction of high-capcity HDDs with single platters.

Hard drives with single platters are not only economical to manufacture and sell, but also could actually have lower access times since data is read and written on only two surfaces (either sides of a platter). The first in line will be the 500GB Seagate Barracuda (model: ST3500410AS) under the new 7200.12 series which is yet to be announced. As the name suggests the drive will have spindle speeds of 7,200 rpm. The drive will have a 16 MB cache and will use the standard SATA II interface. These drives will be available in the first week of January, priced under 50€.

MSI today announces U115 Hybrid. The very first notebook computer in the world that is capable of operating both SSD and HDD hard drives simultaneously, combining all the features of SSD and HDD in the U115 Hybrid for your enjoyment.

With MSI Exclusive Hybrid Storage Technology, in the "ECO on" mode, the battery life of U115 Hybrid is super long. This amazing battery life can escalate the mobility and the productiveness of the U115 Hybrid, which can also make your daily lives much more convenient.

Micron Technology today announced it has worked with Sun Microsystems to develop a new single-level cell (SLC) enterprise NAND technology that dramatically extends the lifespan of flash-based storage for enterprise applications. The result of the collaboration has yielded production devices capable of achieving one million write cycles, a milestone that will help prepare the industry for new uses in solid state storage set to come from Sun, Micron and others. The new technology delivers the highest write/erase cycling capability of any NAND technology available on the market.

This is not a normal USB flash drive. Silicon Power has released the availability of its pioneering product: eSATA/USB SSD (eSATA; External Serial ATA), a high-capacity handy SSD in worldwide markets. The eSATA/USB SSD features eSATA and Mini USB dual interface, hot plug and play and four-channel high performance technology. The eSATA connection has a read speed of 92 MB/s and a write speed of 48MB/s, which is 8 times the write speed of the normal USB. The eSATA/USB SSD is available in 8GB, 16GB and 32GB capacities that are ideal for those wanting high-speed data transfer, high-capacity and portability.

The eSATA connector provides external data transfer at speeds up to 3Gbps, which is higher than USB 2.0 interface with 480 Mbps. It is very convenient for large volume of data transfer at a short time. The bottom of the eSATA/USB SSD is a Mini USB connector offering a read speed of 33MB/s and a write speed of 25MB/s.

Yes, the title says it right. I just saw a YouTube video taken from Micron' headquarters, where the company's Joe Jeddeloh demonstrates the rough power of solid state technology. During the footage he demonstrates a prototype of comething called Washington solid state drive mounted on a PCI-E card that delivers read speeds of over 1GB/sec. Now we all know that these drives won't come in a month time, but they show how good the SSD technology really is. Maybe, this experiment also gives a hint how desperately we need a new SATA standard, current SATA 3Gbps drives no matter conventional or SSD can output only 300MB/s in theory. Back to the video, there two SSD PCI-E cards are running on a 2GHz eight-core Xeon system. Benchmarks of this configuration show output of 200,000 IOPS (input/output operations per second). Although, you can't actually read these numbers because of the video's low resolution, Jeddeloh says that one PCI-E drive can read at around 800MB/sec, while a pair of cards can read at 1GB/sec. Micron claims that there's nothing special about the flash memory the drives use, in fact these are ordinary SLC (single level cell) drives. They're only "managed correctly." At the end of the video, Jeddeloh also shows a single 8x PCI-E card that features two SSDs on a single board, that he claims also offer "at least" 1GB/sec of bandwidth. Micron plans "wide availability of the product in 2010, but that its going to be targeted at enterprise customers first." For now this is only a quick look in the future. Watch the video over at Micron's Advanced Storage Blog.

Seagate, the world leader in storage solutions, today introduced the Maxtor Central Axis Business Edition dual-drive network storage server, a storage solution designed to satisfy the long-term business continuity needs and growing storage requirements of small businesses. The Central Axis Business Edition network storage server takes the guesswork out of network storage management by providing simple, automatic backup with solid data protection and secure remote access to business critical information from any web browser. Available in early November, this small-business network storage solution will help companies keep their competitive edge by delivering access to, and protection for their business critical information while in the office or on the road.

WD, the world's leader in external storage solutions, today introduced its new WD ShareSpace high-speed network storage systems that provide cost-effective, centralized storage for small office and home networks. WD ShareSpace represents WD's first entry into the small-office network storage market, where it plans to bring to a new class of users the ease-of-use, design and value enjoyed by millions of WD My Book and My Passport customers.

Seagate, the world leader in storage solutions, today announced the Fall 2008 lineup of the company's award-winning FreeAgent external hard drives. This new generation of the Seagate FreeAgent family includes attractive desktop and mobile options, for both Mac and Windows operated PCs that make it a breeze to back up, share and protect valuable digital content like photos, videos and music.