Archival glass storage system specialist Cerabyte is bringing its technology to the USA.
Cerabyte’s tech stores data imprinted as femtosecond laser nanoscale holes in a ceramic medium layered on a glass substrate tablet that can hold data in a usable state for thousands of years. Data is written at a rate of 2 million bits per laser pulse with a 1 GB capacity on each of the tablet’s surfaces. Data is read using scanning microscopes. Tablets are stored offline in a robotic library and a prototype system has been built using commercially available components. In January, Cerabyte, based in Munich, said it was examining possibilities for VC funding or commercial partnerships to productize its technology and bring it to market.
Christian Pflaum, co-founder and CEO of Cerabyte, said in a statement today: “A data tsunami is on the horizon – and new, trail-blazing approaches to data storage are needed to meet the looming scalability and economic requirements. Cerabyte is prepared to transform how data is stored and address the urgent cost and sustainability demands of datacenters. Our vision is to achieve $1 per petabyte per month, a cost reduction of 1000x, within the next two decades.”
Discussing the archival storage’s energy efficiency, Fred Moore, founder of Horison Information Strategies, said: “A primary objective for many data centers today is that ‘if data isn’t used, it shouldn’t consume energy.’ A staggering 60 to 80 percent of all data is archival/cold, much of which is stored on energy-inefficient HDDs. By 2025, archival/cold data will amount to 4.5 to 6 zettabytes, making it the largest storage classification category. Cerabyte is poised to be the first storage solution to address all requirements effectively.”
Cerabyte claims that, due to its media longevity and rapid access, it solves various long-term archival data storage problems, enabling the implementation of fast-retrieval active archive systems and eliminating the need to periodically migrate data from one media to another.
In general, the largest archival product providers and many of the largest consumers, are located in the US. Cerabyte, which appointed US-based director Steffen Hellmold to aid product commercialization, has now opened offices in Santa Clara, California, and Boulder, Colorado.
Silicon Valley is home to many VCs experienced in data storage, management and usage matters. Boulder has a long connection with long-term storage operations centered on tape and systems software including Quantum and Spectra Logic.
Cerabyte’s technology is available as a data storage system prototype and it would seem the group is priming itself for commercialization. It says it has demonstrated end-to-end functionality in target environments. Cerabyte’s prototype and technology are here.
