G.E. Boasts of 500GB Holographic Storage Disc Breakthrough

While Blu-ray is beginning to gain popularity on a wider scale, G.E. is now showing off a physical disc storage breakthrough which can hold 10 to 20 times more data than a Blu-ray disc and a hundred times more data than a DVD. While DVDs and Blu-ray discs store information only on the surface of the disc, GE's micro-holographic technology uses three-dimensional holograms to increase the amount of storage capacity. In fact, the technology in its current lab state is said to allow for up to 500GB of data storage on a single disc. For comparison, a Blu-ray disc holds 25 or 50GB and a DVD holds 5GB of data.



The key to G.E.’s success with this technology of course, is making it affordable — other companies will be introducing holographic storage solutions as soon as this year. InPhase Technologies for example, will soon introduce a specialized holographic storage system geared towards the medical industry. InPhase’s solution however, requires expensive discs and readers that cost tens of thousands of dollars. G.E. plans to show off its work at a conference in Orlando in May, so perhaps some light will be shed on G.E.’s efforts in making the technology a bit more accessible. GE said its ultimate goal is to develop micro-holographic discs capable of storing more than one terabyte, or 1,000 gigabytes, of data.