Getting More Storage Capacity for Less
A new type of ROM, Fluorescent Material Read Only Memory, is slated to go into production next year. Armed with three other products in their arsenal, C3D Inc. hopes to break new ground in the storage capacity market, bringing faster access speeds with it.
Current CD's store data on a single layer. While DVD technology brought double layer capacity, none have achieved the level that C3D's ClearCard and FMD ROM storage devices have. Using 20 layers of data storage, the ClearCard will be capable of storing 10 gigabyes of information on the size of a credit card. This is 2500 times the capabilities of current media. Per gigabyte, production costs are the same for this multi-layer data storage, making it no more expensive than DVDs or CDs.
Fluorescent Media works by converting regular laser light into fluorescent light and using semiconducting lasers to read the data. This allows for multi-layer recording and reading without interference or signal confusion. This ability to read multiple layers concurrently allows for faster access to data, up to 1 gigabyte per second, thus increasing data retrieval for the end user.
C3D's initial products include the ClearCard and as well as an FMD ROM capable of storing up to 140 gigabytes of information, equivalent to 20 hours of HDTV film. The storage medium is the size of a compact disk however, it is completely transparent making the multi-layer data storage possible. FMD drives will be capable of reading CDs and DVDs as well.
They will also be offering a smaller medium for use in digital cameras, laptops, and other smaller electronic devices on the market. FMD Micron WORMs will hold up to 4 gigabytes of information on a 30mm disk, roughly one-quarter the size of a regular 120mm compact disk. These are dubbed WORMs as they are Write Once Read Many media. ClearCard will also come in a WORM style, offering 1 gigabyte storage on a credit card sized disk.
C3D Inc. hopes to bring a terabyte (1,000 gigabytes) of storage capacity with their second and third generation cards and disks along with RAM versions of these products. Visit C3D Inc. to learn more about the technology behind the storage, and the storage medium itself.