IBM Reinvents Punch Cards

grim_thing writes "I.B.M. scientists say they have created a data-storage technology that can store the equivalent of 200 CD-ROM's on a surface the size of a postage stamp. Writing in the current issue of the journal IEEE Transactions on Nanotechnology, researchers at I.B.M.'s laboratories in Zurich report that they have achieved a storage density of one trillion bits of data per square inch, about 25 times as great as current hard disks." Reuters also has a story.

Comments

Re:Interesting

[sphealey]

[IBM] just sold their Hard disk unit to [H]itachi. And a few days later they report a new storage format. Makes you think.

I just opened the front door to my house. And a few seconds later it started to rain really, really hard.

You might want to take a class in game theory and business strategy. The difference between the first post and your counterexample is that IBM very definately has non-public knowledge about (a) the future prospects of hard drive technology (b) potential replacements for mechanical hard drives. Given IBM's need for continued growth, if they have a technology in house that they think has, say, a 33% chance of replacing hard drive, it would make perfect sense to sell the hard drive business for 20 billion and invest 6 billion in the new technology. A gamble, but with a potentially huge payoff.

sPh