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IBM Reinvents Punch Cards

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the plus-ca-change dept.

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.

9 of 309 comments (clear)

  1. One potential security flaw. . . by Limburgher · · Score: 5, Funny

    What if one's data contains dimpled chads? How will those bits be counted?

    --

    You are not the customer.

    1. Re:One potential security flaw. . . by sphealey · · Score: 5, Interesting
      What if one's data contains dimpled chads? How will those bits be counted?
      The funny thing is when I am done voting I always turn the card over and check for chads. After the Florida thing I mentioned this to my spouse, who gave me one of those "only someone like you would think of doing that". I finally realized it was a result of the many hours spent in front of an IBM 029 keypunch, followed by 4 hours waiting for the card deck to come back from the machine room. When one hanging chad can kill a day's work, you tend to check for such things. But I imagine the percentage of people with that experience is getting lower by the day.

      sPh

  2. Perhaps not a disk-replacement, but.... by ajs · · Score: 5, Interesting

    So, that would be 120Gb in the size of a postage stamp. Not bad. Even if it takes a long time to write and longer to read back, this could wipe out tape archival for most backup purposes!

    1. Re:Perhaps not a disk-replacement, but.... by $rtbl_this · · Score: 5, Funny

      Unless of course you loo[sic]se it.

      This reminds me of a revelation I had a few years ago, after getting my first CD-ROM drive. I'd manage to misplace a CD containing a multimedia encyclopedia and eventually found it sitting on the floor under my desk. I realised then that never before in human history had it been possible to lose an entire 28 volume encyclopedia by dropping it behind a piece of furniture. Now that's what I call progress!

      --
      "Are you being weird, or sarcastic?" said Emma. I said I didn't know because I get the two feelings mixed up.
  3. 200 CD-Roms? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Can we get that translated into a tandard measurement, like Library's of Congress?

  4. Re:reliability of millipede? by Drizzten · · Score: 5, Interesting
    From the article:
    The Millipede chip consists of a layer of plexiglass a couple of billionths of an inch thick laid on a silicon chip. To write a bit of data, a microscope tip, heated to 750 degrees Fahrenheit, softens the plexiglass and dents it.

    To read data, the tip is heated to 570 degrees -- not hot enough to deform the plexiglass -- and pulled across the surface. When it falls into a dent, the tip cools because more surface area is in contact with the cooler plexiglass. That temperature drop reduces its electrical resistance, which can be easily measured.

    To erase data, a hot tip is passed over the dent, causing it to pop up.
    Those are pretty high temperatures. Might they affect reliability in the long run? Also, what about the actual lifetime of the plexiglass material they're heating up? How many times can it take the read/write/read/write process? Still, it's a nifty idea. Kudos to IBM.
    --

    "All mankind is at the mercy of a handful of neurotics". - Norman Douglas
  5. Re:Interesting by sphealey · · Score: 5, Insightful
    [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

  6. 1984... by StupidKatz · · Score: 5, Funny

    1984: Wow! Twenty megabytes! I'll never use all this space!
    1988: Wow! Eighty megabytes! I'll never use all this space!
    1994: Wow! A gigabyte! I'll never use all this space!
    1999: Uh, wow. Twenty gigabytes? I don't think I'll ever use all this space.
    2002: A hundred and twenty gigs? I... hm.
    2005: ... Ah, screw it.

  7. NYT figures are dead wrong by return+42 · · Score: 5, Informative
    NYT: "I.B.M.'s holes are . . . half of a billionth of an inch across."

    Um, no. That would be about 1/8 the size of an atom. They also say the storage medium is "a layer of plexiglass a couple of billionths of an inch thick". That would be 1/2 the size of an atom, which is quite remarkable considering that plexiglass is a polymer.

    Reuters: "[The] holes are 10 nanometers. . ."

    Much more credible. That's about 100 atoms across.

    Why am I not surprised that no one at the Times caught this?