Super fast storage access from IBM

Several people wrote with the news burst from IBM annoucing a "storage breakthrough". Details are still forthcoming, but the advance will says it will be possible for computers to "store data 1,000 faster then they can now", however the actual usage of the product is some years out.

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from sciencemag, today

[lcracker]

[i think this is the what zdnet was talking about]

Magnetic Switching with Current Pulses

The switching of magnetic memories usually requires application of external magnetic fields. Two reports show how electric current pulses within small devices can be used to
switch magnetic states. The rate at which magnetic data can be stored is limited by the time taken to reverse the magnetization orientation. In conventional methods, the reversal
field is applied antiparallel to the out-of-plane magnetization, and the switching speeds are limited to the nanoseconds. Back et al. (p. 864) show that this limitation may be
overcome by switching the magnetization of thin, in-plane orientated ferromagnetic films using ultrafast focused current pulses from an accelerator. Although the magnetic fields
generated were no greater than those of conventional recording heads, reversal times faster than 5 picoseconds were demonstrated. The electrical resistance of stacked layers of
magnetic (ferromagnetic) and nonmagnetic materials depends greatly on the orientation of the magnetic moments in adjacent magnetic layers--if the moments are aligned, the
resistance is low. Myers et al. (p. 867) show that the magnetic orientation in a single layer can be switched to be aligned or misaligned to a second magnetic layer by controlling the
direction of an applied spin-polarized current pulse. Such switching may find application in fast, nonvolatile magnetic memories.