Optware Holographic Storage

Optware Corp., a developer of holographic data storage systems, is planning to release a Holographic Versatile Card (HVC) media product around the end of 2006. The card capacity is expected to be 30 GB.

The company revealed photos of mockups: the card is almost the same size as a credit card, while the drive system is designed to be the size of a surface-mounted hard disc drive unit.

Collinear holographic technology, developed by Optware, is used to read and write onto the holographic card. The technology requires only one lens, because the information beam and reference beam are arranged into a single laser beam on the same axis.

Optware said that, technically, the size of the memory card can be reduced. The HVC seems less practical in home uses because the HVC reader costs $1800 dollars while each 30GB card is going to be under $1. For large server purposes this seems more practical.

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