According to a story on TechWeb (at
<http://www.techweb.com/wire/story/TWB19990824S0011>), a new startup has
been formed to license technology capable of creating credit-card sized
storage modules capable of storing 2.3 TB. The article states that the
device could be in production in less than two years and will cost around
$50.

One interesting aspect of the technology is the mismatch between device
capacity and read/write speeds. According to the article, the peak
retrieval speed is about 12MB/s. This means it would take about three
days in order to fill the device to capacity -- or back it up, for that
matter.

In any case, even assuming considerable optimism on the part of the
developer, it's pretty clear that our usual techniques for organizing
data in file systems and data bases will be woefully inadequate to take
advantage of the storage capacities that will be available in the next
two or three years. It's time for something completely different.

-- Bruce

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Bruce Toback    Tel: (602) 996-8601| My candle burns at both ends;
OPT, Inc.            (800) 858-4507| It will not last the night;
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btoback AT optc.com                |     -- Edna St. Vincent Millay
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