100TB cartridges set to rival tapes, hard drives, DNA for data archiving domination
The part of consumer storage that needs the most capacity is hidden, even yet cloud storage continues to be the most apparent component across the tech ecosystem. Over the past ten years, as more of our lives — particularly during the COVID shutdown — moved online, hyperscalers and service providers have been more and more interested in archiving and long-term data preservation.
As tape, exotic media (such silica or DNA), and hard disc drives compete for supremacy in the fiercely competitive field of archiving, optical storage (think DVD and Blu-ray) has been in the background. Folio Photonics, a newcomer, seeks to deliver the goods faster than everyone else by putting a fresh spin on current optical technologies.
The new business, which was established as a spinoff from the National Science Foundation’s Center for Layered Polymeric Systems, offers great optical capacity at a portion of the price of conventional optical storage.
Which number—$5 per TB as stated in your press release or $3 per TB as stated on your website—is correct?
Both are accurate. The market and business will decide on this. While we acknowledge that data archive storage is a commodity and will manage our price and roadmap properly to give the best value to our customers and investors, Folio expects to have the lowest $/TB of any current storage media when we release the first product.
What distinguishes your optical disc from a conventional blu-ray disc? What is the formula?
multi-layer manufacturing method that is inexpensive. For 20 years, traditional Blu-ray discs have had three or four layers (the Archival disc achieves 6 layers by having 3-layers on both sides). Our first product will include a double-sided disc with 16 layers, or 8 layers per side. Without increasing areal density, that is around 2.7 times the capacity of existing Bluray (more data per layer). Extruded film-based production combined with material science is the secret ingredient.
Many people before you have attempted the WORM route but were unsuccessful (e.g Pinnacle Micro etc). What distinguishes your strategy from others, and how did you defeat industry heavyweights like Panasonic or Sony?
The needs of the customer, in our opinion, are changing. As “Objects” by definition, a large portion of the data being stored must be immutable. The best method for achieving data immutability is WORM.
You can use discs or cartridges with your technology. What would be the uses for either (perhaps petabyte-size archives vs. prosumer archives)?
We are collaborating with a number of library firms who offer robotics in addition to a strong SW layer. The library providers will choose between cartridge, disc carousel, and disc tray to serve the diverse market use cases.
What kind of performance are we referencing? Access duration, transfer speed, write speed, etc.
Although we are currently not publishing performance data, we feel confident comparing them to the SONY ODA metrics. The number of drives to discs sold by the library vendors will impact access time in particular.
What does “horizon 3 target” mean? By 2030, 10TB discs and 100TB cartridges? Would the price per TB increase or decrease?
Although the market will ultimately decide, 10TB discs are the aim. Folio’s production process gives us far better cost control, and we pledge to give our clients and investors the best value.
How much will the authors and readers pay, and what kind of advancements can you expect there? Several heads for reading and writing? both sides of one?
It’s still too early to talk about our drives’ prices, but we’ll likely be priced competitively between current Blu-ray drives and LTO Tape drives.
Why do you need to contact Folio Photonics? What does it have to do with photonics?
Our company’s founder, Dr. Ken Singer, gave it the name Folio Photonics. Folio is a term used to describe the layered film we produce since it refers to layering sheets of paper (sometimes into a book style). The next topic is “photonics,” which is the physical study and application of the production, detection, and manipulation of light (photons). We may employ our multilayer film with photonics for this high-tech application by fusing our material science, manufacturing, and optics advancements.
Your website mentions 16 or more levels. Does that imply that there may be other levels to come?
Yes, according to our technology roadmap, there will be 32+ levels by 2030. Having stated that, our co-extrusion manufacturing method has proven to be capable of producing substantially more layers than 32. The disc will be double-sided even though we hope to produce films with 32 layers. On each side, 32 levels will be possible. 10.7TB or more is equal to 167GB times 64 layers. In this manner, we forecast up to 10TB.
The first generation discs will employ what areal density? What kind of areal density improvement are you anticipating down the road?
Our first generation discs are anticipated to be in the current standard optical areal density/layer range. which, depending on the media being studied, falls between 25 and 33 GB/Layer. By reducing spot size, bringing marks closer together, and enhancing read/write optics, optical technologies have demonstrated the possibility to attain up to 88-167GB/layer. We think that as we advance along our technological roadmap, this will be possible.
