Tech start-up Folio Photonics is taking optical disk storage past its four-layer max point to add a new archive storage media to the market with a capacity closer to a hard drive, DNA digital storage, and costs closer to tape.
Folio, a data storage start-up, has created a new disk system that doubles the layers on each side of optical disks, increasing the capacity to 1 TB per disk which is significantly up from Blu-Ray's 50 GB.
The Immutable Active Archive disks are expected to be launched in either a 500 GB or 1 TB offering. The optical disk cartridge can hold 10 disks, thus in future, the cartridge will offer 10 TB of storage in roughly the same form factor as an LTO tape.
The company is planning to achieve a 100 TB storage cartridge by 2030 which will also be in the same form factor, said Steven Santamaria, CEO of Folio Photonics in a Tech Target report.
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Steep competition
While cloud storage remains a large portion of consumer storage, archiving and long-term data storage by hyper-scalers and service providers have gathered steam over the past decade.
The optical storage (DVD and Blu-ray) had been dominated by media like silica or DNA and hard disk drives in the hotly contested area of archiving. However, Folio Photonics is looking to change the scene with its material science + extruded film-based manufacturing of storage disks.
The tech behind it
Folio's breakthrough comes with the co-extruded film manufacturing process and advanced material science. The unique manufacturing process allows the company to commercially scale the manufacturing and maintain affordable costs. Through this, Folio is able to deliver high optical capacity at a fraction of typical optical storage costs.
While traditional Blu-ray discs are three or four layers, the archival disc has 6 layers with 3-layers on both sides. Folio’s first product will be 8 layers per side, which means it will be a 16-layer double-sided disc. That is approximately 2.7 times the capacity of current Blu-ray, CEO Santamaria said.
Performance
Santamaria did not disclose the performance metrics of the technology in the report. However, he hinted that it will be comparable to Sony ODA metrics.
Future target and cost
Folio currently targets 10TB discs but it will be determined by the market as per the CEO.
The cartridge Vs disc carousel, Vs disc tray form, will be chosen to serve the various markets as per the needs of the customers.
Santamaria also mentioned that the company is projecting to create 32+ layers by 2030 in their technology roadmap. This will allow for 32 layers on each side with each disk being upwards of 10.7TB.
Folio Photonics is set to offer the storage product for $3 to $5 per dollar as per the market/business decision taken in the future.
(Edited by : Sudarsanan Mani)
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