The Changing Face of Storage

My first PC was an Atari with a slot on the top for inserting game cartridges. If you wanted to do something besides playing Space Invaders, you could buy a floppy disk drive, in which you first loaded your program into the computer. Then you removed the program disk and inserted your file disk. Whenever you wanted to do something interesting, you had to swap out your file disk for the program disk and vice versa-often several times. After awhile, the floppy drive would heat up and stop working, so I would put it in the freezer to cool it off.

At the 2006 International CES in January, storage was an enabler of next-generation devices.
But along came hard drives of ever increasing kilobytes, megabytes and gigabytes, and I no longer have to swap out floppies or put my computer equipment in the freezer. Indeed, it's been some time since I've used a floppy disk of any size.

Storage has played an understated but critical role in the development and evolution of consumer electronics. Perhaps because Gordon Moore worked at Intel, Moore's Law focuses on the improvement in chips rather than in storage. But without parallel improvements in storage, the chip improvements wouldn't be worth much. Imagine, for example, trying to install Windows using floppies!

WHAT'S NEW?
At the 2006 International CES in January, storage was an enabler of next-generation devices. The escalating availability of digital content is feeding an insatiable need for storage-from content creation/production, editing/post-production/repurposing and archiving to the distribution of personal or premium content on a range of in-home and mobile CE devices and integrated home networking and entertainment systems.

The Storage Vision exhibit and conference at CES let attendees see new storage technologies and applications in one place, and hear about the relevancy and future of storage with a focus on CE applications. The existence of multiple consumer devices generating islands of content-from PCs, the Internet, iTunes and digital cameras to set-top devices for cable/satellite/IPTV will further drive new requirements and form factors for home storage.

Clearly, there are two important trends. At the very small end, hard drives, which contain relatively fragile magnetized plates and are subject to catastrophic crashes, are being replaced with more affordable flash memories that also are more durable.

The poster child of flash memory is iPod Nano (using a 2-GB to 4-GB flash memory), which replaced the IPod Mini (and its hard drive). However, flash memory also is powering digital cameras, cell phones and the next generation of portable game devices. With larger flash memory, we might even see PCs with flash memories, at which time hard disk crashes may become a distant memory. Look for more devices using improved flash memory later this year.

At the high end, there are dramatic developments in optical storage. CDs can store 650 MB, and DVDs can store around 5 GB. The new competing Blu-Ray and HD-DVD standards can store around 15-40 GB and can support playback of full-length HDTV format movies.

But it doesn't end there. Holographic storage relies on a larger amount of information stored in a three-dimensional array using holography. A holographic disk can read something on the order of 300 GB-1+TB (that's right, terabytes), in the same form factor as a CD/DVD.

InPhase Technologies showed a TNT commercial driven off a holographic disk. InPhase plans to start shipping product for the professional video archival market later this year. While the price point for now will keep holographic storage outside of the CE sweet spot, it's only a matter of time before we'll use holography to store a humongous amount of data-and in smaller form factor, it might even substitute for flash memory.

The need for storage expansion, data protection (from computer crashes, catastrophes as well as natural disasters) and sharing will grow as content choices surge in an "unlimited" content world. We're entering a particularly active period in storage technology. Watch for solutions that provide enterprise class storage features with a simple, CE-centric focus.

HOT PICKS
Gone are the days when storage was boring! Take a look at how storage is emerging in 2006 with new approaches to stand-alone storage and the integration of storage within CE devices.

HDTV PLASMA WITH HD-DVR
LG's PB2DR Series models come in 50-and 60-inch sizes and integrate two ATSC tuners to let viewers watch one high-definition program while recording another. Digital cable-ready, they incorporate XD Engine, dual HDMI inputs, TV Guide on Screen(r), and 9-in-2 memory card slots. The new widescreen plasma-DVRs have an automatic time-shift feature that continuously records in one-hour intervals. But it's the hard-drive that stores as much as 15 hours of digital high-definition programming or 66 hours of standard-definition programming that lets viewers easily archive and organize storage-intensive HDTV programming. It's slated to hit the market in the third-quarter of 2006.

HARD DISK DRIVE-BASED CAMCORDER
Sony's DCR-SR100 records on a 30-GB hard disk drive, which eliminates the need for tapes or discs. Record as much as seven hours of DVD movie-quality video or more than 21 hours in long-play mode. For additional reliability, this model has advanced crash protection technologies and comes with PC applications to back up video memories on DVD. A DVD burn-button on the camcorder transfers video to a PC and automatically creates a DVD, with the process taking about 30 minutes for a full hour of high-resolution video. It also comes with DVD authoring software to edit footage. It should hit store shelves in May.

NOW YOU SEE IT
InPhase will be the first company to deliver a holographic product for professional archive applications later this year. The media for this product will be offered through its strategic partner, Hitachi Maxell Ltd. The initial InPhase Tapestry holographic recording device can record 300 GB of data onto a 130-mm disc with a transfer rate of 20 megabytes per second (MB/s). This is compatible with high-definition television transmission rates and high-end enterprise computer applications.

PRE-LOADED USB FLASH DRIVES
In a mobile plug-and-play world, having a favorite multimedia application at one's finger tips is increasingly important. To meet demand, Lexar's convenient storage device includes popular Google applications such as Picasa, Google Toolbar and Google Desktop Search. Now consumers can install Google applications from a USB flash drive and easily search their documents, photos, music and video while at home or on the go. Availability is the first quarter of 2006. 

What do you see as the top trends or developments for 2006? E-mail susan@c4trends.com.  V  

By Susan Schreiner
March/April 2006