6. The Future As previously discussed the trends in high capacity media are increased areal density combined with faster data transfer rates. Products that conform to standards and follow a downward compatibility path will have market advantage. Ampex are applying this marketing strategy by increasing the capacity of D2 with Double-Density D2. One cassette with a native capacity of 330GB. DVD offers lots of potential in terms of low-cost storage; however the production costs, compatibility issues and much reduced data transfer rate is a problem for use in large data archive projects. The LTO-Open programme has defined an impressive roadmap, doubling capacities and performance every two years, resulting in a 800GB native capacity cartridge with data transfer rates of 80 to 160 MB per second. Best-of-breed technology has been adopted such as enhanced data correction techniques, 4MB of non-volatile cartridge memory and dynamic head positioning. LTO trademarks are available from early 2000. Exabyte's new line of automated tape libraries is based on new Ultrium tape technology, from single drive autoloader to multi-drive high capacity 2TB to 21TB. The next release of Ultrium expected in the second quarter of 2002 will have a native storage capacity of 200GB and data transfer rate between 20 and 40MB/sec. In the years beyond 2002 it is envisioned that hybrid magnetic-optical storage technology will be the main-stream storage mechanism. Current research also indicates that advance volumetric optical technologies, such as holographic storage, will commercialise at the top end of the HSM pyramid. Recent advances in data storage have arisen out of the exploitation of the magneto-resistiveness of magnetic media. PRML techniques (Partial Response- Maximum Likelihood) is an example of this. MR "Magneto Resistive" and giant MR heads (GMR) have some years of development left with areal densities of 100GB/ins2 achievable within the next 3 to 5 years. This will eventually lead to smaller device. Disappointingly, signal rates have not improved comparatively with storage capacity. The industry acceptance of optical media (e.g. CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW and DVD) has been price-driven, provision of cost-effective backup media on workstation technology. It should be noted although transfer rates are improving , optical technology is still 10 to 20 times slower than reading from magnetic media. Work is currently underway to improve the data transfer rate of optical media. This work differs from increasing the efficiency of the laser reading mechanism, to layering via different colored dye (underlying chemical structure). The high cost of laser light other than red has been a prohibitive factor. Now more cost-effective blue-green laser is reaching the market place. Other innovative optical ideas include research from SGS-Thomson. This involves the storage of hundreds of Gigabytes on a 8mm cartridge using an effect whereby light is polarised when reflected off a magnetic media. Both tape and disk storage will continue to improve by enhancements in logic and signal processing. SGS Thomson's technique continuously monitors the signal quality and rapidly adjusts mirrors to correct for tape gliding allowing much greater transport speeds. Longer term, two new technologies are emerging from the research and development labs. Holographic technology has over the few years offered much promise, however products may be available within the next 5 years. Terabytes of data stored on a few cubic inches of media. The Biological systems presentation to the storage industry focussed on the importance of protein based storage technology. Again in its infancy but receiving large amounts of research and development investment. Table of Contents Introduction Longitudinal Recording Technology Helical Scan Technology Optical Technology Summary The Future See other technical papers.