Will HoloMem Make It Real?

Many efforts to use holographic storage for computer memory have fallen by the wayside, but the approach being taken by London-based HoloMem Ltd (holomem.co.uk) might finally see holograms used successfully as a means of archiving records efficiently while allowing rapid access.

Most previous efforts have focused on making rapid write and read holographic memory, while HoloMem is focussing on the use of its Holodrive to archivally store large amounts of data with rapid read access, as increasingly required in all the data farms being set up by the likes of Amazon, Alphabet and a string of more specialist operations. The HoloDrive uses industry standard sized tape cartridges, using holographic photopolymer tape instead of magnetic tape. It is designed to fit the memory racks currently used by datacentres, minimising the cost of switching from magnetic to optical storage. HoloMem states its cartridges can store up to 200TB, 10x the amount of a magnetic tape cartridge. It also asserts that the storage life is 50 years, against ten years for magnetic tape, with no energy required to maintain the holographic record.