Data Storage: Pushing the Physical Limits

This report examines the current state of research in data storage technology, organizes key issues and puts them in context, and succinctly explains how the technology works.

Materials science and nanotechnology are paving the way for storage media that will have huge capacities. Researchers have made great progress toward new types of devices; the relentless drive for ever-smaller bits has pushed chemists and physicists rather than electrical engineers to the vanguard of data storage research.

The report includes an executive summary, a list of 13 developments to look for as these cutting-edge technologies take shape, and a section of 20 researchers to watch, including links to their Web pages. It also includes a quick tour of 26 recent developments in six areas and a section of 23 in-depth news stories from TRN.

The stories are organized into five categories: storage media, storage technologies, memory technologies, optical storage, and advances from the frontiers of science.

Technology Research News is an independent publisher and news service dedicated to covering technology research developments in university, corporate and government labs. TRN's Making the Future reports inform you about developments that are poised to make and break business ventures, affect day-to-day life, and shape tomorrow's society.