GE Demos 500GB Disc Technology

By Lisa Johnston -- TWICE, 4/28/2009

Niskayuna, N.Y. — GE announced yesterday its scientists had discovered a way to fit 500GB on a single DVD-sized disc.

The technology works by imprinting chemical changes in the form of patterns (or holograms) within the disc, GE said. Those holograms are then read by lasers, similar to the ones in Blu-ray players.

The holographic disc uses the entire volume of the disc rather than just the metal layer that a traditional CD or DVD uses, Brian Lawrence, leader of the company’s holographic storage program, explained in a video that can be seen on GE’s Web site.

The goal is to develop a disc that holds 1TB of more information, GE said. The company said it will initially focus on the commercial archival industry followed by the consumer market for its micro-holographic storage technology.

A GE spokesman said the following regarding pricing and retail availability: “We are targeting 2012 to introduce our micro-holographic discs and drives to market. It will be introduced to the commercial archival industry first, followed by the consumer market at the retail level. In terms of pricing, we plan to introduce this technology to market at less than 10 cents per gigabyte. We expect that price to drop gradually as media sales volumes increase.”