'5D' storage promises 10TB discs

A team of Australian researchers have developed a 'five-dimensional' storage medium that promises to store up 10TB on to a single disc, says PC Mag.

The team has signed a deal with Samsung to develop the technology, Reuters reported. The trio published their paper in the current edition of Nature.

Peter Zijlstra, James Chon and Min Gu of the Swinburne University of Technology in Australia found a way to combine addressing data using wavelength, polarisation and three spatial dimensions, creating the so-called five dimensions of addressable space. The approach allows for a storage density of a terabit of information in just a cubic centimeter of space.

Mainframe tape users can now store data on cheaper open systems virtual tape libraries (VTLs) thanks to Bus-Tech's MDL-100V product, and Sun has simultaneously enhanced its mainframe VTL and tape products, according to The Register.

Bus-Tech's Mainframe Data Library-100V connects by Ficon or Escon links to mainframe hosts and by dual fibre channel cables to supported VTLs: EMC's Disk Library; FalconStor's software VTL; Quantum's DXi 7500; and Sepaton's S2100-ES2.

The mainframe can write to up to 32 tape drives - 3480, 3490, or 3590 - which the MDL-100 emulates. It passes the data straight through to the attached VTLs where it can be deduplicated.

IBM is adding solid state drives to its DS8000 data storage arrays, following high-end competitors EMC and Hitachi Data Systems, says Enterprise Storage Forum.

Big Blue has also developed smart data management software to improve SSD response times while reducing costs. Based on IBM tests, the company says the new offerings can boost performance by as much as 800%, while reducing physical storage footprint and energy consumption by 80% or more.

The company is also adding the flash drives to its Power systems and expanding its x Series offerings two years after first offering SSDs in the servers.