Something embarrassing is happening in the world of erasable optical storage, the technology that was widely expected to sweep magnetic disks into the dustbin of history sometime this decade: while major advances in recording densities are reported almost weekly in the magnetic field – where IBM Corp’s amazing futures look much more impressive than its present – erasable optical seems to be stuck in several ruts, with advances in capacity being achieved by compression rather than technology, which seems rather like legerdemain; the picture has been pulled together by a St Peter, Minnesota outfit called Technology Forums in a report that it says casts serious doubt about the ability of optical rewritable storage technology to compete with magnetic disk and tape technology – How can a storage technology which continues to fall behind with respect to areal density growth survive? asks Joe Molina, president of Technology Forums and author of the report – It is also a technology which ignores the bitter lessons of history and continues the proliferation of media sizes, media types, formats and recording techniques; the report, Storage Analysis Optical Rewritable, which we haven’t seen, is available now and is $500.
