All articles tagged with #project silica
Microsoft’s Project Silica stores data in borosilicate glass, potentially enabling 10,000-year durability; early tests show 4.8 terabytes on a small glass sample at about 3.13 MB/s write speed. Investors reacted modestly with MSFT stock slipping, though analysts remain bullish with a Strong Buy consensus and a roughly $593 target, suggesting substantial upside despite the current move.
Microsoft researchers have demonstrated embedding about 4.8 TB of data into ordinary borosilicate glass using laser-written voxels, with data longevity exceeding 10,000 years. The work, part of Project Silica, uses birefringent and phase-voxel techniques to write/read data, significantly improving archival storage prospects, though writing speeds are far slower than hard drives or SSDs and cost/media availability remain barriers to commercialization.
Microsoft Research has demonstrated a glass-based data-storage system that uses laser-induced nano-explosions to encode information in a borosilicate glass block, storing 4.8 TB in a 12 cm square—roughly 2 million books—with data readable via a microscope. The approach promises near-permanent archival storage, potentially lasting 10,000 years at 290°C and longer at room temperature, offering a more durable alternative to magnetic tapes and hard drives, albeit requiring specialized hardware to write and read.
Microsoft Research’s Project Silica shows data can be written to borosilicate glass with femtosecond lasers, achieving up to 4.84 TB per 12×12 cm slab and potentially 10,000-year stability at room temperature. Data is encoded and read using voxel-based methods (birefringence or refractive-index changes) plus phase-contrast microscopy interpreted by AI, with LDPC error correction. Current writes run at 66 Mbps with four lasers, expandable to more lasers, but large-scale deployment would require many machines. The approach offers durable, energy-free storage and rapid retrieval, though commercialization remains distant and practical scale remains a challenge.
Microsoft Research's "Project Silica" aims to revolutionize data storage by using small glass plates to store massive amounts of data for thousands of years. Unlike magnetic storage, which requires frequent re-copying and increases energy consumption, the data written in glass is impossible to change. Each glass plate can hold several terabytes of data and could last up to 10,000 years. This sustainable technology offers a more compact and long-lasting alternative to traditional data centers.