IBM is pursuing research in three major areas. It seeks chip-based alternatives to drives with active programs in phase-change RAM and MRAM. It is pushing the frontiers in tape storage, which it expects will have a long life in archival systems. And it is developing software to bring more computing functions to storage arrays.
IBM researchers hope to find a semiconductor memory to replace flash and disks. It will need to have a small cell, low power budget, low cost, 100Mbps transfer rates, support for 1012 read/write cycles and a 10-year life cycle. They believe phase-change RAM holds the most promise.
But MRAM, ferroelectric RAM and a host of other approachesâincluding several based on nanotech materialsâare all contenders
Posted: Nov 01,2006 by Ron Mertens
