Microsoft's 'Project Silica' is a technology that stores data on glass, creating a virtually permanent storage solution capable of preserving data for 10,000 years.
It enables permanent data storage without power consumption, potentially revolutionizing data center operations and the computer memory industry.
While currently slow in terms of storage speed, it's being improved through AI, with future plans to integrate it into the Azure cloud service.
Microsoft's 'Project Silica' is a groundbreaking technology that stores data within a glass shard. It surpasses the limitations of conventional hard drives, achieving a virtually permanent data storage solution with a lifespan of 10,000 years. The commercialization of this innovative technology is poised to usher in a significant transformation in the operational paradigm of data centers.
🔷 Power-Free MS's 'Project Silica'
Microsoft (MS) unveiled 'Project Silica' last year, a novel technology that stores data within quartz glass. Employing a light-based inscription method, data once stored can reportedly be safely preserved for approximately 10,000 years.
The core of this technology lies in its zero-power consumption. Unlike conventional semiconductor-based hard drives, it stores data permanently without any electricity usage. This is expected to have a positive impact on environmental concerns.
🔑 Silica's Operating Principle: 'Light'
The Silica technology operates using femtosecond lasers. By firing powerful pulses at a quartz glass for a very short duration, the laser-impacted area undergoes minute changes, creating a sort of three-dimensional lattice pattern called 'voxel'.
MS researchers have revealed that this voxel-inscribing method enables storage of up to 7TB of data on a single glass shard. Based on a standard 4GB movie, that's equivalent to storing around 1750 movies. To retrieve stored data, a microscope reads the voxel pattern and decodes it.
🔶 Operating Data Centers with Silica
Why did MS develop this complex technology? It's due to the limitations of conventional hard disk technology. While SSDs have become prevalent in general PCs, hard drives remain the primary storage solution in data centers.
However, hard drives become increasingly unstable after 3 to 5 years of use, leading to the risk of data loss in the worst-case scenario of a hard drive failure. This is why data center operators are constantly engaged in a race against time, repeating backup and migration tasks daily.
In contrast, Silica offers virtually permanent data storage with a 10,000-year lifespan. MS has announced plans to integrate Silica into its cloud service, 'Azure,' within the next 3 to 5 years. If Silica gains momentum in commercialization, wouldn't it potentially revolutionize the very way data centers are operated?
🌐 Inevitable 'Seismic Shift' in the Computer Memory Industry
Of course, the Silica technology is not without its flaws. Slow data writing speed is a major drawback. However, MS researchers recently reported success in boosting writing speed to 30 Mbps using AI technology.
While not yet on par with commercial hard drives, Silica's data processing speed is steadily improving, attracting industry attention. The introduction of Silica into MS services is expected to bring about significant changes to the entire computer memory industry.
The emergence of a permanent storage solution capable of safely preserving data for 10,000 years after a single write operation would fundamentally address the lifespan limitations that data centers have faced. MS's ambitious Project Silica is garnering significant attention within the IT industry and heralds a revolution in data storage.