SOLON, Ohio, August 30, 2022 – Folio Photonics, a leading pioneer of active immutable archive, announced today that it has achieved a significant breakthrough in multilayer optical storage drive technology that will enable an unprecedented level of cost, security and durability. advantage. Leveraging patented advances in materials science, Folio Photonics has developed the first enterprise-scale, cost-effective optical storage drives with multi-layer dynamic read/write capabilities that will enable the development of disk storage with low cost/high capacity.
“Folio Photonics is on a path to create much greater data density than was thought a few years ago,” said John Monroe, principal analyst at Furthur Market Research and former VP analyst in the center’s infrastructure group. data at Gartner. “Using next-generation materials, patented polymer extrusion and film-based disc construction processes (distinct from simple optical layers), in conjunction with custom optical pickup units (OPUs), Folio Photonics looks poised to offer a new optical technology that enables eight or 16 film layers per side per disc, compared to just three optical layers per side per disc for archival discs today, with a roadmap to add additional layers over time .”
Data growth is overwhelming existing storage technologies, and today’s outdated enterprise storage technologies fail to address three key pain points of cost, cybersecurity, and sustainability. The high cost of storage is unsustainable as data grows exponentially, cyber threats continue to escalate, and data centers are a major contributor to energy/water and CO usage2 emissions. Current hard disk drive (HDD) and LTO tape roadmaps reflect insufficient technological progress to meet user needs and desired future price points.
Folio’s technology milestone proves the feasibility of its materials, manufacturing and optics and moves the company from the research phase to product development. With drive availability targeted for 2024, Folio’s multilayer drive capacity is expected to start at 10 TB per cartridge (1 TB per drive) with an aggressive roadmap for multi-TB capacities. The roadmap is powered by additional layers due to its easily scalable polymer co-extrusion process, as well as significantly increased capacity per layer.
“Our talented engineering team—led by founder and CIO Dr. Kenneth Singer—has created a new approach to optical storage that overcomes historical limitations and delivers unheard-of cost, cybersecurity and sustainability benefits,” said Steven Santamaria, Folio Photonics. CEO. “With these advantages, Folio Photonics is poised to reshape the trajectory of archival preservation.”
Folio Photonics optical drives will offer a powerful combination of game-changing features that make data archives LIVE:
Folio Photonics is well positioned to be a leader in the projected $10 billion+ archive storage market12.68+2 Zettabytes in 2025. It plans to start with adoption in the use case of active immutable archives and expand to become a standard for all archive data. Folio’s manufacturing advantages create room for significant margin and channel/partner profitability and position the company for sustainable growth and continued investment in the business.
“Archival data accounts for up to 80 percent of all data according to industry estimates, and Folio Photonics is in a strong position to be a major player in this large and rapidly growing market,” said Fred Moore, president of Horizon Information Strategies. “Archive data is typically immutable, appearing as ‘write once’ and requiring immutability. At the same time, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and big data analytics are increasing activity and access requirements for archival storage systems. As a result, the demand for immutable active archives will only increase as immutability and higher performance requirements reshape the explosive secondary storage paradigm.”
Unlike tape, Folio Photonics ACTIVE archive storage will provide random access to archives to ensure effective data recovery. Unlike HDD, its ACTIVE archive storage is immutable by design™ and offers a 5x lower purchase price – approximately $25/TB for HDD and less than $5/TB for Folio. Folio Photonics drives are very durable and will offer 80 percent power savings over HDDs. In addition, its ACTIVE archive storage is not vulnerable to Electromagnetic Impulse (EMP) attacks, provides an air gap to ensure cyber security and ensures a media life of 100 years.
“Folio’s next-generation storage media will radically lower initial cost and TCO by making data archives active, online secure and durable – an ideal combination for data centers and customers in high degree. We believe it will disrupt and reinvigorate the multi-billion dollar data storage industry with its financial upside and sustainability,” added Santamaria.
records
1 Folio Photonics projection based on Fred Moore’s report, Horizon Information Strategies, Reinventing archive storage2021.
2 Folio Photonics projection based on John Monroe’s report, Further Market Research, The growing challenge of enterprise data storage2022.
About Folio Photonics
Folio Photonics is re-energizing storage media innovation with the first enterprise-scale active immutable archive solution that delivers new cost, margin and sustainability benefits. Leveraging game-changing advances in materials science to create dynamic multi-layer read/write capabilities, Folio’s technology overcomes historical optical limitations to reshape the trajectory of archival preservation. Ideal for data center and high-scale customers, Folio’s next-generation storage media radically reduces initial cost and TCO by making data archives active, cyber-secure and sustainable.
Folio Photonics and its licensed technology were shared by Case Western Reserve University and its National Science Foundation Center for Layered Polymer Systems by Dr. Singer. Current investors include Material Impact, Refinery Ventures, Early Stage Partners, Pavey Investments and JobsOhio Growth Capital Fund.
To learn more, visit the Folio Photonics website.
Source: Folio Photonics