NIST funds four optical-data-storage development projects

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recently funded four proposals based on digital optical data storage. One proposal is development of a read-write optical-tape storage technology by LOTS Technology Inc. (Santa Clara, CA). The Advanced Technology Program (ATP) funding is $1.95 million, constituting 68% of budget for the two-year project. Another project involves design of an optical-tape-based data-storage technology capable of recording the contents of the Library of Congress in a tabletop system. The five-year effort is being conducted by an eight-company consortium that includes Terabank Systems Inc. (Campbell, CA), Xerox Corp. (El Segundo, CA), Polaroid Corp. (Cambridge, MA), and NASA (Greenbelt, MD). The estimated $23.3 million project received $11.5 million in ATP funding. The other two optical-data-storage proposals involve development of a high-capacity optical disk (National Storage Industry Consortium, San Diego, CA) and a project to commercialize high-density optical storage with low-cost materials and manufacturing techniques (Optex Communications Corp., Rockville, MD).