Ceramic data storage device with a 5,000-year lifespan aims for astounding 100 petabytes capacity per rack by 2030, promising a 10X performance improvement and plans for 100,000 petabytes per rack in the future, as per Cerbayte's development plans.
Cerabyte, a German storage startup, made waves at the A3 Tech Live conference in Munich with its ambitious plans for the next two decades. The company's focus is on its CeraMemory and CeraTape systems, which are set to undergo significant improvements, particularly in terms of capacity, performance, cost-effectiveness, and environmental impact.
By 2030, Cerabyte aims to scale its ceramic storage racks to a staggering 100 petabytes (PB) per rack. This represents a 100-fold increase in capacity compared to current levels, positioning Cerabyte's systems as high-capacity storage solutions for enterprise and archival needs.
Alongside this massive capacity boost, performance improvements are planned. Specifically, the data transfer speed is expected to increase tenfold, from 100 MB/s to 2,000 MB/s or more by 2030. Additionally, the "time to first byte" (TTFB) will be greatly reduced, dropping from 90 seconds to just 10 seconds, implying much faster data access and retrieval times.
Cerabyte also emphasizes advancements in operational efficiency. The company projects a dramatic reduction in total cost of ownership (TCO) over the next five years—from $7,000-$8,000 down to just $6-$8. Furthermore, the environmental impact of their technology is set to improve, with a potential reduction in the carbon footprint of global data storage from 2% of global CO2 emissions to around 1.25% when switching from traditional tape to Cerabyte's ceramic solutions.
Looking further ahead, Cerabyte plans to use particle beam matrix technology by 2045. This technology could potentially reduce the write spot size on ceramic media to a minuscule 3nm, increasing storage capacity per rack to up to 100,000PB.
In summary, Cerabyte's storage technology is expected to make significant progress over the next two decades, offering high-capacity, high-performance, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly storage solutions for the future.
| Aspect | Current/Initial Specs | Planned by 2030 | Planned by 2045 | |---------------------|--------------------------------|---------------------------------|---------------------------------| | Capacity per rack | ~1 PB (implied base) | 100 PB (100x increase) | 100,000 PB (1000x increase) | | Performance speed | 100 MB/s | 2,000 MB/s or more (10x increase) | N/A | | Time to first byte | 90 seconds | 10 seconds | N/A | | Total Cost of Ownership | $7,000 - $8,000 | $6 - $8 | N/A | | Carbon footprint | 2% of global CO2 emissions | ~1.25% | N/A |
It's important to note that these advancements are contingent on supporting laser technologies advancing as expected. For instance, Cerabyte's current femtosecond laser writing tech could be replaced by particle beam matrix tech in the future.
Moreover, the estimated storage needed to archive the entire internet in 2025 is 181,000,000PB, which is significantly more than the projected 100,000PB per rack by Cerabyte in 2045. However, with continued advancements in storage technology, Cerabyte's systems could play a crucial role in addressing the ever-increasing demand for data storage in the coming decades.
Data-and-cloud-computing technology plays a significant role in Cerabyte's plans for the future, as their storage solutions aim to scale up to 100 petabytes (PB) per rack by 2030, positioning them as high-capacity storage providers for enterprise and archival needs. In the subsequent years, Cerabyte intends to further improve their technology, with advancements expected in various aspects such as operational efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and environmental impact.
