| Giving
hard drives the boot
The
folks at Indigo Memory Systems have a vision of a world
where the term "booting up" is obsolete. Imagine
turning on your computer in the morning and having it
come on as quickly as a television set. Even techies
with the fastest state-of-the-art computers can't make
that claim.
Chantilly-based
Indigo is developing a mass storage memory device -
for which it holds a patent - that could ultimately
replace the need for a computer's hard drive. "The
hard drive is a severe bottleneck in computing today,"
says Kenneth Nunnenkamp, Indigo's vice president. "The
hard drive operates exponentially slower than the rest
of the computer." Indigo hopes that by removing
that bottleneck, computer processors will run programs
faster and perform functions such as video streaming
just like a TV.
Unlike
the traditional hard drive, Indigo's storage device
has no moving parts. "The hard drive is a mechanical
device with hundreds, perhaps thousands, of moving parts,"
Nunnenkamp says. "As such, its speed is severely
limited by the fact that moving machine parts can only
go so fast. Rather than having its speed dictated by
how fast the electronics or software operate, hard drives
are limited by such things as RPMs and arm speed."
While other alternatives do exist, they have other limitations.
"The key then is to develop a device that is fast,
has large storage capacities and is inexpensive."
How
does it work? "The storage device converts digital
data to electronic signals and electronically scans
them over a magnetic media. The magnetic media is located
inside a data storage unit. An electronic controller
… operates as the brains of the device, determining
how stored data will be accessed and scanned."
Indigo
has been researching its mass storage technology since
the mid '90s. Since then, the firm has raised more than
$5 million in funding from angel investors, venture
capital firms and equity investments. The company plans
to begin testing its beta prototype next year and hopes
to introduce its technology - comparably priced to hard
drives - to the market in 2004.
-
Leila Marija Ugincius
Return
to Virginia Business - April 2002
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