OPTICAL STORAGE: AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT
Two years ago I wrote a column on the Emergicard, a credit-cardsize unit produced by Creative Marketing of California. It carried
basic medical information on a microfiche film locked into one corner
of the card. It was the hit of its day as it provided in case of an
emergency the information required by ambulance attendants and
physicians.
A year later that was old news. The Emergicard was surpassed by
the Laser Card developed by Drexler Technology of Mountain View,
California. This same-sized card carried the information equivalent
of 200 pages of single-spaced typing. It was an early development in
the field of optical storage. Three months later the Blue Shield and
Blue Cross organization in Maryland jumped ahead with their Life
Card, an advanced optical card also made by Drexler Technology. It
carried 800 pages of data.
In the next three months this card's capacity was upped to 1,000
pages of information, all on the same credit card-size unit. A 500
percent increase in storage capacity within six months!
Today another major breakthrough in optical storage, the OPTIcard,
produced by The Optical Card Works of Toronto, Canada, is also
credit-card size, only slightly thicker. It holds the equivalent of
20,000 pages of typed information! That's 50 million alphanumeric
characters! A 2,000 percent increase in storage capacity. All my
weekly columns for the next 140 years could be put on just one card
and read through the appropriate reader unit. That's about equal to
seventy 300-page novels. And, the OPTIcard fits into your shirt
pocket!
The basic difference between OPTIcard and rotating disc technologies (optical or magnetic) is that the OPTIcard remains stationary
while a rotating scanner sweeps a laser beam across the card to read
data from, or write data to, the recording surface. When recording,
the laser beam records data onto the card in the form of "pits"
(representing binary digits) formed in a "Write Once" sensitive layer
within the card's structure. In "read-back" format, the laser beam
is reflected from this sensitive layer which acts like a mirror. A
protective coating ensures that bending, abrasion, finger prints and
dust do not interfere with either the recording or reading of data.
The high density of any optical storage unit allows it to be used
as a portable medical record, a security access or identification
card, or as a database distribution medium. Because this card is
secured during use, resisting shock and vibration, the technology has
many mobile/airborne applications. In a card carousel storage system
virtually infinite data capacity could deliver high speed, on-line
access. The card can hold architectural diagrams, digital medical
images or insurance records, readily available in an instant. Think
of the implications. The cost? Surprisingly low, depending on
volume.
More information:
EMERGICARD:
Creative Marketing Unlimited,
4670 N. El Capitan,
#211-C
Fresno, CA 93711.
Tel: 209/275-3678.
LASER CARD:
Drexler Technology Corp.,
2557 Charleston Rd.,
Mountain View, CA 94043.
Tel: 415/969-7277.
OPTICARD:
Stephen D. Price-Francis, VP & GM,
Optical Card Works,
141 John Street,
Toronto, Ontario, M5V 2E4.
Tel: 416/596-6862.
Fax: 416/596-0452.
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