CATALOG, one of the most prominent pioneers in storage and DNA computing, has announced a new strategic partnership with one of the world’s largest storage companies, Seagate.
The potential of DNA is tempting. A single gram of DNA can hold 215 PB of data, which equates to approximately 10,000 22TB hard drives, which is the largest capacity available today.
The partnership will accelerate the production of smaller ones DNA platforms, up to 1,000 times smaller, paving the way for likely mass production of DNA-based storage products over the next decade; Desktop cases and even IoT are being tested. At the heart of this initiative is Seagate’s newly unveiled “laboratory-on-chip” technology, which aims to reduce the complexity of operating DNA platforms.
“Using the Seagate platform, tiny droplets of synthetic DNA can test chemistry at much smaller levels. These drops will be processed by dozens of tanks on the Seagate platform. The DNA from the individual tanks is mixed to produce chemical reactions for a range of computational functions, including search and analysis, machine learning and process optimization, a company spokesman told us.
Room to reduce
Shannon, the current CATALOG platform is large, very large. Think about the size of an average family kitchen. Like the Colossus computer, the first programmable digital computer used during World War II, Shannon is more of a concept check that is used to demonstrate the remarkable potential of DNA storage and computation.
The first commercial offering, which is likely to be delivered “as a service”, is still in a year’s time. We were told additional pricing and performance details would be available at this time. Optical discs, hard drives or LTO tapes for archiving. In this scenario, the data could be sent to the CATALOG system and the company would convert it into synthetic DNA.
The problem that the CATALOG is currently addressing is that the current prototype has proven the potential of an automated and scalable system to turn data into DNA. However, current technology requires chemical skills that most businesses do not have today. As the CATALOG systems mature, these processes will become more automated and the need for chemical skills will be minimized.
The CATALOG added that “the goal of the next-generation platform is to use much less chemicals, require less energy and be able to operate almost anywhere – including offices, ships in the middle of the ocean and potentially in space.”
Many companies, including Microsoft, have invested heavily in DNA storage, opting for other exotic storage technologies (e.g., holographic, optical, glass). Due to its inherent resilience and resistance to external factors, DNA storage can be used in cold storage (both for cloud backup and cloud storage) as a data loss prevention tool to combat ransomware through vulnerabilities. air and as a compliance mechanism (e.g. Sarbanes-Oxley or HIPAA) via WORM (write once, read many).