Project Silica, Microsoft is working with the University of Southampton’s Optoelectronics Research Center to develop an innovative data storage system for the cloud that starts from scratch, a solution that will make it easier for cloud storage providers to meet the data needs of the cloud in the near future.
Nobody can ignore the fact that we are increasingly reliant on cloud services, both for users and for businesses, and that the traditional storage system we have used so far will not allow us to meet this future demand with sufficient guarantees.
According to Microsoft, large vendors are expected to store several zettabytes of data on their respective cloud storage infrastructures by 2020. As you point out on the project page:
“Project Silica is developing the first storage technology designed and built from the ground up for the cloud. We use the latest discoveries in ultra-fast laser optics to store data in quartz glass with femtosecond lasers and build a completely new storage system that has been redesigned from the bottom up. This provides an incredibly exciting opportunity to fully challenge and rethink the design of the traditional storage system and help shape the future hardware and software infrastructure for the cloud.”
Recently at the Storage Developer Conference, they presented a document in which they talked about this project. Interested parties can already see the video segment with the presentation as well as the opportunity to get to know this innovative storage system by downloading the PDF available on this website.