| Have you guys been noticing how computer hard | | | | NRAM in theory can operate at a much better |
| drive prices have been going down very much lately. | | | | efficiency than DRAM and it will be much less dense |
| Though there are quite a few factors that are the | | | | than DRAM and eventually much less expensive. |
| causes for this such as the current recession that we | | | | Imagine having an instant on computer where you |
| are and the technology keeps improving but there | | | | just push the on button and your computer is |
| are also other technologies on the horizon that could | | | | powered up right there on the spot without waiting |
| revolutionize our drive technology to the point that | | | | 10 to 30 seconds or even a minute for this to |
| current hard drives available today could become | | | | happen. |
| obsolete. | | | | Imagine being able to store hundreds of terabytes of |
| Here I will talk about one major technology that | | | | information on your hard drive. The possibilities to this |
| could revolutionize the computer industry just as | | | | technology and to the amount of memory that your |
| much or even more than the Internet revolution did | | | | computer can store in its hard drives is almost |
| during the late 1990s. The new hard drive technology | | | | limitless. The low energy needed to power up and to |
| that I am talking about is called NRAM. NRAM or | | | | keep the NRAM device going is even much less than |
| nonvolatile random access memory is a hard drive | | | | flash memory and this is another area that the NRAM |
| technology that is based on mechanical position of | | | | technology can enter into. Imagine being able to take |
| carbon nano tubes that are deposited on small | | | | an MP3 device as small as your hand with you |
| substrates, and because the NRAM technology is | | | | anyplace you go that has a 3 TB storage capacity. |
| based on small size nanotubes this will allow you to | | | | The marketing capacity for this technology is in the |
| carry a huge amount of memory in a very small | | | | hundreds of billions of dollars and could reach into the |
| space. The current company that is developing the | | | | trillions of dollars later on. NRAM is a computer hard |
| NRAM technology is called Nantero. | | | | drive technology revolution that is waiting to happen. |
| Now, besides the difference in size between the | | | | Now whether it happens in a few years or in five |
| nano tubes and what DRAM (DRAM has a minimum | | | | years this will be the most exciting new technology in |
| size limit that it can be built to) currently has to offer | | | | the computer hard drive sector that has ever come |
| there is also an added benefit that NRAM has over | | | | about. Nantero has attracted all the big names in the |
| DRAM in that DRAM requires a certain amount of | | | | computing industry and technology including HP, LSI |
| power to refresh it, while NRAM does not require | | | | and ON semiconductor. All of these major technology |
| any power source at all to refresh its memory even | | | | guys are either looking into experimenting with NRAM |
| after the power source that is required to refresh it | | | | in their labs are actually trying to produce the chips |
| is removed. | | | | themselves. It seems to me now that Nantero will |
| Another energy-saving benefits to NRAM as opposed | | | | probably license the technology out to big companies |
| to DRAM is that the power that is needed to write | | | | like these. |
| to the device used is much lower than it would be | | | | I can't wait for this technology to hit the market as I |
| for DRAM. The RAM has to build up a charge on its | | | | think it will revolutionize the way we store computer |
| plates to get powered up. Most people will not notice | | | | memory in a way that we are not currently used to |
| this but this is a tremendous energy saving benefits | | | | doing. The energy savings of this hard drive |
| that will cut down on the amount of electricity | | | | technology couldn't come at a better time in the |
| needed to not only power up our computers but to | | | | world that is energy starved World. |
| keep them turned off. | | | | |