Folio Photonics spins high-capacity storage discs

Folio Photonics, a spin-out from Case Western Reserve University (CWRU), has been granted an exclusive license from the Ohio-based institution to commercialise technology that will allow optical discs with a capacity of two terabytes (as much as 40 standard BluRays). 

Developed at the university’s Centre for Layered Polymer Systems by founder Kenneth D. Singer, professor of physics, the license was granted through the university’s technology transfer office, and is for the length of the patents, i.e. at least 20 years.

The technology, which uses thin, flexible polymer film that can be cut and laminated to discs so that 64 extremely thin layers that can be read on hardware designed for that purpose, will allow long-term, inexpensive archival data storage. The company will be targeting the $30bn data storage market when it launches its first product prototype in 18 to 24 months.

Rick Lytel, the company’s business manager, said: “The license will enable Folio Photonics to complete its engineering, launch its marketing efforts and drive toward the creation of large-scale storage devices and systems for the enterprise data market and for a myriad of other commercial and mobile applications.”