Palmtop computers capable of carrying as much data as a mainframe could be for sale by the summer of 2001 if an invention at a British university is taken up by manufacturers. Ted Williams, professor of electronic engineering at Keele University, has created a data storage technology so efficient that 2,300 gigabytes of data can be squeezed on to a credit card-sized device.
The concept relies on a new family of metal alloys which allow huge amounts of information to be stored inside the material. This operates in conjunction with a new optical method of accessing the information on multiple levels inside the material using sophisticated software.
"The new material is very difficult to manufacture," says Prof Williams, "and we were lucky to receive a £1 million Link grant from the Department of Trade and Industry to overcome those hurdles." The grant has enabled the Keele team to create a three-dimensional memory system which, says Prof Williams, is "the highest density ever achieved".
Because the system has no moving parts, it is said to be far more reliable than current hard disks. However, much current hardware technology has also been used so that the devices could be quickly put into production after a short development period.
"The technology is scaleable - either up or down - so that even wristwatches will be capable of handling a memory capacity of more than 100 gigabytes," says Prof Williams. Power consumption is also tiny compared with conventional hard disks, and each of the new units could cost only £35 to make.
Data storage is one of the hottest areas of research in computing, but Prof Williams is confident his system has an edge. "I don't think there will be another way of doing it," he says. "It's not just about storage; the innovation involves new ways of retrieving and erasing data too."
He has a long pedigree and unusually wide experience in technical innovation, with stints in British military research, in industrial giants such as Pilkington and ICI, and spells in the US for Texas Instruments, and in Japan. Between 1978 and 1982 he led the team that built the world's first nuclear magnetic resonance scanner for EMI. This breadth of experience was pivotal in bringing together all the very different technologies required to develop the new storage material. Prof Williams and his venture backers, Cavendish Management Resources, have formed a company, Keele High Density, at the university. Patents have been sought for key parts of the new system.