Microsoft working on DNA-based data storage

Quantum computing is not the only large leap in computing the human race is currently working on, there's also the crazy and amazing research in storing data in DNA.

According to media reports, Microsoft is now planning on building, "an operational storage system based on DNA working inside a data center," by the next decade.

The DNA storage machine, or whatever it will be, should be the size of a large, 1970s-era Xerox copier, but could fit every movie ever recorded inside a volume smaller than a sugar cube.

The problem, as it usually is with new technology, is that it's still very expensive to use. Before the cost of DNA storage falls by a factor of 10,000, it won't be profitable to use. Also, upload rates are unacceptably slow at this time (400 bytes per second).

Things could significantly change if we change the way we create DNA, something start-ups are working on, with tape storage also threatened by the new technology.

"I am confident we will have results to talk about this year," says Jean Bolot, scientific director of Technicolor Research, in Los Altos, who says his company is funding the research at Harvard University.

There’s still no dates or any other specifics on a product plan, but considering how important data has become, don’t expect to wait too long.

Published under license from ITProPortal.com, a Future plc Publication. All rights reserved.

Photo Credit: Creations/Shutterstock