IBM announces breakthrough in computer memory

According to ComputerWorld, IBM announced Thursday, a breakthrough in computer memory technology. The breakthrough may lead to the creation of solid-state chips with the ability to hold as much data as NAND flash technology while also having an increased lifespan and 100 times the performance.

IBM has developed phase-change memory (PCM) chips that have the ability to store two bits of data per cell without data corruption problems, this is something that has been problematic with PCM chips since their initial creation. The chips are like NAND flash chips since they allow data to be retained even after its power supply has been depleted. According to IBM, PCM chips can achieve a greater lifespan because they can perform up to 5 million write cycles, unlike NAND flash chips that can only perform around 5,000 to 10,000 write cycles in consumer products and up to 100,000 cycles in enterprise-class products. 

IBM is not planning to produce consumer grade products out of PCM. The main target for the technology is to license it to memory manufacturers, such as Toshiba and Samsung, and help them accelerate the production of the memory chips for enterprise applications. Hopefully, we'll see more out of phase-change memory chips and other technologies like it in the near future.

For more on this subject and a deeper understanding of storage, follow the link to ComputerWorld.