Nanotechnology - Shrinking Storage

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Part of our Blurring the boundaries (2): how technology is changing the way we learn Series

Developments in nanotechnology are yielding results in the shrinking of computer storage. There are a number of nanotechnologies under development, with one thing in common - the development of nano scale, solid state storage. These technologies will lead to increases in smaller and more robust devices with massively increased storage capabilities. Once this market reaches maturity, it will be possible, for example, to store Terabytes of data (a unit of information equal to 1000 gigabytes or 1,000,000,000,000 bytes) on a device the size of a modern USB stick.

Nanotechnology - In Our View

High volume storage in a small space will have a significant impact on the development of handheld devices (discussed in our earlier article) and on the data that they hold.

The requirement to download small subsets of data such as music onto a player or to upload photographs will impact on how we store and manage data. It is important that connectivity technologies such as high speed USB and broadband (wired and wireless) develop in line with the memory technologies to allow the transfer of large amounts of data between devices. Otherwise data will effectively remain ‘trapped’ at its source.

One result of the development of this technology that seems inevitable is that people will carry far more information around with them. This is likely to be life-related information such as personal details, music, photographs and videos, probably mapping a person’s whole life. In the education sector for example, this could equate to a learner having all of their course work and educational history available on a single small device.

This possibility, while advantageous for the learner, needs to be placed in the context of robust backup and protection / encryption procedures AND practice to ensure data is kept confidential and is not misused.

Also in our Blurring the boundaries (2): how technology is changing the way we learn series:

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If you have any questions about the subjects covered in this white paper or you would like to find out more about how Oakleigh Consulting could help your organisation, please contact us on 0161 835 4100 or email us.

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