Microsoft introduced an automated system DNA data storage that could one day replace optical storage systems like Facebook's Blue-ray cold storage.
Microsoft believes that synthetic DNA could be the next big step in long-term data storage, since only one gram of DNA is capable of storing 215 petabytes data for 2.000 years. If released publicly, technology could significantly reduce the space required to store the rising world data.
Microsoft researchers, Microsoft founder Paul Allen and the school of computing science at the University of Washington have been able to build a complex system to create the world's first automated DNA storage device.
Using a first proof-of-DNA storage deviceconcept, the researchers demonstrated the write and read capabilities by encoding the word 'hello' into DNA fragments.
The bench-top unit costs about 10.000 dollars but researchers believe it could be built at a third of the cost by removing sensors and actuators.
Η unit, described in Nature, consists of computers with coding and decoding software that translate aces and zeros into four DNA bases: A, C, T, G. There is also a DNA synthesis unit and a DNA preparation unit, among which there is the space the DNA is stored.
“Our main goal is to get a system into production that, to the end user, will look a lot like any other cloud storage service. The bits will be sent to a data center and stored. Then they will only appear again when the customer wants it," said Karin Strauss, researcher of the project.
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