Cerabyte joins CERN openlab to develop sustainable long-term data storage solutions
Cerabyte, a company specialising in ceramic-based data storage solutions, has announced its new status as an official member of CERN openlab.
The collaboration is aimed at developing secure, sustainable, and cost-effective data storage solutions to support CERN’s research activities. CERN openlab is a public-private partnership initiative that focuses on accelerating computing for science and exploring innovative, sustainable technologies.
Data storage, particularly for long-term use, presents significant challenges, including issues related to scalability, supply, energy consumption, and budget constraints. As the volume of data that needs to be retained continues to grow, the demand for sustainable and affordable long-term data storage technologies increases. Cerabyte's technology aims to address these challenges by reducing electronic waste and lowering the energy consumption of data centres worldwide.
Christian Pflaum, CEO and Founder of Cerabyte, explained the inspiration behind the technology:
“Inspired by humanity’s ancient data storage, the Babylonian cuneiform tablets, Cerabyte’s media technology uses ceramic materials to retain data virtually forever. We are thrilled to collaborate with CERN openlab and further develop Cerabyte’s durable and sustainable data storage technology to support CERN’s long-term data storage needs.”
Cerabyte's approach involves using ceramic materials for long-term data retention, leveraging the semiconductor industry’s existing technology to write data on a durable ceramic medium. The company has demonstrated a working prototype capable of high-performance write/read operations and high-density data recording. The first petabyte-scale system is expected to be developed by 2025/26, potentially to be accessed by and eventually hosted at CERN.
CERN, home to the world’s largest particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), generates vast amounts of data that must be stored for future research. Over the years, CERN has developed an extensive data-intensive computing infrastructure, including its own data centres and the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid (WLCG), in collaboration with institutes worldwide. CERN openlab serves as a platform for industry and research organisations to work with CERN researchers on innovative projects.
Maria Girone, Head of CERN openlab, commented on the collaboration:
“As an organisation with almost 70 years of history, CERN has created large volumes of data of many different type. It is critical for CERN to store data indefinitely in a sustainable, cost-effective, secure and resilient way. With this collaboration, we aim to advance data preservation research and inform CERN’s long-term plans for data archival.”
