SPhotonix brings 5D memory crystals closer to data center cold storage

British startup SPhotonix says its data-storage technology built on so-called 5D memory crystals has moved beyond lab demos and is edging toward practical use. The company plans to launch pilot projects over the next two years to bring glass-based cold storage systems into data centers.

At the heart of the system is a quartz glass disk roughly five inches (127 mm) in diameter. A femtosecond laser writes information as nanostructures inside the glass, encoding data across five parameters at once: the three spatial coordinates, plus the orientation and intensity of each structure. Reading is optical, using polarized light. According to SPhotonix, a single disk can hold up to 360 terabytes, and the medium could preserve data for as long as 13.8 billion years—roughly the age of the universe. If proven outside the lab, that timescale would redefine what “long-term” means for archival storage.

The media do not require power to retain information and are air‑gapped by design, making them a natural fit for archives and backup repositories where access delays of a few seconds are acceptable. Today’s prototypes lag traditional systems on speed: writing proceeds at about 4 megabytes per second, with reading up to 30 megabytes per second. The roadmap sets a goal of lifting these figures to up to 500 megabytes per second within three to four years—a modest pace now, but for deep cold storage, durability and density often matter most.

Early-stage hardware pricing is estimated at around $30,000 for a writer and about $6,000 for a reader. The first mobile reader for use outside laboratories is expected in roughly a year and a half. SPhotonix has raised about $4.5 million and is working toward the next technology readiness level, which involves trials in real-world conditions—a pivotal milestone for any storage platform claiming century-scale endurance.

Interest in alternative, non-magnetic archival media is growing. Microsoft is experimenting with glass storage under Project Silica, while other companies are advancing ceramic media for robotic libraries. SPhotonix’s twist is strategic: rather than building its own storage service, the startup aims to license the technology and integrate it into existing data centers—a pragmatic bet that could ease adoption if the performance targets are met.