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ATP
FOCUSED PROGRAM: Digital Data Storage
Potential for U.S. Economic Benefit. The nations digital storage industrymaker of the tapes, disks, and other gear that have become the archives and the retrieval tools of the information ageachieved its world-leading status by doubling storage capacity about every 18 months. Now, with competitors matching that rate of progress and new storage-hungry services rolling onto the information highway, industry observers say regaining lost market shares and pulling away from the global pack will require an annual improvement rate of about 60 percentor more than twice as fast as todays blistering pace. By fostering industrial alliances, the ATP focused program on digital data storage aims to build the springboard for that kind of ambitious leap in technological capability and marketplace performance. As the world goes digitalstoring mountains of textual, audio, graphical, and video information as 1s and 0sopportunities are multiplying in business and consumer markets. Industry projections expect the annual demand for rigid disk drives alonelargely for personal computers and file serversto grow from about 160.6 million terabytes in 1996 to an awe-inspiring 2,800 million terabytes or more by 2000. Burgeoning new applications in application such as video and multimedia editing, data-warehousing, and medical imaging are creating new demands for alternate storage media. Optical disks and tape library products are expected to see compound annual growth rates of 30 percent in units shipped over the next few years. Companies adept at incorporating new technologies will have a strategic advantage in existing and emerging markets. For the domestic industry as a whole, that advantage would advance efforts to establish U.S. formats as international standards, which would be a boon to exports. In helping U.S. industry to move to the head of the curve of technology development and application, the focused program also will better position U.S. companies to compete in consumer markets now dominated by soon-to-be- outdated analog storage products made by foreign manufacturers. In turn, a technologically advanced, globally competitive data storage industry will enhance the competitive prospects of computer manufacturers as well as the telecommunications, entertainment, and other important user industries. Technology Challenge and Industry Commitment. The ATP Digital Data Storage focused program concentrates on accomplishing six technical objectives, established on the basis of industry input received through white papers submitted by five individual companies and three collaborations representing more than 40 firms, which account for more than 90 percent of U.S. data storage industry revenues. Additional input was gathered through an ATP-sponsored workshop.
Significance of ATP Funds. In establishing a comprehensive set of technical goals far beyond the capabilities of individual firms or joint ventures, the ATP focused program helps companies and research organizations to pool their talents, expertise, and resources. Through collaborations that minimize risks and costs, the industry can make large strides in innovation that lead to markedly superior technologies beyond the capabilities of competitors. Because of todays stiff competition in markets for digital data storage products, U.S. firms must concentrate almost exclusively on rapid, but incremental, improvements to existing products, which are quickly matched or outdone by other companies. Research addressing longer term challenges is an acknowledged industry need, cited, for example, in separate technology roadmaps developed by the National Storage Industry Consortium and the Optoelectronics Industry Development Association. Both call for concerted efforts aimed at fundamentally new and better storage technologiesthe expected outcomes of the ATP focused program. Advances in data storage technology are important to national security and to the missions of federal agencies, including some sponsoring research in the area. The projects are aligned closely with the missions of the funding agencies and, collectively, do not address the broad range of technology challenges and needs confronting the commercial data storage industry. In a recent survey of the electronics industrys technology needs and priorities, conducted as part of the government-industry National Electronics Manufacturing Initiative, mass data storage was singled out as one of the key electronic-component technologies warranting increased emphasis in federal R&D efforts. Shared efforts concentrating on early-stage needs and obstacles can reduce overall R&D costs and accelerate the U.S. digital data storage industrys progress toward developing technologies critical to ensuring that it will be a top performer in a worldwide market projected to grow tenfold, to $1 trillion, during the next decade. Additional Information. For information about eligibility, how to apply, and cost-sharing requirements, contact the Advanced Technology Program: (800)-ATP-FUND
(800)-287-3863 For
technical information, contact: Date created:
January 1999 |
ATP
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