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HP Claims Data Storage Breakthrough

HP researchers claim to have made a computer science breakthrough with potentially wide-ranging implications for storage systems.

In a paper published in todays issue of the journal Nature, a team from the vendor’s Information and Quantum Systems Lab described their research into a new form of computer memory, which could eventually replace traditional DRAM.

Unlike DRAM-based systems, which lose the ability to retain information once their power is turned off, HP claims to have developed circuitry capable of retaining information even after losing power.

Dubbed the “memristor," the microscopic device is actually a 50-nanometer crossbar switch, which, unlike DRAM, does not require power-intensive reboots.

“The wonderful thing about this is that, if you turn them off, [the information] just stays there, it is non-volatile,” says HP spokesman David Harrah.

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