Scientists at Lancaster University in the UK propose a means to "solve the digital technology energy crisis"-- Universal Memory, a technology possibly able to replace both DRAM and SSD storage.

According to the researchers, a "tsunami of data" brought about by increased use of computers and other such devices is set to consume 20% of global electricity by 2025. The Universal Memory device promises to consume much less power, as well as allow for PCs able to "instantaneously and imperceptibly" go in an energy-saving sleep mode, even between key strokes.

Combining the properties of DRAM and SSD storage is a fairly difficult task. After all, the data stored on DRAM is volatile, and is continuously "refreshed" to avoid it being lost, while writing and erasing SSD storage is slow, energy intensive and deteriorates the storage medium. To solve the issue the Lancaster University researchers employed quantum mechanics to create an oxide-free, floating-gate memory cell which boasts non-destructive read capabilities and long-term storage at room temperature.

EMEA purpose-built backup appliance (PBBA) revenues are up by 1.6% Y-o-Y in Q1 2019, IDC reports, reaching $249.6 million. PBBA open systems revenues are down by -2% Y-o-Y to $232.5m, while mainframe system sales are up by 102.2% Y-o-Y.

IDC defines a PBBA as a standalone disk-based solution utlising software, disk arrays, server engines or nodes for backup data-- specifically data coming from a backup application (such as NetWorker, NetBackup, TSM and Backup Exec) or can be tightly integrated with the backup software to catalog, index, schedule and perform data movement.

"Despite the accelerated growth of on-demand cloud infrastructures for backup and DR activities, some EMEA organisations still perceive Backup aaS and DRaaS as risky over data loss due to malware or cyberattacks, which has resulted in sustained investment in PBBA systems, not just for backup, but also as repositories for their critical data," the analyst remarks.

Seagate starts shipping 16TB helium-based enterprise HDDs-- part of the Exos X16 family promising both high performance and record capacities for hyperscale datacentres. Also available are 16TB additions to the the IronWolf and IronWolf Pro NAS drive lines.

According to a Seagate-sponsored IDC whitepaper the Global Datasphere (the amount of data created, captured or replicated across the globe) is to grow from 33 zettabytes (ZB) in 2018 to 175ZB by 2025. As such, the world is in need for the highest storage density, as well as field-proven reliability and continuous high performance to handle a broad range of workload requirements.

Kingston launches a flagship client/consumer SSD-- the KC2000, an upgrade on the 2017 KC1000 featuring Toshiba/SanDisk 96-layer 3D NAND flash memory aimed at both power users and enterprise customers.

The M.2 form factor SSDs carry a Gen 3.0 x4 controller, and offer read and write speeds of up to 3200 and 2200Mb/s respectively. Security comes as standard with built-in 256-bit AES hardware-based encryption and support for TCG Opal 2.0 security management solutions such as Symantec, McAfee and WinMagic. Windows users also get support for Microsoft eDrive, the security storage specification for use with BitLocker.