The company Biomemory based in France has just launched its first product, 3 years after its creation in 20021. It is the Biomemory DNA Card, the first device to arrive on the market and which allows store data in synthetic DNA molecules.
This is not the first time DNA has been used to store information. In 2019, the University of Washington and Microsoft presented a project on how information can be stored in synthetic DNA. In late 2023, several Chinese scientists published research in the journal Nature on how to use synthetic DNA to speed up computing processes.
Store data in synthetic DNA
Coming back to the Biomemory project, the main and, for the moment, the only great advantage offered by this storage system that uses synthetic ET is its duration, since it has a useful life of 150 yearsalthough if stored under constant temperature and humidity conditions, the duration could be extended for a few more years.
So much for the good things that this storage system offers us since it has more negative points than positive points, at least for the moment. The first negative point found in the Biomemory DNA Card is the storage capacity, a 1 KB storage capacity, or 1,024 characters. Given current storage needs, it is very difficult for us to think about the use that can be given to this memory card.
The second negative point of this card is that to store data, it needs at least 8 hours. All information is stored in encrypted form, it is not possible to modify it by users but rather must be sent back to the manufacturer to re-encode the data.
The third negative point, based on the amount of storage space it offers us, is the price. According to Biomemory, the Biomemory DNA card will hit the market in late 2024 and will have a retail price of $1,000 and include two cards. If we are interested in this project, we can register from their website by clicking on this link.
This is the first step towards using DNA to store information, since, according to the company, by 2026 it plans to launch Biomemory Prime, a DNA storage system capable of storing until 100 petabytes of information and which is designed for data centers.
This storage format consumes much less power than any SSD storage unit on the market, so if Biomemory Prime finally sees the light of day, it will mean a significant reduction in the power consumption of data centers, data centers which, in some cases, consume more energy. than several entire cities.
What is clear is that this technology is still in its early stages and still has a long way to go, although Biomemory seems to have everything on the right track if, as they say, it is capable of offer storage of up to 100 petabytes by 2026.
