Software Quarterly

innovations

Holographic Data Storage

A U.S. consortium is developing holographic data storage systems that can hold more than 12 times the information of today's largest magnetic hard disks and that can move data 10 times faster than is now possible.

The U.S. Defense Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency is funding half the $32 million Holographic Data Storage System program. Its 12 partners -- IBM's Almaden and Thomas J. Watson Research centers, GTE Corp., Kodak, Optitek, Rochester Photonics, Rockwell, SDL Inc., Carnegie-Mellon University, the University of Arizona, and the University of Dayton (Ohio), and Stanford University -- are funding the other half.

Holographic data storage uses lasers to store information as pages of electronic patterns within a volume of special optical materials. Because each page holds 1 million or more data bits and thousands of pages can be stored in a coin-sized component, compact devices holding many trillions of bytes of information are possible. Since there are no moving parts and each page's information can be searched simultaneously, the technology can potentially provide instant access to stored data.

"In the past, efforts to develop holographic storage systems have taken place independently in academic and industrial laboratories," says Lambertus Hesselink, professor of electrical engineering at Stanford University and one of the project's principal technical investigators. "Because no individual organization has the resources or technical breadth to develop all the enabling technologies, the systems that resulted were often compromised in performance and cost effectiveness."

"We've recognized the potential of holographic data storage systems for decades," says Glenn T. Sincerbox, a scientist in optical storage technology at IBM's Almaden Research Center and the project's other principal technical investigator. "But only recently have some of the essential components and technologies -- such as those used in mass-market camcorders and portable computer displays -- become available and affordable."

IBM will focus on developing applications that would benefit from high-speed random access to large databases -- such as image retrieval and processing -- and on enhancing the performance of hierarchical storage systems.


IBM Orders Up A Little Java

IBM intends to use the Java programming language to enhance the way customers view and interact with content on the Internet World-Wide Web. The company, which licensed the Java technology from Sun Microsystems Inc., will use it to develop products that exploit the Internet, such as web browsers and web servers, and its Lotus Notes integrated messaging and groupware software.

IBM plans to port the Java technology to its OS/2 and AIX operating systems, and Microsoft's Windows 3.1 -- making all three available on the World-Wide Web in 1996.

Java, an object-oriented programming language, works independently of operating systems or microprocessors. Java programs, called applets, can be transmitted over a network and run on multiple clients, providing the multimedia richness of a CD-ROM over corporate networks and the Internet.

Applets allow World-Wide Web users to quickly access, from their local systems, web page content that can be delivered in a visually compelling way -- by animation, for example. Users can also view and interact with an applet; they can request, for instance, that a product's image be rotated to provide another view.

By licensing Java, IBM also gains access to JavaScript, Sun and Netscape's new scripting language.


Closing The Gap Between The Blind And The Sighted

A new version of IBM's technically acclaimed Screen Reader/2 transforms text and graphical information on a computer screen into voice or Braille output for visually impaired users.

Designed to provide full access to the Internet under OS/2 Warp, the new Version 2 allows the visually impaired to go where they couldn't before. "Screen Reader/2 running on [32-bit] OS/2 Warp is the most complete and advanced screen reader product available on the market today," says Dennis O'Brien, manager of Special Needs Systems at IBM. "This new version helps meet our goal of making computers as easy to use for the visually impaired as they are for the sighted."

New features include a pop-up menu for easily customizing its operations, eliminating the need to memorize commands. Users, for example, can scroll through the menu, choosing to have every word read aloud, every word spelled aloud, punctuation read back, or any combination of more than 75 options. Individual applications are easy to navigate with the new Tips and Keys dialogue boxes.

Screen Reader/2 is part of the IBM Independence Series -- IBM-developed devices and software tools that make computers more accessible and friendly for people with vision, hearing, speech, mobility, and attention/memory disabilities.


Lotus Products Take Top Honors

Lotus Development Corp.'s desktop applications -- led by its end-user database Approach 3.0 for Windows 3.1 -- captured top awards at COMDEX last fall from PC/Computing and Home Office Computing.

Approach and Word Pro 96 for Windows 3.1, Lotus's word processor for teams, received PC/Computing's prestigious Most Valuable Product awards. Approach and
Kid Riffs, the music education software developed by Computer Music Center at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, received a 1995 Parents' Choice Award. Parents' Choice is the only nonprofit consumer guide to children's media.

The award, a first for an IBM software product, recognizes the best children's software titles of the year and is considered one of the most prestigious awards in the industry.

Kid Riffs allows children to explore fundamental aspects of music -- timbre, notes, rhythms, and harmony -- by learning intuitively how music works. Using computers, kids visit five different rooms.

The first four rooms cover individual music components. The fifth is the Concert Castle, where children use what they've learned to create their own tunes. The screen image uses primary colors and captivating characters that help make the software exciting.


Something Old, Something New: Remembering ENIAC

It's been 50 years since ENIAC, the world's first computer, was conceived at the University of Pennsylvania, and the United States Postal Service (USPS) is marking the occasion with a new stamp commemorating computer technology.

The stamp image is a high-tech graphic that weds computer-aided design (CAD) elements with a historic 19th century anatomy engraving of the human brain. The new stamp literally marries something old and something new -- something borrowed and something blue. Some elements of the design were generated photographically while others were created entirely using CAD software.

"We in the Postal Service have a special regard for this subject," says Loren Smith, USPS senior vice president, "because computer technology has reshaped postal operations of the past and opened up opportunities for us in the 21st century."

The USPS now handles 181 billion pieces of mail each year, which represents 40 percent of the world's mail volume. "But we're handling [that volume] with virtually the same number of employees as we had 20 years ago," Smith says. "We've used productivity gains from computer technology to hold down costs and make mail service a better value."

The image for the new stamp was created by Nancy Skolos and Tom Wedell of Boston, MA. The stamp will be printed and released for general use later this year.


Playa Vista Gets A Technology Architect

Playa Vista Partners has selected IBM to be the technology consultant for the entire Playa Vista project. It is a planned 21st century community housing the DreamWorks SKG movie studio campus; it also includes offices and hotels, and retail, educational, healthcare, and civic entities.

Playa Vista -- a 1,087-acre community in West Los Angeles that is a joint venture of DreamWorks SKG, real-estate developer Maguire Thomas Partners, and Howard Hughes Corp. -- will feature a state-of-the-art communication system linking every office, home, store, cultural, and educational entity in the community. The project will be a technology showcase; IBM will define the technology vision for the project through its Consulting Group.

The IBM group, which has 3,000 consultants around the world, is one of the largest and most complete consulting firms, having expertise in 13 areas. IBM will draw on the group's experience in telecommunications, media, healthcare, education, utilities, and government applications to complete the project. And it will coordinate a technology alliance that includes GTE Corp. and Silicon Graphics Inc.

Earlier, DreamWorks selected IBM to be an integral part of its Digital Studio by acquiring IBM's business systems and its Digital Library, which stores, manages, and protects DreamWorks' intellectual property.


Notes Going 64-Bit For Digital Alpha

Lotus Development Corp. and Digital Equipment Corp. have entered into an agreement under which Lotus will provide Lotus Notes integrated groupware and messaging products to users on Digital Alpha-based systems.

In addition, Digital will sell Lotus Notes through its Multivendor Customer Services reseller agreement with Lotus. Digital's Multivendor Customer Services organization offers installation, technical, and help-desk support for customers that have multiplatform environments that include Lotus Notes.

Lotus will develop versions of Lotus Notes Release 4 for both the Digital UNIX and Windows NT operating systems running on Digital Alpha processors. Lotus expects to deliver the Alpha version of Notes for Windows NT during the first half of 1996 and to deliver the Alpha version of Notes for Digital UNIX during the second half of 1996.


Multimedia On The Web

Internauts can catch IBM's new Multimedia home page on the World-Wide Web. The site covers IBM's worldwide initiatives in multimedia products and services, profiles multimedia customers, and includes an online Multimedia Today magazine.

You can access the site through the WHAT WE OFFER icon on the IBM home page or at http://www.multimedia.hosting.ibm.com.



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