Researchers from project silica stored the movie superman on a piece of glass

Microsoft’s Project Silica created proof for its concept of storing data in quartz glass storage. After teaming up with Warner Bros., the software maker inscribed the classic Superman film of Christopher Reeve on a glass that’s in the size of a coaster. From a very long-time, data storage for computer involved tubes filled with mercury, laser-etched spinning disk, magnetic tape, etc. but Microsoft’s research of this glass storage is part of the big investment from the company to build storage technology for the future of Azure platform. Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella, stated that the objective of the project was to create a new cold storage system.

Microsoft is making use of regular quartz glass, and the company has conducted various tests to check the resilience of the material. Project Silica was designed to store and preserve data because other methods of storing data weren’t satisfactory. From the past five years, researchers have been working to tackle this problem, and with Microsoft’s backing, companies will take the new storage seriously. Warner Bros. was involved in this project to store their digital assets permanently with a durable backup. Currently, the processes are complex and expensive, but the researchers are trying to speed up the process and reduce the cost to make the solution more scalable.