Faster than Flash

"Flash" memory uses so little power that designers have built it into hundreds of portable devices, from digital cameras to handheld computers. But flash memory has its flaws: it's slow at storing new data, and it wears out after only about a million read/write operations. Now Intel is testing a new kind of memory chip that it says will outpace and outlast flash-and still save power.

The new chip is based on work pioneered by inventor Stanford Ovshinsky, CEO of Rochester Hills, MI-based Energy Conversion Devices. Heat from an electric current switched by a diode alters the electrical resistance of tiny pockets of a germanium-tellurium-antimony alloy on the chip; pockets with changed or unchanged resistance represent digital ones and zeroes. Intel's latest test version of the chip stores four megabits, lasts through a million times as many operations as flash memory, and writes data a thousand times faster-almost as fast as conventional memory. While Intel researchers say it will be three to five years before the technology finds its way into products, future cameras, handhelds, cell phones and other devices equipped with the new memory could store digital information much faster and more reliably-and might be cheaper, too, since the new memory can be etched onto a silicon wafer right alongside other circuitry.

Fewer Bits, Better Code

As new security regulations pile more tedium onto the airline boarding process, a Burlington, MA, startup called Ntru hopes its encryption technology can help keep queues flowing. The company's software lets makers of embedded microchips incorporate data encryption directly into their silicon. The company's algorithms use eight-bit numbers, versus the several-hundred-bit numbers employed by today's standard encryption systems. These smaller numbers mean the technology can encrypt data faster; yet the company claims it can provide the same level of protection. The software could eventually underpin secure luggage tags and wireless code readers that authenticate passengers and link them to their baggage. It may also help inexpensive chips lock unauthorized users out of cell phones, pagers or payment cards. Ntru's technology should be on the market by year's end.

Smarter Storage

Permabit, a Cambridge, MA, startup, is bringing software to market that could revolutionize the way organizations store and access data. The software automatically distributes files among computers at different company locations, with just enough duplication to assure business continuity in case of physical disaster. When someone modifies a file, the system resaves only those sections of it that have changed, lowering the demand for transmission bandwidth. The data is encrypted such that it is impossible to trace to its creator-protecting the system administrator from potential legal liability and maintaining user privacy. Designed to provide backup storage as well as management of "live" data, the system will allow companies to dispense with slow and expensive storage tapes. The technology is expected on the market late this summer.