They report now significant progresses in writing speed, data density, and also in cost, in comparison with their prototypes from a few years ago. Unlike befor

They report now significant progresses in writing speed, data density, and also in cost, in comparison with their prototypes from a few years ago. Unlike before, at the current performance this kind of optical storage could have actually been used in practice, had the writing lasers not been so expensive. For a given amount of data, such glass slabs, which have the size of CD cases, would occupy a volume of about half of that required for the highest-capacity HDDs and about the same as tape cartriges. The writing speed is similar with the file downloading speed over the Internet from most sources that throttle their connections, instead of allowing full speed.