C3D claims major advance in data storage

By Tova Cohen

TEL AVIV, Oct 4 (Reuters) - New York-based C3D Inc on Monday unveiled a three-dimensional technology it said can increase data storage capacity by up to 2,500 times that of current systems.

Using flourescent light rather than the reflective optical devices currently employed, the technology allows data to be stored on multiple layers. This compares with only one layer for smart cards and CD-ROMs or two layers for DVDs, company officials said.

"We have found a conceptually different way to increase the volume of potential information we can put on these carriers," C3D president and chief executive Eugene Levich said at a demonstration of the technology in Tel Aviv.

C3D employs 65 scientists and has offices and laboratories in California, Israel, Russia and the Ukraine.

It demonstrated on Monday a Flourescent Multi-layer Disk (FMD) that played music with the quality of a traditional CD as well as a 10-layer smart card. Both the disk and the card are transparent, a feature of the flourescent technology.

The company plans to begin pilot production of, among others, a 10-layer FMD-ROM disk in the standard 120mm disk format storing up to 140 gigabytes and a 20-layer ClearCard-ROM in the form of a credit card with 10-gigabyte capacity.

Current smart cards have about four megabytes of capacity while a DVD can store 17.5 gigabytes, the company said.

The planned second and third generation cards and disks will have capacities exceeding one terabyte (1,000 gigabytes).

The company said existing CD and DVD disk and drive equipment can be adapted with minimal retooling to accommodate the new technology.

Ingolf Sander, C3D's general products manager, said the expanded memory capacity would enable people to store up to 20 hours of HDTV-quality video on one small card or disk.

C3D SEEKS STRATEGIC PARTNER

Michael Goldberg, C3D's director of legal affairs, said the company was seeking strategic joint ventures and has had initial discussions with several companies, including Sony , Philips, Ricoh , Microsoft (NasdaqNM:MSFT - news) and Apple (NasdaqNM:AAPL - news).

It plans to demonstrate its prototype to these companies next month in California, he said.

"I believe by the middle of next year we will have selected a partner or partners," he said.

Since 1996 $10 million has been invested in C3D. Among its investors are Israel's Formula Systems (NasdaqNM:FORTY - news), Goldberg said.

C3D plans to raise another $35 million though it has not yet decided whether this will be done through a strategic partner or via a share offering.

Its shares currently trade on the OTC Bulletin Board but the company hopes to receive U.S. Securities and Commission approval for a full listing by January, Goldberg said.

Its share price was at $20-14/16 on Friday, up from $1-12/16 in April.