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Quantum Jump or Hoax?

luchog

Neo-Post-Retro-Revivalist
luchog
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A company named Atom Chip Corporation has announced what appears to be a quantum leap forward in computer technology. A "quantum-optical" microprocessor and non-volatile RAM. The processor is rated at 6.88Ghz, and the RAM comes in denominations measured in Terabytes (1 and 2 Tb packages are supposedly currently available). The memory is supposedly of such a speed, reliability, and long-term stability that a single small module (1-2TB) can replace hard drives, completely. A completely solid-state system with no moving parts. The big kicker is that it does all this with a greatly reduced power

The whole thing sounds just too fantastic to be true, so it probably isn't. Their website looks decidedly amateurish and unconvincing. On the other hand, there are patents granted and pending; and the creator has allegedly won a number of awards (how legit they are, I can't say). They're supposedly going to be debuting a laptop featuring their technology at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January; so I guess we'll find out for sure then. I'm not holding my breath, though.

If it is true, the listed prices ($2500-$6000 per module) means it will be out of reach of most corporations and nearly all consumers for quite some time to come. While there's no price given for their debut laptop, I'd guess it to be somewhere in the range of $10,000-$20,000; or the price of a small cluster farm or single mini. If this does turn out to be real (highly unlikely), I'll sell several major organs (not mine, of course) to buy one.

Article in The Register: US 'world genius' touts 6.8GHz 'quantum-optical' CPU
Manufacturer's Website: Atom Chip Corporation
 
Wow, this company claims to have made 2 separate technological break-throughs at roughly the same time! What are the chances?

Of course it could be true. Would be cool!

LLH
 
I hate to judge before all the facts are in, but the Q word really makes me reach for the BS meter.
 
Cute but a hoax..

All you have to do is look at some of their pics.. Photoshop nonsense, when they're not nonsensical props..


1TBram.jpg
 
Diogenes said:
Cute but a hoax..
All you have to do is look at some of their pics.. Photoshop nonsense, when they're not nonsensical props..
Click to expand...

I agree. The 'website' is laughable, the picture of the "chips" on the main page look like cheap tie tacks, the prices listed on the "news" page are complete BS (too low even for todays tech), and the statement that the data is "stored holographically in Silicon" is utter nonsense, a scientific impossibility.

In the real world, companies *are* working on holographic storage and have working systems. If anyone is interested in this technology, here is a link to a real company, a leader in this field.

http://www.inphase-technologies.com/
 
ernon said:
I agree. The 'website' is laughable, the picture of the "chips" on the main page look like cheap tie tacks, the prices listed on the "news" page are complete BS (too low even for todays tech), and the statement that the data is "stored holographically in Silicon" is utter nonsense, a scientific impossibility.[/url]
Click to expand...

The fact that they also claim to have a version of Windows XP ported to the new chipset pretty much clinches it for me. Microsoft would take far longer than that to port an entire OS, and there'd be a whole lot more fanfare about it.
 
The clean room shown in the company web site looks more like a basement painted white, and the cleanroom garb they're wearing wouldn't work in a Class 100 or better environment. Note one guy has his face out in the open. Class 100 rooms are face shield environments to cut down on the spit flying around when you breathe.

I especially like the Quantum Optical Chips image, where it appears they're wiring up a silicon slice with tweezers and a discrete 2-lead component. The rest of the shots are generic stock clean room photos you can pick up off the internet.

Beanbag
 
Even if the site is a hoax, I believe something along those lines has been worked on.

Storing information in the spin of electrons if I remember correctly. Something on the quantum level.

I'd have to do a search to jog my memory on it though.
 
Looking at the picture on the SODIMM chip (posted by Diogenes), I'm struck wondering why a non-volatile RAM chip draws power during system standby. Non-volatile chips do not lose their contents without power - so why would they need to draw any power during standby?

Oh wait... an excellent explanation for all of this has already been suggested ;)
 
Mmmm, isn't that a floppy drive? There on the side of their "atomic Chip" laptop :roll:.

Hans
 
Looks rather like a standard 1990's Pentium Toshiba or similar to me. :D
 
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