Molecular and nanotube memories

Nanotubes hold promise for non-volatile memory and with a commercial prototype nanotube-based RAM predicted in 1 to 2 years, and terabyte capacity memories ultimately possible. Similar promises have been made of molecular memory from several companies, with one projecting a low-cost memory based on molecule-sized cylinders by end 2004 that will have capacities appropriate for the flash memory market. Note that all these approaches offer nonvolatile memory and if the predicted capacities of up to a terabyte can be achieved at appropriate cost then hard drives may no longer be necessary in PCs.