Partnership looks to replace data centres with DNA storage

Catalog’s DNA-based data-storage method is claimed to overcome the dual bottlenecks of cost and speed that have so far hindered the progress of similar systems that encode digital data into strands of synthetic DNA.

These strands contain sequences of nucleotide bases represented by the letters A, C, G, and T. Data can be stored in the DNA by transposing binary code into the DNA and then synthesising strings of DNA molecules with that code, which is slow and costly.

Catalog’s solution involves the acquisition of small fragments of DNA and piecing them together in an exponential series of combinations.

Having proven their proprietary method for encoding data in DNA, Boston Massachusetts-based Catalog has engaged Cambridge Consultants to support the scaling up of their platform, designing and building a machine that will encode the data at a speed of 1Tb in 24 hours, an advance expected to make it economically viable to use DNA as the medium for long-term archival of data.