Silica uses femtosecond lasers for writing and supposedly mostly ordinary silicate glass as the medium. This would probably mean more costly drives and severely

Silica uses femtosecond lasers for writing and supposedly mostly ordinary silicate glass as the medium. This would probably mean more costly drives and severely cheaper media (Folio claims $3/TB now, $1/TB eventually. I wager Silica would be at least 10x cheaper). If Silica keeps its promises, we might be looking at archival prices cratering. But it's been in development for over a decade, I wouldn't hold my breath. Really interesting would be R/W speeds.