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Whereas Blu-ray should enable 27GB of storage on a single-layer disc (about 13 hours of standard-definition television), the HVD Alliance is anticipating discs storing multiple terabytes of data, written at a rate of 1Gbit/sec.

The members of the HDV Alliance comprise Optware, CMC Magnetics, Fuji Photo Film, Nippon Paint, Pulstec Industrial and Toagose, reports the EE Times. The group is seeking to 'accelerate development and standardization of the HVD' system.

According to the EE Times, a technical committee

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will hold its first meeting next month in Tokyo, to consider specs for 200GB HVR-R (write once) and 30GB holographic cards.

At the beginning of the year the 'world's first' holographic disc drive was unveiled. The Colorado-based start up InPhase Technologies announced a prototype from which it intends to develop a family of drives under the name 'Tapestry', with capacities ranging from 200Gb up to a whopping 1.6TB.

The founder of the new alliance, the Japanese company Optware, would dispute that world's first claim, however. Back in April 2004 it prototyped what it described as the first 'recording and playback device using holographic principles' - Holograms make light work of 300GB.

Even earlier in 2004 - NTT announces holographic memory breakthrough - the Japanese telecommunications giant NTT was pushing the boundaries of holographic storage, using holographic principles of light interference patterns for high-capacity storage devices. Called Info-MICA (Information-Multilayered Imprinted CArd), the new memory is capable of storing 1GB of data within the size of a postage stamp.