Ohad Harlev will be giving a presentation on LyteLoop on June 11th at the RMSC Strasenburgh Planetarium.
NY Photonics: What is the idea behind LyteLoop?:
Harlev: Storing data in motion. We have been working on this for 3 1/2 years and have 6 or 7 patents depending on how you want to count. Humanity is creating a huge amount of data. Today the world is storing data in a really simple way – in data centers. 90% of the data stored today is less than 2 years old. So the data demand in the next 2 years has not been created yet. We cannot produce enough data centers to store the data we are producing. We are doubling the amount of data every three years and will continue to do so.
NY Photonics: Will LyteLoop save on energy use?
Harlev: Yes. Land based data centers are using too much energy producing these data centers. Google is using more power than England. In 2014, the last time it was measured, data centers used $16 Billion in energy.
NY Photonics: What is the cost compared to today?
Harlev: Cheaper. Once they are up there, there are no hundreds of people required to operate them. There are no energy or electricity demands.
NY Photonics: What about the security of our data in space?
Harlev: Security is the third main issue with today’s data centers. In today’s world, everyone is being hacked. There are two types of people, people who have been hacked and know it, and people who have been hacked and don’t know it. Data Centers today are, first and foremost, a physical site. It’s in a physical location, which means it needs infrastructure, connectivity, power, and space. They take years to build and they are very expensive. We believe the solution to these problems is storing your data in motion. From satellite a to b, b to a, a to b. The storage is in the motion using very high speed lasers. In space, it’s hard to physically get out there, the data is in motion, and will use quantum encryption. The data is “virtually unhackable.”
NY Photonics: What about storage space compared to traditional data centers?
Harlev: The LyteLoop system will be able to store hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of petabytes. The data centers we can build in space can be as large as the biggest data centers on Earth. And bigger.
NY Photonics: What about access to these data centers from around the world?
Harlev: Access from anywhere and everywhere. For example, if you are in remote locations such as the middle of Africa, there is connectivity but there is no data storage center.
NY Photonics: What is your timeline?
Harlev: Our ambition is 5 years. It may be faster, it may take a little longer.