Interchangeable Data Storage Bricks?

shokk writes "EWeek is reporting that IBM is working on a concept called Ice Cube Storage Bricks that uses a conductive ceramic or mylar plate to transmit data between bricks across an air gap. Research center staff member Robert Gardner says that the idea is 'to walk up to the system, attach the storage and then walk away.' No mention is made of what happens when a brick in the middle of the cube needs to be replaced and the whole thing needs to be disassembled. To be really effective, this would need to be teamed up with some sort of a backplane, but the tech is new and neat."

hehe

[Anonymous Coward]

More energon!

IT Jenga game?

[jcostantino]

If you have to replace a block in the middle and the pile collapses, does the server crash and you lose?

Legos

[nizo]

The bricks can be assembled "in a big pile of bricks or it could be a one-dimensional wall of bricks," which could make maintenance even easier.

I knew that playing with legos would come in handy sooner or later.

Ultimate Geek Lego Blocks?

[bchernicoff]

How long before we see sites dedicated to storage array building contests?

More questions

[koi88]

No mention is made of what happens when a brick in the middle of the cube needs to be replaced

Or, when the ice melts?

Should we worry?

[nizo]

Called CIB (Collective Intelligent Bricks)...

That name for the individual bricks, coupled with the fact the picture they have on the website of the partially constructed collection looks kinda like this [google.com] is rather disturbing.

Gives a whole new meaning to...

[GillBates0]

the couplers are actually able to transmit data through the extremely thin layer of air between one brick and the next

the term "air borne viruses".

Deja Vu?

[rocket97]

I remember reading about this a year or so ago.... ON SLASHDOT....

All in all, it's just a...

[jejones]

...nother brick in the mass storage unit.

Darn. Doesn't scan.

Re:No mention of...

[grub]

It's getting bad when the person submitting the story doesn't even RTFA.

Reading the articles goes against the RFC.

Re:No mention of...

[FFFish]

The solution is easy, too: there are three ceramic pads. One merely executes a Towers of Hanoi routine to work one's way down to the defective brick.

Yes, I know these. They are Evil.

[LionKimbro]

I know that they are evil, because I've seen what they do.

Just watch Laputa. Near the end of the movie,- you see that Laputa is composed of these very same intelligent brick computers.

In answer to the question: "How do you replace the broken bricks in the middle?" ...the answer is: It's all automatic. The bricks rearrange themselves in mid-air, and the broken bricks fall out.

It's true.

Just watch the movie; It explains everything.

Re:Very Tough Error Isolation-Biological

[Anonymous Coward]

Duh.

You just said exactly what the parent poster said. Why did you write "Except" at the very beginning?

sigh I remember when the signal to noise ratio here wasn't so bad...