G.E. and its scientists had a major breakthrough in digital storage technology that will allow standard-size discs to hold the equivalent of 100 DVDs. This discovery is just a dream right now but will need to work with products that can be mass-produced at affordable prices.

This discovery is in holographic storage. Holography is an optical process that stores the 1’s and 0’s of digital data as well as three-dimensional images on credit cards for security. The potential for this type of tech has been known since the early 1960s.

To date, holographic storage has not been on a path to mainstream use. The G.E. development, however, could be that pioneering step, according to analysts and experts. The G.E. researchers have used a different approach than past efforts. It relies on smaller, less complex holograms — a technique called microholographic storage. — New York Times

Once G.E. sells its technology to commercial markets like movie studios, medical researchers and television networks it can start to focus on making it affordable for the consumer market. They have already begun talks with optical storage and major electronics producers to get the ball rolling.

The near future is going to be exciting for G.E. and hopefully we could see this in stores by early 2011 or maybe even late 2010. In theory, this should help G.E.’s stock price.