GE plans to license its 500GB holographic optical storage disc technology in the next few months.

Unlike Blu-ray discs and DVDs, which store information on up to four layers at the surface of the disc, holographic optical discs use the entire substrate to store holograms.

GE said the micro-holographic disc will embed data directly onto virtual layers within plastic, stacking 20 blue-laser readable layers (25GB each) to realize 500GB capacity.

GE said it is working toward holographic discs that can store 1TB of data.