Intel Previews Potential Replacement for Flash Memory

Intel and ST Micro have developed a replacement for flash memory technology called Phase Change Memory or PCM. The new technology uses small resistors that heat up and change the state of a layer of chalcogenide to store information. (much like rewritable optical discs, just without the need for a laser) The primary advantages to the technology are read/write speeds much higher than are possible with flash. If PCM does replace flash and can scale into the hundreds of gigabytes, it could be just what we need to finally get rid of magnetic primary storage for good. (ie: hard drives)