TECHNOLOGY & TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Seagate, Sony to Jointly Develop New Hard-Disk Technology: The technology, called pre-embossed rigid magnetic media, or PERM, could boost storage capacity and make disk drives cheaper and easier to build, said Seagate Technology Inc., one of the world’s leading disk drive manufacturers. Sony Corp. developed the technology, and Scotts Valley, Calif-based Seagate will try building it into drives. Seagate said bringing the technology to market will require several years. PERM uses a plastic disk similar to those used by CD-ROM and optical storage systems, which hold far more data than other products. Conventional computer hard disks usually use aluminum and glass-based media.