Chennai: The Tamil Nadu Government has announced a Rs 6,654.03-crore integrated urban development mission to upgrade basic infrastructure in major cities and towns.
According to an official press release, the project to be implemented in the city corporations and municipalities to upgrade drinking water supply, drainage, sewerage, solid waste management, parking facilities and public transport infrastructure in line with the increasing urbanisation in the State.
According to the 2011 Census, 48.45 per cent of the State's population is living in urban areas and in the next two decades this will increase to 67 per cent.
The Government will spend Rs 5,890.12 crore to provide these facilities in major cities and towns, and Rs 763.91 crore in town panchayats. (There are 10 city corporations, 148 municipal towns and 559 town panchayats in the State.)
Drinking water supply
In the current financial year, the State Government has sanctioned Rs 757.28 crore including Rs 506.48 crore for cities and large towns and Rs 250.80 crore for town panchayats, the release said.
To increase the drinking water supply to Chennai and fully utilise the 530-million-litres a day capacity of treated water available from the Chembarambakkam water treatment facility, an additional two-metre diameter pipeline will be laid over a 6.5-km up to the Poonamallee bypass junction from Chembarambakkam.
The Government has earmarked Rs 40 crore for the project.
Success in my Habit
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Sudarshan Chemicals acquires Finnish cosmetics pigments brands
Pune: Pune-based Sudarshan Chemical Industries has bought the natural mica pearlescent business from Eckart Effect Pigments, a division of Altana AG,a Euro 1.5 billion German speciality chemicals group. The buy comprises Eckart's brands Prestige and Flonac - C, produced at its plant in Pori, Finland. These pigments are used in the cosmetics business.
The Rs. 700 crore Sudarshan, a speciality chemicals maker with a plant at Roha, Konkan, on Maharashtra's coastal strip, will add the new pearlescent product lines to their existing pearlescent pigment portfolio sold under the Sumicos brand name. Sudarshan has acquired only the brands and some critical assets which it will ship to India.
Sudarshan Chemicals is a manufacturer of industrial, cosmetics and agro chemicals in which the Japanese company Dai Nippon Ink and Chemical holds an 8% stake but has no management stake. Sudarshan has been expanding in global markets since 2008, setting up wholly-owned subsidiaries in North America and Europe with plans to open sales offices in Asia Pacific and Latin America.
The agreement to sell the cosmetics portfolio based on natural mica was signed between Eckart and Sudarshan on 15 December 2011, with the latter taking over the business from January 24, 2012.
After divesting its cosmetics line, Eckart will focus on its core businesses of metallic effect pigments and pearlescent pigments based on borosilicates and synthetic mica. The division posted revenues of Euro 282 million in 2009, according to its website.
The Rs. 700 crore Sudarshan, a speciality chemicals maker with a plant at Roha, Konkan, on Maharashtra's coastal strip, will add the new pearlescent product lines to their existing pearlescent pigment portfolio sold under the Sumicos brand name. Sudarshan has acquired only the brands and some critical assets which it will ship to India.
Sudarshan Chemicals is a manufacturer of industrial, cosmetics and agro chemicals in which the Japanese company Dai Nippon Ink and Chemical holds an 8% stake but has no management stake. Sudarshan has been expanding in global markets since 2008, setting up wholly-owned subsidiaries in North America and Europe with plans to open sales offices in Asia Pacific and Latin America.
The agreement to sell the cosmetics portfolio based on natural mica was signed between Eckart and Sudarshan on 15 December 2011, with the latter taking over the business from January 24, 2012.
After divesting its cosmetics line, Eckart will focus on its core businesses of metallic effect pigments and pearlescent pigments based on borosilicates and synthetic mica. The division posted revenues of Euro 282 million in 2009, according to its website.
Pharma retail market grows 15% in 2011
Mumbai: Domestic pharma retail market clocked a robust 15% growth during 2011, mainly driven by therapies like anti-diabetic, vitamin, anti-infectives and dermatology. The pharma sector continued to show its resilience amid slowdown concerns in the economy with December posting a strong growth, with anti-infectives back in favour during the month. The domestic pharma retail reached a new milestone by recording overall sales of Rs 60,000 crore for the year 2011.
The pharma market grew at 15.7% during December, with growth in key therapy areas, including anti-diabetics, derma and vitamins outperformed the market, data compiled by market research firm AIOCD (All India Organization of Chemists and Druggists) said. While the growth in anti-infectives and pain and analgesics at 11% and 12.1%, respectively, grew slower than the market during the month.
During December 2011, the companies that reported a strong year-on-year growth significantly above the pharma market include Glenmark (35.3%), Sun Pharma (27.5%), Pfizer (27.9%) and IPCA Laboratories (21.6%). While Sun has grown more consistently due to its large presence in the chronic segment, Glenmark and Ranbaxy have seen bouts of high and low growth due to larger acute dependence, experts say.
The laggards for the month include Ranbaxy (5.1%), Zydus Cadila (9.8%), Dr Reddy's (11.0%) and Cipla (13.6%), an analyst from Nomura stated.
Also, during December, Sun remains the fastest growing company in the top 10, and Macleod's clocked growth in range of 40% level.
The top pecking order in terms of market share was led by multinational Abbott (6.11%), and followed by Cipla (5.14%) and GlaxoSmithKline (4.86%) at the second and third slots during the month. Sun Pharma was ranked fourth with a 4.79% share, and Ranbaxy fifth, clocking a 4.34% market share.
The pharma market grew at 15.7% during December, with growth in key therapy areas, including anti-diabetics, derma and vitamins outperformed the market, data compiled by market research firm AIOCD (All India Organization of Chemists and Druggists) said. While the growth in anti-infectives and pain and analgesics at 11% and 12.1%, respectively, grew slower than the market during the month.
During December 2011, the companies that reported a strong year-on-year growth significantly above the pharma market include Glenmark (35.3%), Sun Pharma (27.5%), Pfizer (27.9%) and IPCA Laboratories (21.6%). While Sun has grown more consistently due to its large presence in the chronic segment, Glenmark and Ranbaxy have seen bouts of high and low growth due to larger acute dependence, experts say.
The laggards for the month include Ranbaxy (5.1%), Zydus Cadila (9.8%), Dr Reddy's (11.0%) and Cipla (13.6%), an analyst from Nomura stated.
Also, during December, Sun remains the fastest growing company in the top 10, and Macleod's clocked growth in range of 40% level.
The top pecking order in terms of market share was led by multinational Abbott (6.11%), and followed by Cipla (5.14%) and GlaxoSmithKline (4.86%) at the second and third slots during the month. Sun Pharma was ranked fourth with a 4.79% share, and Ranbaxy fifth, clocking a 4.34% market share.
Tyre exports up 25% in Apr-Nov
Kochi: Tyre exports increased 25 per cent during the April-November period of the current financial year. During the period, a total 5.03 million tyres were shipped compared to 4.01 million in the same period of the last financial year.
A good turnaround was noted in November as the shipments rose to 652,390 tyres as against 587,000 in the previous month. Exports in November registered a 11.13 per cent increase over the same month of the previous financial year. Export of motorcycle tyres registered an increase of 82 per cent in November, while 85 per cent decline was registered in the case of scooter segment.
In the case of production, the cumulative figure for April-November period was up seven per cent at 82.8 million tyres, compared to 77.3 million in the same period of 2010-11.
Total monthly production increased 10 per cent in November compared to October at 10.8 million across all categories. The total monthly figure in September was 10 million while this was 9.2 million in October according to the data by the Automotive Tyre Manufacturers Association.
A good turnaround was noted in November as the shipments rose to 652,390 tyres as against 587,000 in the previous month. Exports in November registered a 11.13 per cent increase over the same month of the previous financial year. Export of motorcycle tyres registered an increase of 82 per cent in November, while 85 per cent decline was registered in the case of scooter segment.
In the case of production, the cumulative figure for April-November period was up seven per cent at 82.8 million tyres, compared to 77.3 million in the same period of 2010-11.
Total monthly production increased 10 per cent in November compared to October at 10.8 million across all categories. The total monthly figure in September was 10 million while this was 9.2 million in October according to the data by the Automotive Tyre Manufacturers Association.
Wikipedia to shut down for 24 hours
Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales on Monday asked school students to finish their homework early as he detailed the plan to shut down the website on Wednesday to protest against a controversial anti-piracy bill that the US senate is debating.
"Student warning! Do your homework early. Wikipedia protesting bad law on Wednesday," Wales said on his Twitter page.
"I am just starting to do press interviews about the upcoming blackout of Wikipedia...This is going to be wow. I hope Wikipedia will melt phone systems in Washington on Wednesday. Tell everyone you know," he wrote. Wales said that visitors to the Wikipedia's English website will see a message telling them that the website has been shut for 24 hours to protest the anti-piracy laws called Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA).
For last few months there has been a fierce debate over SOPA in US. While organizations like Motion Picture Association of America believe that laws like SOPA, which has several drastic provisions, including blocking websites at DNS level, are needed to fight piracy, web companies like Google and Facebook say that SOPA will stifle innovation and hit freedom of speech.
Wales also said that ComScore estimates around 25 million people visit the English website of Wikipedia every day.
When Wikipedia shuts down, it will join tens of other websites that will shut down on Wednesday as part of their protest against SOPA. These include Reddit, a website housing an influential web community that curates news, Cheezburger network, a collection of websites that host immensely popular LOLcat memes, BoingBoing, a popular blog, Craiglist, Mozilla, Minecraft and several other websites related to video games. There are reports that Google and Facebook may join the blackout.
On Saturday, White House joined the debate saying that certain provisions of SOPA could harm the web. "Any effort to combat online piracy must guard against the risk of online censorship of lawful activity and must not inhibit innovation by our dynamic businesses large and small...We must avoid creating new cybersecurity risks or disrupting the underlying architecture of the Internet," said the note prepared by three senior officials, including Aneesh Chopra, the US chief technology officer. "Our analysis of the DNS filtering provisions in some proposed legislation suggests that they pose a real risk to cybersecurity and yet leave contraband goods and services accessible online."
Reports claim that after the White House made its stance clear, SOPA has put on hold by the US senate. But Wales said on Twitter that even if SOPA is dead, PIPA remains a threat. "SOPA is crippled now. PIPA is still extremely dangerous," he wrote.
"Student warning! Do your homework early. Wikipedia protesting bad law on Wednesday," Wales said on his Twitter page.
"I am just starting to do press interviews about the upcoming blackout of Wikipedia...This is going to be wow. I hope Wikipedia will melt phone systems in Washington on Wednesday. Tell everyone you know," he wrote. Wales said that visitors to the Wikipedia's English website will see a message telling them that the website has been shut for 24 hours to protest the anti-piracy laws called Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA).
For last few months there has been a fierce debate over SOPA in US. While organizations like Motion Picture Association of America believe that laws like SOPA, which has several drastic provisions, including blocking websites at DNS level, are needed to fight piracy, web companies like Google and Facebook say that SOPA will stifle innovation and hit freedom of speech.
Wales also said that ComScore estimates around 25 million people visit the English website of Wikipedia every day.
When Wikipedia shuts down, it will join tens of other websites that will shut down on Wednesday as part of their protest against SOPA. These include Reddit, a website housing an influential web community that curates news, Cheezburger network, a collection of websites that host immensely popular LOLcat memes, BoingBoing, a popular blog, Craiglist, Mozilla, Minecraft and several other websites related to video games. There are reports that Google and Facebook may join the blackout.
On Saturday, White House joined the debate saying that certain provisions of SOPA could harm the web. "Any effort to combat online piracy must guard against the risk of online censorship of lawful activity and must not inhibit innovation by our dynamic businesses large and small...We must avoid creating new cybersecurity risks or disrupting the underlying architecture of the Internet," said the note prepared by three senior officials, including Aneesh Chopra, the US chief technology officer. "Our analysis of the DNS filtering provisions in some proposed legislation suggests that they pose a real risk to cybersecurity and yet leave contraband goods and services accessible online."
Reports claim that after the White House made its stance clear, SOPA has put on hold by the US senate. But Wales said on Twitter that even if SOPA is dead, PIPA remains a threat. "SOPA is crippled now. PIPA is still extremely dangerous," he wrote.
Monday, January 16, 2012
GMR Energy commissions 25 MW solar plant in Gujarat
Bangalore: GMR Energy Ltd (GEL), a subsidiary of GMR Infrastructure, has commissioned its 25-MW solar power plant at Patan district in Gujarat.
The 25-MW grid interactive solar power project has been executed through GMR Gujarat Solar Power, a subsidiary of GMR Energy. The project was awarded to the company in October 2010 under the Gujarat Solar Policy.
The company in a release said this plant adopts the crystalline photovoltaic technology and is situated in the solar park set up by the Gujarat Government at Charanka village in Patan district.
The power plant was commissioned on December 31, 2011 and is supplying power to Gujarat UrjaVikas Nigam on a 25-year power purchase agreement under the Gujarat State Solar Policy.
GMR Energy, after tasting success of this solar venture, has initiated plans to enhance its renewable energy portfolio by over 100 MW in the next two years.
GMR Energy is currently operating 808 MW. The company is currently executing power projects of about 7,500 MW capacity which includes 2,200 MW hydro capacity.
The 25-MW grid interactive solar power project has been executed through GMR Gujarat Solar Power, a subsidiary of GMR Energy. The project was awarded to the company in October 2010 under the Gujarat Solar Policy.
The company in a release said this plant adopts the crystalline photovoltaic technology and is situated in the solar park set up by the Gujarat Government at Charanka village in Patan district.
The power plant was commissioned on December 31, 2011 and is supplying power to Gujarat UrjaVikas Nigam on a 25-year power purchase agreement under the Gujarat State Solar Policy.
GMR Energy, after tasting success of this solar venture, has initiated plans to enhance its renewable energy portfolio by over 100 MW in the next two years.
GMR Energy is currently operating 808 MW. The company is currently executing power projects of about 7,500 MW capacity which includes 2,200 MW hydro capacity.
Prosegur gets FIPB nod to invest in Security and Intelligence Services (India)
New Delhi: The first strategic foreign investment in the country's cash management space has been sealed with the regulatory clearance for a joint venture between Spanish multinational Prosegur and Delhi-based Security and Intelligence Services (India).
The Foreign Investment Promotion Board, the nodal body that clears FDI into India, cleared the proposal last week allowing one of the world's largest private security companies to enter India. Prosegur will invest around 100 crore for a 49% stake in the newly-launched local entity, in which the Indian partner will hold 51%.
The joint venture will offer cash management solutions to Indian banks, financial institutions and organised retail firms.
"The idea is to build world-class cash processing infrastructure and technology for productivity enhancement and superior risk management," said Rituraj Sinha, chief operating officer at SIS. Prosegur will bring in expertise from its global portfolio which includes over 600 offices across the world.
Cash management support system is vital especially to banks as services such as secured transportation of cash and maintenance solutions for ATMs are often outsourced to third-party entities.
The joint venture in India will offer its services to banks, including SBI, HDFC, Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank and ICICI. Over the next two years, the firm plans to invest over 80 crore, a part of which will be used to facilitate inorganic growth. "We will actively pursue acquisitions as we want to achieve a 30% market share in the cash management space by 2015," said Sinha.
India's security services sector has been witnessing hectic activity in the M&A space over the past few years. Some of the deals in the past include G4S's acquisition of DLF's security firm TerraForce and Goldman Sachs-owned International Service System buyout of Chennai-based SDP Cisco. Last year, Blackstone acquired the cash management arm of APS group - Securitrans India.
Founded by first-generation entrepreneur Ravindra Kishore Sinha in 1974, SIS' services include man guarding, electronic security, security training and consulting, among others.
The Foreign Investment Promotion Board, the nodal body that clears FDI into India, cleared the proposal last week allowing one of the world's largest private security companies to enter India. Prosegur will invest around 100 crore for a 49% stake in the newly-launched local entity, in which the Indian partner will hold 51%.
The joint venture will offer cash management solutions to Indian banks, financial institutions and organised retail firms.
"The idea is to build world-class cash processing infrastructure and technology for productivity enhancement and superior risk management," said Rituraj Sinha, chief operating officer at SIS. Prosegur will bring in expertise from its global portfolio which includes over 600 offices across the world.
Cash management support system is vital especially to banks as services such as secured transportation of cash and maintenance solutions for ATMs are often outsourced to third-party entities.
The joint venture in India will offer its services to banks, including SBI, HDFC, Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank and ICICI. Over the next two years, the firm plans to invest over 80 crore, a part of which will be used to facilitate inorganic growth. "We will actively pursue acquisitions as we want to achieve a 30% market share in the cash management space by 2015," said Sinha.
India's security services sector has been witnessing hectic activity in the M&A space over the past few years. Some of the deals in the past include G4S's acquisition of DLF's security firm TerraForce and Goldman Sachs-owned International Service System buyout of Chennai-based SDP Cisco. Last year, Blackstone acquired the cash management arm of APS group - Securitrans India.
Founded by first-generation entrepreneur Ravindra Kishore Sinha in 1974, SIS' services include man guarding, electronic security, security training and consulting, among others.
India-Sri Lanka trade set to touch $4 b
Hyderabad: Indo-Sri Lanka bi-lateral trade is likely to cross $4 billion in 2011, up from $ 3 billion in 2010, according to Mr Rishad Bathiudeen, Minister of Industry and Commerce, Democratic Republic of Sri Lanka.
Addressing a networking session on the last day of the three-day CII Partnership Summit 2012 on Friday, he said there were lot of opportunities for the two countries to partner for economic growth.
“The Indo-Lanka Free Trade agreement had helped Sri Lanka to diversify its portfolio of exports to India,” he pointed out.
He said Sri Lanka has come out with a string of incentives to overseas investors in strategic sector such as a 25-year tax holiday. He pointed out that this incentive was extended to NTPC, which is setting up a 500 mw power unit in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka's import-export ratio is at present at 8:1. “But there is lot of untapped potential to reduce this mismatch,” the Minister said.
He wanted Indian importers to consider Sri Lanka before negotiating with other countries.
Mr T.T. Ashok, Chairman, CII Southern Region, said there were opportunities for India in the Sri Lankan hospitality sector. Sri Lanka has estimated that there will be 2.5 million overseas visitors in the next two years, he pointed out.
In an earlier session on ‘Unified Earth Theory,' Mr Suresh P. Prabhu, Chairperson, Council on Energy, Environment and Water, wanted academicians and business houses to explore the interrelations between the climate crisis and poverty. “We should come out with integrated solutions common to both,” he said.
Addressing a networking session on the last day of the three-day CII Partnership Summit 2012 on Friday, he said there were lot of opportunities for the two countries to partner for economic growth.
“The Indo-Lanka Free Trade agreement had helped Sri Lanka to diversify its portfolio of exports to India,” he pointed out.
He said Sri Lanka has come out with a string of incentives to overseas investors in strategic sector such as a 25-year tax holiday. He pointed out that this incentive was extended to NTPC, which is setting up a 500 mw power unit in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka's import-export ratio is at present at 8:1. “But there is lot of untapped potential to reduce this mismatch,” the Minister said.
He wanted Indian importers to consider Sri Lanka before negotiating with other countries.
Mr T.T. Ashok, Chairman, CII Southern Region, said there were opportunities for India in the Sri Lankan hospitality sector. Sri Lanka has estimated that there will be 2.5 million overseas visitors in the next two years, he pointed out.
In an earlier session on ‘Unified Earth Theory,' Mr Suresh P. Prabhu, Chairperson, Council on Energy, Environment and Water, wanted academicians and business houses to explore the interrelations between the climate crisis and poverty. “We should come out with integrated solutions common to both,” he said.
Telcos asked to ensure that towers are run on hybrid power
New Delhi: All telecom companies have been mandated to ensure that that at least 50% of all rural towers and 20% of the urban towers are powered by hybrid power by 2015. Further 75% of rural towers and 33% of urban towers are to be powered by hybrid power by 2020.
These directions have been issued after the government has accepted sector regulator Trai's recommendations on 'green telephony'.
The new rules also mandate that all telecom products, equipments and services in the telecom network should be certified "Green Passport [GP]" by the year 2015. The telecoms department's technical arm - Telecommunication Engineering Centre - will certify telecom products, equipments and services on the basis of Energy Consumption Rating ratings, the regulator said.
Besides, all service providers should declare to the regulator the carbon footprint of their network operations. This declaration should be done twice in a year.
Service providers should adopt a voluntary code of practice encompassing energy efficient network planning, infra-sharing, deployment of energy efficient technologies and adoption of renewable energy technology (RET) to reduce carbon footprints, the regulator said in a statement.
It has also asked service providers to evolve a 'Carbon Credit Policy' in line with carbon credit norms with the ultimate objective of achieving a maximum of 50% over the carbon footprint levels of the Base Year (2011) in rural areas and 66% in urban areas by the year 2020.
Operatores should aim at Carbon emission reduction targets for the mobile network at 5% by the year 2012-2013, 8% by the year 2014-2015, 12% by the year 2016-2017 and 17% by the year 2018-2019, the new norms on green telephony add.
These directions have been issued after the government has accepted sector regulator Trai's recommendations on 'green telephony'.
The new rules also mandate that all telecom products, equipments and services in the telecom network should be certified "Green Passport [GP]" by the year 2015. The telecoms department's technical arm - Telecommunication Engineering Centre - will certify telecom products, equipments and services on the basis of Energy Consumption Rating ratings, the regulator said.
Besides, all service providers should declare to the regulator the carbon footprint of their network operations. This declaration should be done twice in a year.
Service providers should adopt a voluntary code of practice encompassing energy efficient network planning, infra-sharing, deployment of energy efficient technologies and adoption of renewable energy technology (RET) to reduce carbon footprints, the regulator said in a statement.
It has also asked service providers to evolve a 'Carbon Credit Policy' in line with carbon credit norms with the ultimate objective of achieving a maximum of 50% over the carbon footprint levels of the Base Year (2011) in rural areas and 66% in urban areas by the year 2020.
Operatores should aim at Carbon emission reduction targets for the mobile network at 5% by the year 2012-2013, 8% by the year 2014-2015, 12% by the year 2016-2017 and 17% by the year 2018-2019, the new norms on green telephony add.
IBM developing storage device of just 12 atoms
Researchers at IBM have stored and retrieved digital 1s and 0s from an array of just 12 atoms, pushing the boundaries of the magnetic storage of information to the edge of what is possible.
The findings, being reported Thursday in the journal Science, could help lead to a new class of nanomaterials for a generation of memory chips and disk drives that will not only have greater capabilities than the current silicon-based computers but will also consume significantly less power. And it may offer a new direction for research in quantum computing.
"Magnetic materials are extremely useful and strategically important to many major economies, but there aren't that many of them," said Shan X Wang, director of the Center for Magnetic Nanotechnology at Stanford University. "To make a brand new material is very intriguing and scientifically very important."
Until now, the most advanced magnetic storage systems have needed about 1 million atoms to store a digital 1 or 0. The new achievement is the product of a heated international race between two elite physics laboratories to explore the properties of magnetic materials at a far smaller scale.
Last May, a group at the Institute of Applied Physics at the University of Hamburg in Germany reported on the ability to perform computer logic operations on an atomic level.
The group at IBM's Almaden Research Center here, led by Andreas Heinrich, has now created the smallest possible unit of magnetic storage by painstakingly arranging two rows of six iron atoms on a surface of copper nitrite atoms. The cluster of atoms is described as anti-ferromagnetic - a rare quality in which each atom in the array has an opposed magnetic orientation. (In common ferromagnetic materials like iron, nickel and cobalt, the atoms are magnetically aligned.)
Under the laboratory's founder, Don Eigler, IBM has explored the science of nanomaterials far smaller than the silicon chips used in today's semiconductors. Eigler recently retired from the company but is a co-author of the Science paper.
The researchers now use a scanning tunneling microscope, which looks like a giant washing machine festooned with aluminum foil, not only to capture images of atoms but to reposition individual atoms - much the way a billiard ball might be moved by a pool cue with a sticky tip.
Although the research took place at temperatures near absolute zero, the scientists wrote that the same experiment could be done at room temperature with as few as 150 atoms.
As part of its demonstration of the anti-ferromagnetic storage effect, the researchers created a computer byte, or character, out of an individually placed array of 96 atoms. They then used the array to encode the IBM motto "Think" by repeatedly programming the memory block to store representations of its five letters.
The findings, being reported Thursday in the journal Science, could help lead to a new class of nanomaterials for a generation of memory chips and disk drives that will not only have greater capabilities than the current silicon-based computers but will also consume significantly less power. And it may offer a new direction for research in quantum computing.
"Magnetic materials are extremely useful and strategically important to many major economies, but there aren't that many of them," said Shan X Wang, director of the Center for Magnetic Nanotechnology at Stanford University. "To make a brand new material is very intriguing and scientifically very important."
Until now, the most advanced magnetic storage systems have needed about 1 million atoms to store a digital 1 or 0. The new achievement is the product of a heated international race between two elite physics laboratories to explore the properties of magnetic materials at a far smaller scale.
Last May, a group at the Institute of Applied Physics at the University of Hamburg in Germany reported on the ability to perform computer logic operations on an atomic level.
The group at IBM's Almaden Research Center here, led by Andreas Heinrich, has now created the smallest possible unit of magnetic storage by painstakingly arranging two rows of six iron atoms on a surface of copper nitrite atoms. The cluster of atoms is described as anti-ferromagnetic - a rare quality in which each atom in the array has an opposed magnetic orientation. (In common ferromagnetic materials like iron, nickel and cobalt, the atoms are magnetically aligned.)
Under the laboratory's founder, Don Eigler, IBM has explored the science of nanomaterials far smaller than the silicon chips used in today's semiconductors. Eigler recently retired from the company but is a co-author of the Science paper.
The researchers now use a scanning tunneling microscope, which looks like a giant washing machine festooned with aluminum foil, not only to capture images of atoms but to reposition individual atoms - much the way a billiard ball might be moved by a pool cue with a sticky tip.
Although the research took place at temperatures near absolute zero, the scientists wrote that the same experiment could be done at room temperature with as few as 150 atoms.
As part of its demonstration of the anti-ferromagnetic storage effect, the researchers created a computer byte, or character, out of an individually placed array of 96 atoms. They then used the array to encode the IBM motto "Think" by repeatedly programming the memory block to store representations of its five letters.
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