Flash memory chips, invented way back in 1980, have forever changed the way we think about storage. We are no longer tied to magnetic tapes or spinning disks – the information can be written into silicon using electricity, to be retrieved in a fraction of a time it takes a traditional hard drive.

So what?

Without Flash, the mobile revolution wouldn’t be possible. There would be no smartphones that fit into your pocket, and bulky tablets would never have become popular with consumers. In the last few years, Flash has also reached the data centre – after all, it can instantly improve performance of any application.

A lot of innovation in this field is currently driven by start-ups – companies like Violin, Fusion-io and Diablo, which try to outdo each other, offering ever higher IOPS and experimenting with every available computer interface. Meanwhile, established players like Dell and EMC simply adapt their marketing strategy to offer new storage devices with the level of service expected by large businesses.

What do you know about Flash memory? Our quiz takes you through the basic history of the technology, all the way to its latest developements.

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