Technology Trends
Linear Advancement Law (L.A. Law)
Technology progress can be summarized in one principle or
"law," called L.A. Law. Consider the
following graph in which YNI stands for You Name It,
and T stands for Time:
L.A. Law
"Consider any measure of computer
technology. IF there is a scale in which this measure rose
along a straight line during the last 10 years, THEN - on
this same scale - this measure will continue to rise on that
line for the next 10 years".
The above mentioned scale is usually logarithmic, as
exemplified in the following four cases:
Microprocessor power:
Megabits of memory per chip, which is
quadrupling every three years:
Number of transistors per chip:
Click here for a more detailed graph.
Magnetic storage areal density
under the magneto-resistive head technology:
With the magneto-resistive technology, areal density has been growing at 60% a year.
Nanotechnology and Micromechanics
This explosive growth will soon depend on advances in the fields of nanotechnology and micromechanics
