The Europeans are storing Digital DNA in a secret bunker in the mountains

The Europeans are storing Digital DNA in a secret bunker in the mountains

The Europeans are storing Digital DNA in a secret bunker in the mountains near the Swiss Alpine resort of Saanen .European researchers deposited a digital genome that will provide the blue prints for future generations to read data stored using defunct technology. Scientists accompanied by security guards in black uniforms carried a time capsule through a labyrinth of tunnels and five security zones to a vault near the slopes of chic ski resort Gstaad.

The time capsule being deposited inside Swiss Fort Knox contains the digital equivalent of the genetic code of different data formats, a ‘digital genome’,said  Farquhar, coordinator of the $18.49 million project.

The capsule is the culmination of the four-year “Planets” project, which draws on the expertise of 16 European libraries,research institutions and archives to preserve the world’s digital assets as software and hardware  is superseded at a blistering pace.Studies suggest common data storage formats like DVDs and CDs only last 20 years and  digital file formats have a life expectancy of just five to seven years.

Hardware is even less.”Unlike hieroglyphics carved in stone or ink on parchment, digital data has a shelf life of years not millennia,” said Andreas Rauber, a professor at the University of Technology of Vienna, which is a partner in the project.The project hopes to preserve data DNA, the information and tools to access and read historical digital material and prevent digital memory loss into the next century.