IBM has announced a working prototype of a new type of memory called phase-change memory (PCM) that could replace both Flash and conventional RAM when it comes to market sometime in (the proverbial) three- to five-year timespan. The company boasts that their PCM technology is 500 times faster than conventional NAND Flash, with a smaller cell size that uses half of the power.

IBM’s TJ Watson Research Center developed the technology in conjunction with Macronix and Quimonda (the DRAM spin-off of Infineon), and the company has been cultivating it as one of a number of next-generation storage technologies like MRAM.

Full article: Ars Technica