The quick retrieval and storage of huge amounts of data holographically is possible because lasers can store  "pages" of electronicpatterns within a volume of special optical materials instead of just the surface. In traditional holography, each viewing angle gives a different view of the same object.  In holographic storage, instead of presenting another view of the same object, a different page of information is presented. Up to 10,000 pages (each with one megabit of information) have been stored in a crystal the size of a sugar cube.  And because there are no mechanical moving parts and all the information in each "page" is accessed simultaneously, holographically-stored data can be input or read (accessed) very rapidly -- a speed of one billion bits a second has already been demonstrated.