September 1st 2009 is a very important day in Swiss DNA Bank’s history. It’s the day the staff finally pulled the strings on a very intensive two-years project development. Everything came together and the “put-the-web-application-on-line-button” was pushed.
The dream of creating the first data and DNA forever banking service came to life.
The idea was always to create a bank, a Swiss bank, which followed each and every security and privacy policy of our country. But what was going to be sheltered in this bank was not money or bonds. Was something much more precious and unique: it was people’s memories and DNA.
As Swiss DNA Bank’s website often states, one’s life experience, knowledge and memories are the most important asset we have. It takes a lifetime to build them.
On the other hand, our DNA trace is something that belongs only to ourselves. The health information contained are crucial not only for the carrier, but also for it’s family. Knowing your biological ancestry can help you prevent or cure many disease. But at the end of one’s life these assets are most likely going to be lost. Our children, our grandchildren and the ones that will come after them are deprived of the chance of getting to know who we where, what we’ve done and what we’ve learned.
This is where the idea of the Perpetual Financial Engine comes from.
The Perpetual Financial Engine feature is the reason why Swiss DNA Bank’s service is Forever. As of today, there is no technological support that you are sure it will be readable in even just 10 or 15 years time. Think about a floppy disc or an audio cassette.
So we figured that the solution to perpetual data storage is not technological, but financial.
The Perpetual Financial Engine, together with a long-lasting and safe structure of a Swiss bank, is the key to being able of founding tomorrow’s technological support renewal.
The user’s subscription fee is partially invested in safe assets, such as Swiss government bonds, in order to guarantee a small revenue, year after year, which allows to keep our storing facilities up to date.
When this whole picture came together, it was time to think of a safe way to store it all. The solution fort the physical storage of the servers which contain the data came from the heart of the Swiss Alps, from a former military nuclear shelter which was converted into server hosting facility.
Once Swiss DNA Bank’s servers were safe behind closed steel doors, the attention turned to on-line security.
The web-development team figured that username and password were not enough to protect such sensible data. So each Swiss DNA Bank user is provided with a Swiss DNA Card, a credit card sized one-time access code generator. The one-time access code is the third field one has to fill to enter the Swiss DNA Bank web application, an amazing tool to organize memories, pictures, documents, and any other file you can think of.
Take a look at your desk. Open some drawers randomly. Check your computer’s desktop. And what about the office’s shelves? Unless you are one of those people naturally gifted with full organizational skills, at least one of those places is a real mess.
And if you are organized, this will be your ultimate tool!
Now you can store it all, safely and Forever.
Congrats on the big launch! The Swiss DNA Bank is such a brilliant idea. I wish you all the best of luck.
There is no such thing as forever.
Where does the money come from? Right… i pay 400$ and they get invested. Say they make 5% a year, that’s 20$. If providing the service of “storing dna/data forever” costs more than 20$/year (and i assume it does… even in 20 years. just because of the infrastructure they need to keep up and running, provide all this security and so on) then my 400$ will shrink to say 390$. and so on…
i’d be happy to hear that (and why) i’m wrong.
Dear Reva,
Your argument is absolutely correct and the way in which we handle this issue is what makes Swiss Dna Bank different from the conventional storage services. As you might know, the cost of electronic equipment is decreasing with time, and for this reason, within one year the cost of one gigabyte is tipically halved. Of course this is not the end of the story, since, as you correctly said, there’s the need of a constant income for maintaining the infrastructure (i.e. substitute physical devices which are older than 5 years). Here is where the favorable conditions offered by the Swiss economy become crucial. Switzerland is one of the, if not The, most stable country in the world and our foundation guarantees the required amount of interest on the initial capital to support the infrastructure.
So can you provide numbers? Costs of hardware, employees, expected revenue/interests, …?
Thats the only way a customer can decide if he can trust your business or not… your making a pretty big promise here (”forever”).
You’re right: cost of hardware decreases. But i’d say that cost of qualified labour (switzerland) increases or at least stays at the same level.
Dear Reva,
the answer is simple. Compared, for example, to the increase of labour cost, the cost of data storage has been dropping exponentially in the past decades. Just think that in October 2001, 1 Gigabyte of data storage would cost $9.14, while only three years later, in October 2003, the cost of 1 Gigabyte of storage has dropped to $1.51 (http://www.alts.net/ns1625/winchest.html). If you consider the pricing of any current data storage service, you will note that using very conservative financial revenue formulas at low interest and zero risk, the capital required to open a Swiss DNA Bank account is more than enough to cover for such expenses.
Furthermore, in 2010 Swiss DNA Bank will launch its first official annual Board member election campaign in which all Swiss DNA Bank registered users will be able to vote for their preferred representatives. These elections are designed to give Swiss DNA Bank users the power to have direct control over the storage of their DNA and lifetime memories forever. Every user will be able to vote for his/her preferred Board members using their secure Swiss DNA Bank Forever Account. This tool is designed to give the user an even higher control over his account and investment.
How about humans storage (cryonics) in your vaults ?
At Swiss DNA Bank we store the core elements of the person: your experience (through your on-line Forever Account) and the unique recipe of your body (your DNA).
Swiss DNA Bank was created to give people the possibility of sharing their experience with future generations and take advantage of future DNA technology.
At Swiss DNA Bank we securely forever store your core digital and biological information, but we are not involved in any kind of “science fiction” program such as cryogenically preserving humans.
All our services are scientifically proven and guaranteed by the stability and neutrality of the Swiss Confederation.
Good website, I truly found it to be intriguing. I am looking forward to visiting once more to see what is new.