A gas cell memory includes a gas panel with X and Y coordinate lines disposed on opposite sides of the gas panel to form an array of gas cells at the coordinate intersection. Information selectively may be written, sustained, read or erased in vertically disposed registers. Information is read from the registers electronically, instead of optically, (1) by applying a sinusoidal signal and a pulse signal to provide a composite signal, equal to or greater than the sustain level, to a selected Y line and (2) sensing all of the X lines for the presence of a signal. A signal coupled from the Y line through a gas cell in the binary one state to the associated X line indicates a binary one, and the absence of such a signal indicates a binary zero.