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Data Explosion: Is the Sky Falling?
The order of progression for naming data storage units goes something like this: kilo-, mega-, giga-, tera-, peta-, exa-, zetta-, yotta-. After the yottabyte (10008 bytes) there isn’t an agreed upon name for the next bigger range of computer byte storage. But at the rate at which the digital universe size is increasing, it shouldn’t be long before someone comes up with something. Yotta. Yotta. Yotta.
IDC Research says that the ‘Digital Universe’ is approaching 1.2 zettabytes (1296 exabytes) in size in 2010. And that we are on target to reach 35 zettabytes by 2020 (44 times larger than in 2009). This is the fourth year that IDC has made estimates about the size of the all digital data. In 2009 the total data generated was 800 exabytes (800,000 petabytes). Up from 2008 when the number was 487 exabytes.
Confused by the big numbers? Many of the news sources reporting this new IDC information were too and have published incorrect numbers:
InformationWeek reported: “in 2009, the amount of digital information has grown by 62 percent of that in 2008 to reach 800 billion Zettabytes“.
Telegraph: “Humanity’s total digital output currently stands at 8,000,000 petabytes“.
But then it is incredibly difficult to really fathom what these numbers mean. IDC calculates the annual estimate by looking at all possible data-creating devices, which include digital cameras, mobile devices, RFID readers, medical scanners, and just about anything nowadays. Next they multiply each type of device by the estimated amount of data that the device can store. And then add it all up.
The data growth is really a global phenomena. The Guardian quotes Adrian McDonald from EMC, sponsor of the IDC study, that “China now has more visible devices out on the streets being used by individuals than the US does. We are seeing the democratization and commoditization of the use and creation of information.”
IDC warns that we’re soon not going to be able to keep up with the rate of digital growth. But the Register counters the IDC argument and argues that storage overflow is happening as a result of a proliferation of cheap and compact storage devices. It’s happening because of cheap storage and it’s not a problem of storage devices trying to keep up with it. “When storage is essentially free, it gets filled with fluff, rubbish, and digital dross. The solution to the digital universe is the delete key.”
There’s clearly truth in both sides. On one side there are valid drivers causing people to need to store more and more data, but I can definitely relate to the idea that if the storage is there, people will fill it.
