Digital universe continues to expand
Posted on March 13, 2008
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Ian Williams, vnunet.com,
Thursday 13 March 2008 at 00:00:00
1.8 zettabytes by 2011
The amount of digital information being generated about people has surpassed
the amount they create themselves, according to IDC. A report from the analyst
firm produced for storage firm EMC measured the vast amounts and diverse types
of digital information created and copied in the world today. The ‘digital
universe’ spanned 281 exabytes in 2007, and is projected to be nearly 1.8
zettabytes by 2011, equating to a tenfold increase over five years. EMC said
that the digital universe is bigger and growing more rapidly than original
estimates as a result of accelerated growth in digital cameras and TVs as well
as a better understanding of information replication trends. The digital
universe in 2007 was equal to almost 45 gigabytes of digital information for
every person on Earth. This was driven primarily by the increase in internet
access in emerging countries, sensor-based applications, data centres
supporting ‘cloud computing’ and social networks. The report also addressed how
individuals actively participate in contributing to the digital universe via
internet access, email, cell phones, digital cameras and credit card
transactions. “We discovered that only about half of your digital footprint is
related to your individual actions, such as taking pictures, sending emails or
making digital voice calls,” said John Gantz, chief research officer and senior
vice president at IDC. “The other half is what we call the ‘digital shadow’,
information about you, including names in financial records, mailing lists, web
surfing histories or images taken by security cameras in airports or urban
centres. “For the first time your digital shadow is larger than the digital
information you actively create about yourself.” IDC stressed that IT
organisations that gather personal information have a tremendous
responsibility, in many cases mandated by law, for the security, privacy,
reliability and legal compliance of this information. “Society is already
feeling the early effects of the world’s digital information explosion,” said
Joe Tucci, chairman, president and chief executive at EMC. “Organisations need
to plan for the limitless opportunities to use information in new ways and for
the challenges of information governance. “As people’s digital footprints
continue growing, so too will the responsibility of organisations for that
information. “The burden is on IT departments within organisations to address
the risks and compliance rules around information misuse, data leakage and
safeguarding against security breaches.” Consumers will also struggle with the
growth of their own digital information as they attempt to figure out what to
do with all the data they create….
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