The Diverse and Exploding Digital Universe

Today an other report of IDC was published on the growth of digital data.

In 2007, the digital universe contained 281,000,000,000
gigabytes, which works out to about 45 gigabytes per person on
the planet.

This means, like few Belgian dailies as De Standaard and Le Soir mentioned, that in 2007 in average 10 DVD's per person on the planet have been filled with data.

Underneath some key findings coming strait from the Executive Summary. Check here for the White Paper.

The digital universe in 2007 — at 2.25 x 1021 bits (281 exabytes
or 281 billion gigabytes) — was 10% bigger than we thought.
The resizing comes as a result of faster growth in cameras,
digital TV shipments, and better understanding of information
replication.

• By 2011, the digital universe will be 10 times the size it was
in 2006.

• As forecast, the amount of information created, captured, or
replicated exceeded available storage for the first time in
2007. Not all information created and transmitted gets
stored, but by 2011, almost half of the digital universe will
not have a permanent home.

• Fast-growing corners of the digital universe include those
related to digital TV, surveillance cameras, Internet access in
emerging countries, sensor-based applications, datacenters
supporting “cloud computing,” and social networks.

• The diversity of the digital universe can be seen in the
variability of file sizes, from 6 gigabyte movies on DVD to
128-bit signals from RFID tags. Because of the growth of
VoIP, sensors, and RFID, the number of electronic
information “containers” — files, images, packets, tag
contents — is growing 50% faster than the number of
gigabytes. The information created in 2011 will be contained
in more than 20 quadrillion — 20 million billion — of such
containers, a tremendous management challenge for both
businesses and consumers.

• Of that portion of the digital universe created by individuals,
less than half can be accounted for by user activities —
pictures taken, phone calls made, emails sent — while the
rest constitutes a digital “shadow” — surveillance photos,
Web search histories, financial transaction journals, mailing
lists, and so on.

• The enterprise share of the digital universe is widely skewed
by industry, having little relationship to GDP or IT spending.
The finance industry, for instance, accounts for almost 20%
of worldwide IT spending but only 6% of the digital universe.
Meanwhile, media, entertainment, and communications
industries will account for 10 times their share of the digital
universe in 2011 as their share of worldwide gross economic
output.

• The picture related to the source and governance of digital
information remains intact: Approximately 70% of the
digital universe is created by individuals, but enterprises are
responsible for the security, privacy, reliability, and
compliance of 85%.

David