Rack Pack Blog

Plenty of spare storage capacity up in the Cloud

 Let cloud storage control your data before it controls you.

“Terabyte storage? That’s so last decade Darling. This year’s black is the zettabyte.”

For us luddites still mourning the loss of the 1.44MB (2.0MB unformatted) disk, the thought of the zettabyte is truly terrifying (although pretty handy for Scrabble).

The zettabyte is equal to 1 billion terabytes and according to IDC, in its latest global digital output report, the world’s generated data volume is expected to pass through the magic zettabyte figure for the first time later this year going on to exceed 35 zettabytes by 2020. (A zettabyte is estimated to be roughly half a million times the entire collections of all the academic libraries in the United States, or for Jack Bauer fans, a full-length episode of FOX TV’s hit series “24″ running continuously for 125 million years.)

As IT becomes ever more prevalent in every aspect of our lives, the amount of data generated and stored is growing at an astounding rate. It is estimated that 45GB of data currently exists for each person on the planet and that this will grow annually by a factor of 44 from 2009 to 2020, as all major forms of media complete their transformation from analog to digital.

Or to put it another way, it is estimated that the bytes of data generated by digital cameras, mobile phones, enterprise IT systems and devices will equal the number of grains of sand on the world’s beaches within the next year or two. And whilst 85 percent of this data is predicted to come from consumers snapping photos, surfing Web pages and sending e-mail, about 60 percent of that data will still enter and cross corporate networks. Simply put, 35% more digital information is created today than the capacity exists to store it.

Over the next few years, businesses will face tough decisions on how to store, find and access information whilst complying with regulations. Much of the data is unstructured, unmarked and resides in a variety of disparate locations, makes it almost impossible to retrieve and use.

This unprecedented growth in data volumes is having a significant effect on many businesses, with the most obvious impact being ongoing operational costs, performance and compliance.

And this is where the cloud may find its true calling. For a couple of years now, the industry has been touting the concept of cloud hosting as the ‘knight in white armour’ that promises to transform the way we operate in the future, whilst secretly praying it doesn’t pan out to be ‘a nerd in tin foil’.

Companies that are following the classic ‘strategy by bandwagon’ approach to business have not exactly been backward in slapping the word ‘cloud’ over any product that has an internet association - in the hope that they’ll mop up. This marketing approach has resulted in mixed messages and confusion, with cloud computing being hailed and jeered in equal measure. Deriving obvious benefits from cloud computing has not always been apparent to the market.

Data Storage represents a really viable utilisation of the cloud. It is very clear that the volume of data is going to keep growing and companies need to address this demand. IDC reports that the number of files, images, records and other digital information containers will grow by a factor of 67, each needing to be managed, secured and protected.

Organisations face a stark choice. Do they invest, and continue to invest,  in hardware and software - King Canute style? Can they re-engineer their business processes to cope with the additional data demands without increasing labour costs? (Interestingly the IDC state that IT professionals globally will only grow by a factor or 1.4 despite the data deluge) Or will they simply turn a blindish eye and hope that the various Data Protection Agencies don’t catch up with them?

Cloud computing gives organisations the opportunity to buy ‘peace of mind’. Data storage is a headache and can prove to be a costly one at that. By utilising a cloud service provider’s infrastructure on a demand basis, organisations can rid themselves of the hardware investment and the aggravation. Despite rumours to the contrary, a private cloud model offers a secure data repository that is protected by cast iron service guarantees (and if your service provider can’t provide them – consider looking elsewhere), which can either be used as a standalone option or integrated within existing client infrastructure to form a hybrid solution.

And it’s not just the corporate world that will see cloud storage boon. 2010 ABI Research released this week shows that revenue related to US consumer use of cloud-based backup technology will grow from almost $75 million in 2009 to more than $372 million in 2015, (CAGR of 27.89 percent) - helped by the rise of netbooks and devices such as the iPad.

Cloud storage shouldn’t be that hard a concept to grasp, afterall Man naturally looks to the skies when seeking additional storage and archiving space at home - its called the Loft.

I’m off to get a calculator to work out next year’s craze – the lovvabyte.