Downturn to enlarge digital data pile

Future expansion of the digital universe will overtake the speed of Nasa's fastest rocket, partly led by the financial meltdown and efforts to avoid it reoccurring.



Counted at 487bn gigabytes, the amount of digital data created in 2008 beat its 3 per cent growth forecast, in spite of business activity easing from the slowing economy.



Putting such digital output into context, IDC, which made the count, said it was the same as the world's population five times over each having a maxed-out iPod Touch.



Put another way, the weight of digital stock amassed in the 12 months since January is equivalent to 3 quadrillion feeds on Twitter, the likes of which swelled its volume.



But while the pace of digital creation soared last year, IT budgets declined, serving to widen the gap further between data volume and the amount of resources to manage it.



This seemingly irreversible dynamic reinforces the need for tools and techniques, such as virtualisation, "geared specifically to managing more with less", IDC said.



It hinted that the providers of such 'de-duplication' will see demand increase, as corporate data handlers bow to tighter regulation borne out of the financial crisis.



Such mandated record-keeping will coincide with other results of the economic malaise – stimulus of broadband, electronic patient records and smart grids.



Taken with a fleet of 'clean' cars, plans to create 'green' transport systems and buildings, these developments will see the data haul double in the next 18 months.



Social networking, email and IM will drive the growth, ahead of non-traditional IT kit, such as RFID and 'sat-nav' devices, followed by Web-enabled mobile phones.



IT-enabled interactions between people account for about 70 per cent of the data born in the digital sphere, and such consumer-generation will dominate, at least, until 2012.



By then, the pace at which digital data is generated will be five times faster than in 2008, according to IDC, which was commissioned by EMC, an IT firm.



"Most of the information IT organisations will need to keep secure is created outside the data centre, often outside the company," the firm said in a statement.



"More and more of that information originates from mobile users – workers, customers, suppliers, partners – which adds an additional layer of management and security complexity to the equation."



The amount of data that companies must retain to adhere to new rules is expected to grow from 25 per cent of the digital universe last year to 35 per cent in 2012.



And while more than 30 per cent of all the information created today is 'security-intensive', almost half (45%) of it will need safeguarding or encryption before 2013.