The Surprising Things You Don’t Know About Big Data

The Surprising Things You Don’t Know About Big Data—Infographic

What is Big Data? Big Data includes data sets with sizes beyond the ability of commonly used software tools to capture, curate, manage, and process data within a tolerable elapsed time.

The Past, Present, And Future Of Big Data

1. The Past

Digital storage grew annually by 23% between 1986 and 2007. Mosta data was stored on videotapes, such as VHS cassettes in the pre-digital revolution world of the late 1980s, Vinyl LP records, audio cassette tapes, and photography accounted for significant portions as well. Paper-based storage represented 33% of all data storage on its own in 1986. 25% of all data stored in the world in 2000 was stored digitally. 2002 is the first year that digital storage capacity overtook analog capacity. 94% of all data was stored in digital format by 2007.

2. The Present

Today, more than 2.5 exabytes (2.5 billion gigabytes) of data are generated every single day. This is expected to continue growing at a significant rate with mobile devices accounting for much of this data. Some experts have estimated that 90% of all of the data of the world today was produced within the last 2 years.

3. The Future

It is estimated that 40 zettabytes will be created by 2020.

• Increased usage by companies
  A 2014 study found that 94% of organizations either already have or want to make cloud computing a part of their operations.
• Increased focus on security 
  Studies have shown that cloud users list security as one of the top 5 concerns for the future of cloud computing. The theft of intellectual property is the primary security threat.
• Increased usage of private cloud computing
  Currently, 7% of companies use entirely private cloud computing, while 58% use some combination of private and public cloud computing. 24% of respondents to a survey, however, claimed that they were interested in exploring private cloud adoption because of legal and regulatory challenges involved in public cloud computing.
• Increased education and employment related to cloud computing
  According to one survey, 66% of U.S. and U.K. organizations were interested in increasing their organization's IT skills to better handle cloud computing, but 56% reported that they were unaware of available courses in cloud computing. 42% of U.S. and U.K. organizations reported having hired IT professionals because of particular skills related to cloud computing, while 43% reported difficulty in finding candidates with necessary cloud computing skills. 79% of U.S. and U.K. companies reported that they believed that greater incorporation of cloud computing into college and university curriculums is necessary.