MikeLigalig.com

By Alexander Villafania

That’s about 22 digits stacked together. In comparative terms, this number is equivalent to 162 trillion high resolution photos or 30 billion fully loaded Apple iPod Touch devices.

This is the estimated amount of digital data created globally in 2008 and IT industry analyst International Data Corporation (IDC) expects this number to be double in the next 18 months.

IDC’s study, entitled “As the Economy Contracts, the Digital Universe Expands”, showed that digital information continues to grow exponentially every year even with the current economic situation.

The study, commissioned by enterprise data storage firm EMC, is the third update of the IDC’s Digital Universe report, which aims to establish the amount of content being created and how it is being used and managed.

The latest study also revealed that there will an additional 600 million Internet users worldwide in the next four years. In particular, two-thirds of these users will be able to access the Internet via mobile devices.

Another 850 million people will buy online and Internet commerce would be valued at $13 trillion by 2012.

IDC also stressed that people will increasingly use email, instant messaging, and social networks for communications.

These factors, coupled by the increased use of Internet-connected devices and more access to broadband communications, will result in an explosion of digital data creation.

But more than just consumer-level Internet growth, IDC also stressed that security will become a main priority to protect digital data. By 2012, it is expected that 45 percent of digital data would be security-sensitive.

Government regulation of digital data will also be broader, thus requiring business owners to implement compliance measurements to protect and store data.

While there is no per-country specific breakdown of the IDC study, EMC said the Philippines contributes to digital data growth as evidenced by strong sales of external storage devices.


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