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Enterprises set to keep data forever
15/05/08
Forget the 90-day rule, says IDC analyst - companies will be storing
more data for longer, and much of it will be unstructured
Unstructured
data, cheaper storage and government regulations are driving
companies to keep all their data forever - leading to massive
changes in the enterprise storage market, according to an
IDC analyst.
Speaking at an
industry event in Orlando, Benjamin Woo, IDC's vp of enterprise
storage systems, said many previous assumptions about managing data
no longer apply.
The view that
any data older than 90 days wasn't likely to be used again is
becoming archaic, he says, and that no longer applies anymore.
Organisations and individuals are keeping data for longer, if not
forever.
When it comes
to data storage, we need to think in terms of tens of years, if not
hundreds of years.
Key reason why companies now keep their data for longer:
Governments
are requiring them to, for compliance reasons
Organisations
are holding onto data because they can. Databases are bigger and
cheaper, meaning it's easier to hold onto data for as long as a
company wants. It's simple and cheap to keep everything forever.
Storage is
becoming personal and more consumer. Both people and organisations
want storage devices that are always accessible, protected, fast and
intelligent - regardless of whether they are storing customer data
or personal photos.
This last
reason is one aspect that is driving increases in unstructured data
- files such as Word documents or photos that are not held in
databases. Such content - boosted by individuals creating their own
content online - is growing at a rate of 120 per cent over the next
four to five years, Woo said, while databases are growing at a rate
of 30 per cent.
This increase
in unstructured files means storage firms will need to develop and
supply better enterprise-level search engines, in order to find what
organisations need out of their mountain of data. They will also
need to offer products which can still be read in hundreds of years.
Companies must
be sure to not just store all that data, but to make it work for
them, Woo says. Storing data for the sake of storing data is not
very interesting - or economical, so companies must make sure value
can be derived through business analytics, for example.
Data must
generate value.
Nick Gibson, editor
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