I used to think a major advantage of computers was not having to memorize things. I could just store the information and, as long as I knew where to find it, I could retrieve it. While I still believe this is true, I'm increasingly concerned about the difficulty of finding that information among the vast amount of digital data we accumulate. It's the classic needle-in-a-haystack dilemma.
In this week’s New Tech Tuesday, we look at the growing challenge of digital memory solutions in a data-driven world.
As humanity progresses further into a new digital age, the global dependence on technology is generating data at a staggering, ever-accelerating rate. Not only does it become daunting to remember where you stored whatever it is you are looking for in a sea of files, documents, spreadsheets, databases, and backups, but having the space to store all that data is also a challenge.
The total amount of data created, captured, copied, and consumed globally is forecasted to increase rapidly, as it reached more than 64 zettabytes (ZB) in 2020 and is expected to grow to 180ZB by 2025.[1] This prediction stems from the massive amounts of structured and unstructured data, information, and code being generated every ticking second of every daily hour for everything from IoT devices, decision-making, translating, speech recognition, machine vision, machine learning, photos, and even the “things” you need to remember. All this data creation requires an equal amount of base storage, which the International Data Corporation (IDC) has predicted will be 175ZB by 2025, using a combination of cloud, disk, flash, and tape to store all of that data.[2]
This week’s New Tech Tuesday highlights industrial data storage solutions from Kingston Technology designed to meet the growing demand for zettabytes of data storage and processing in the twenty-first century.
Kingston’s Industrial Temperature M.2 2280 and 2.5” SATA SSDs are the perfect storage solutions for system designers and builders that require a wider operating temperature range for extreme environments. These solid-state drives (SSDs) include 2.5-inch and M.2 2280 form factors ranging in capacity from 128GB to 1TB and incorporate advanced SATA 3, 6Gbps controllers that automatically perform wear leveling, garbage collection, and other vital NAND flash management features. Furthermore, these drives are a drop-in replacement for hard disk drives (HDDs) and deliver up to 20 times greater performance as well as higher reliability than HDDs.
The digital revolution of the twenty-first century has resulted in an unprecedented data explosion, necessitating new and robust storage solutions as well as effective data management practices. The development of the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, and robotics, as well as the proliferation of smartphones and social media, has changed global communications and information sharing in complex ways. As the world's reliance on technology grows, people, businesses, and industries must adapt to the quick influx and volume of information generated daily, prioritizing scalable and efficient data storage choices to remain competitive.
Sources
[1] “Data Growth Worldwide 2010-2025,” Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/871513/worldwide-data-created/. [2] Thomas Coughlin, “175 Zettabytes By 2025,” Forbes, https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomcoughlin/2018/11/27/175-zettabytes-by-2025/.
Rudy Ramos brings 35+ years of expertise in advanced electromechanical systems, robotics, pneumatics, vacuum systems, high voltage, semiconductor manufacturing, military hardware, and project management. Rudy has authored technical articles appearing in engineering websites and holds a BS in Technical Management and an MBA with a concentration in Project Management. Prior to Mouser, Rudy worked for National Semiconductor and Texas Instruments..