Convergence of Applications sharing causes growth in storage

Implications: 1.  The more data that can be shared, the more data we want. 2.  New types of storage increase data collection at the source.

Analysis: I kept thinking that as Applications became more integrated, we would reduce the amount of redundant data being stored and our storage needs would be reduced.  Or at least that is what I had deduced about the growth of data.

But I was wrong.  I missed one important fact.  The reduction of storage costs has led to an exponential gathering of new data.  Think about this for a little you will realize that most of interactions with people and business result in stored data.  Here is a few to make my point.

All cameras (for the most part) are now digital.  I now take thousands of pictures a year instead of hundreds.  And I do not seem to throw them away.  A one week vacation will create a gig or so of photos.

I buy most things online now.  All of my purchases are stored online.  All of my banking is stored online (including paying for everything with electronic credit cards).

I do not write letters very much anymore.  But I send hundreds of emails, text messages, and electronic analysis like this in a day.  I even have my voicemail stored online.

Ok, you say.  I made my point about the storage of almost all data about me being available digitally.  But I failed to mention one other fact that makes this new world even more storage hungry.  IT is now integrating and cross connecting all of this data in more and more ways. 

For example, if I call my phone company and open a ticket to have a problem resolved, then this data is not only recorded, but it is connected to other data about me and probably stored more than once.  It seems like many of applications that IT is asked to build are applications that integrate more and more data that is collected.  Integrated messaging, SOA, Portals, etc... are new classes of applications that do nothing more than pull together stored data and often create even more data in the process.  In fact, these classes of applications make it geometrically easier to collect and create more data.

Given all that I have written, it is easy for me to support the authors claim that data storage providers are still in a growth mode.  It seems the more we create new forms of storage devices, the more data we collect, coordinate, and redistribute.  And each new storage device is small and stores more data.  the 1 meg floppy was replaced by the 250 meg zip drive, that was replaced by CD and DVD, that is seeming to be replaced by the now 32 gig flash drive, that may be replaced by online storage of unlimited size.

IT's role to manage and support this data will bring IT closer to the business and IT will be less tied to the pure technology.  All of the tools that I have mentioned have made IT more valuable to the business because we can generate business results faster.  It is about what you can do with the data and not about how much data there is.  And the connection of IT to solutions will drive more storage and value to businesses.