From the 40,000-year-old practice of keeping information in cave paintings until the creation of paper in China about the first century AD, books have been the primary source of information storage. The invention of digital electronics was one of the most significant events in human history.
The development of digital data storage changed how humans generate, process, and store data with the invention of the transistor in 1947 and the integrated microchip in 1956.
Where does all the information get stored?
All of the data is saved on hard drive arrays on servers, which are prone to many of the same problems as the storage in your laptop or desktop computer. Furthermore, depending on the service you choose, the data centre may be located in a different region, or even continent.
- A global collection of endpoints, which includes all internet of things devices, PCs, smartphones, and other data storage devices.
- The edge, which includes infrastructure like cell towers, institutional servers, and offices like universities, government offices, banks, and factories, is the second.
- Third, the majority of data is stored in the core, which includes both traditional data servers and cloud data centres.
Around 600 hyperscale data centres (those with more than 5,000 servers) exist around the world. Around 39% of them are in the United States, with China, Japan, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Australia accounting for roughly 30% of the total.
Size of Stored Data:
Globally, the amount of data created, recorded, copied, and consumed is expected to grow fast, reaching 64.2 zettabytes by 2020. Global data generation is expected to reach more than 180 zettabytes in the following five years, up to 2025.
The world will create and use 94 zettabytes in 2022, which shows an increase in the number of Internet of Things connected devices. In 2021, 79 zettabytes of data have been recorded. This represents an increase from 59 zettabytes in 2020 and 41 zettabytes in 2019.
Present and Future:
China Telecom Data Centre in Hohhot, China, occupies 10.7 million square feet and uses 815 megawatts of power, while The Citadel in Tahoe Reno, Nevada, occupies 7.2 million square feet and consumes 815 megawatts of power.
Every two years, roughly 100 new hyperscale data centres are developed to accommodate the ever-increasing need for digital data storage. In about 110 years, the amount of energy necessary to maintain digital output will be greater than the total amount of energy consumed currently on the earth.
- 2022 – 94 zettabytes
- 2023 – 118 zettabytes
- 2024 – 149 zettabytes
Issues leading to an increase in consumption:
- Digital ownership and data privacy are two challenges that will arise in the future.
- Malware, particularly those related to COVID-19, is also on the rise, according to cybersecurity trends.
- There’s also the issue of environmental effects to consider. The internet emits roughly 2 million tonnes of CO2 every day. It’s not just CO2 emissions; technology also produces rubbish.
Some Fun Facts:
- According to one estimate, 1.145 trillion megabytes of data are created every day.
- Data is growing 5 times faster than the global economy.
- Every day, 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are created.
- By 2025, 463 ZB of data will be created per day.
- In 2023, the internet population will account for 66% of the global population.
- In 2023, there will be three times the worldwide population of connected devices.
- Another estimate claims that there will be 43 billion IoT-connected devices by 2023.
- Wi-Fi speeds are expected to reach 92 Mbps.
The globe is becoming a known place, yet daily a new issue topples the existing technology, making room for additional invention and development.