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Press Release
SOURCE:
EMC CORPORATION
via BCE Emergis e-News Services
Photo is available in a Smart News Release(TM) on Business Wire's Home page at www.businesswire.com
12 Exabytes of Existing "Unique" Information Will be Dwarfed
by New Data, Expected to Nearly Double Annually
Humankind will generate more original information over the next
three years than was created in the previous 300,000 years
combined, according to a new study from the School of Information
Management and Systems (SIMS) at the University of California,
Berkeley. In 1999 the world created about 1.5 ``exabytes'' of
unique information - which is 1.5 billion gigabytes, or the
equivalent of 250 megabytes of new information for every man,
woman and child in the world. According to the study, that number
is expected to double every year for the foreseeable future, even
without counting the multiple copies that most information
generates. Sponsored by EMC Corporation, the world leader in information storage, the study ``How Much Information?'' (http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/how-much-info/) found that there are currently about 12 exabytes of unique content (print, film, optical, and magnetic) in the world. Most new information created today is ``born digital,'' generated by individuals and organizations in digitized electronic form. According to the study, the vast majority of this information is stored on disk-based technology because of its easy access and continually declining costs.
The ``content big bang'' will only continue to increase in the future, the study predicts, as many households will have to manage terabytes of information ranging from family medical records to financial documents, photographs and video. Combined with the already rapid growth in business and organizational information, this personalized information boom underlines the importance of robust, reliable information management technology and services.
``The explosion in information will be like nothing the world has seen,'' said Jim Rothnie, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at EMC. ``Individuals, like businesses, will need to manage tremendous amounts of information. And like businesses of today, these individuals will want to share and protect this highly important information. But managing it will be a challenge because people clearly will not choose to store a terabyte of information on a PC. Instead, central repositories of information will give people high-speed access, effective management, and appropriate security and protection of their information assets.''
Hal Varian, Dean of the School of Information Management and Systems at the University of California, Berkeley, and one of the senior researchers for the study, said, ``It comes down to who can do it best. Would you rather keep your entire collection of family photos on a PC hard drive or on a secure site managed by a professional? One thing is certain, the demand for information management will be tremendous.''
``The difficulty will be in managing this information effectively,'' Varian continued. ``This is no easy task. Our ability to store and communicate information is quickly outpacing our ability to search, retrieve and present it. Information management may turn out to be one of the major challenges of the new century.''
In addition to his role as Dean of the School of Information Management and Systems at the University of California, Berkeley, Varian holds joint appointments in the Haas School of Business and the Department of Economics. He received his S.B. degree from MIT and his MA and Ph.D. from UC Berkeley. He has published numerous papers in economic theory, econometrics, industrial organization, public finance, and the economics of information technology. He is the co-author of the best-selling 1998 book on business strategy, Information Rules: A Strategic Guide to the Network Economy.
About EMC
EMC Corporation (NYSE:EMC - news) is the world leader in information storage systems, software, networks and services, providing the information infrastructure for a connected world. Information about EMC's products and services can be found at http://www.EMC.com.
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Contact: EMC Corporation
Dana Lieske
508-293-6357 (office)
617-642-5192 (mobile)
lieske_dana@emc.com
SOURCE:
EMC CORPORATION
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