IDC: World's data to grow 50-fold by 2020

Computerworld - In 2011 alone, 1.8 zettabytes (or 1.8 trillion gigabytes) of data will be created, the equivalent to every U.S. citizen writing 3 tweets per minute for 26,976 years. And over the next decade, the number of servers managing the world's data stores will grow by ten times.

Those are some of the findings in the fifth annual IDC Digital Universe study

Interestingly, the amount of data people create by writing email messages, taking photos, and downloading music and movies is minuscule compared to the amount of data being created about them, the EMC-sponsored study found.

The IDC study predicts that overall data will grow by 50 times by 2020, driven in large part by more embedded systems such as sensors in clothing, medical devices and structures like buildings and bridges.

The study also determined that unstructured information - such as files, email and video - will account for 90% of all data created over the next decade.

The bad news: the number of IT professionals available to manage all that data will only grow by 1.5 times today's levels, IDC said.

The number of people with the skills and experience to manage the fast-growing stores of corporate simply isn't keeping pace with demand, IDC noted.

Read more.