Information explosion needs to be managed efficiently

In other words, we are going to deal with rapid digital growth. According to research company IDC, the amount of digital information created and replicated annually has increased 10-fold over the past five years.

Last year alone, 281 exabytes (billion gigabytes) of digital information were created, 10 per cent more than previously estimated.

By 2011, the figures are estimated to be 1,773 exabytes (EBs). A total of 1,000 gigabytes (GBs) is 1 terabyte (TB), while 1,000 TBs is 1 petabyte (PBs). A total of 1,000 PBs is 1 EB.

Of this massive amount of digital data, 70 per cent will be created by individuals but most of the responsibility of ensuring security, privacy, reliability and compliance will rest with companies and other organisations.

Last year, the amount of information created was also greater than the storage capacity for the first time in history, making efficient management even more important.

Take the digital footprint of an e-mail as an example. Suppose we have an original e-mail of 1.1 MB which includes attachments.

The document portion is, say, 1 megabyte (MB), so there is the need for the e-mail server and desktop backup for 2.1 MB (1.1 MB e-mail plus 1 MB document).

This 2.1 MB then needs a redundant backup for security purpose. If a tape backup is included, a single e-mail will then have a total of 4.2 MB.

In the event that this e-mail is sent to four colleagues, each of the 1.1 MB will be multiplied by 4 MB to 4.4 MB. When tape backups are included, the total is easily about

8.8 MB generated by just a single

e-mail.

Now, if you go to www.emc.com, you can also measure your own digital shadow based on business and personal use of various electronic devices and applications such as e-mails, PCs, mobile phones, digital cameras, camcorders, notebooks, PDAs, MP3s, IPTV etc.

To cope with this information explosion, it is necessary to manage growth, risk, and effectiveness, while creating new values.

In this context, the dramatic growth means increased infrastructure complexity, which then requires enterprises to realign their infrastructure.

Enterprises should also "virtualise" their computer servers, files and storage, while turning to greener IT and data centres to cut energy

consumption.

Another solution is to archive data, as more than 65 per cent of files are more than six-months old while 56 per cent of e-mail messages are more than four-months old.

Akkamon said the economics of IT is to achieve more capacity with fewer resources such as space and power. In Thailand, telecom, banking, retail and media sectors are among those handling the most amount of digital data.

The emergence of 3G and internet protocol television (IPTV) is expected to boost the amount of digital data significantly in coming years.

For example, IPTVs will be great devices which will further expand personalised and on-demand services to millions of people worldwide.

In the meantime, social networking and information sharing will enter a more advanced stage as 3G devices and new infrastructure will allow better and faster services, such as better real-time streaming of content.