The time implications of storage size

I’ve been writing and talking about data motion as a pain point for a while. To drive this home, have a look at this site. This provides a snapshot into how much bandwidth a technology provides, and what the implications are for (best case) data motion over time. Since data motion isn’t getting any easier, a few thoughts emerge from this.

First, as we gather ever more data, this data is going to reside at static locations … the cost of moving it is large over the network. Second, the old joke that the worlds fastest data network being UPS or Fedex or DHL or (insert carrier of choice) may in fact become more true over time. This means that we may need more robust ways to containerize data, and physically move it. Storage density may soon be measured by truck-loads. We live in challenging times. Faster storage helps, the ability to move it fast and reliably will also help. But the times will be more challenging as data volumes grow. And growing they are, exponentially fast.