18 July 2018

Spectra Logic CEO Nathan Thompson says while we’re in an era of “keep everything, delete nothing”, not all data is preserved for the long term.

Despite industry analysts such as IDC forecasting that the digital universe could grow to more than 160ZB of data by 2025, Spectra Logic predicts that much of this may never be stored or will only be retained briefly.

In its Digital Data Storage Outlook report for 2018, the vendor aims to provide an overview of the storage tiers that define long-term storage today and those that will impact the industry tomorrow, such as flash, disk, tape, optical and cloud.

In the report, Spectra estimates a high growth rate for solid-state storage through 2020, followed by steady growth at a lower percentage from 2021-2026.

It reckons that by 2020, the disk industry will be serving a singular market, predominately for large IT shops and cloud providers.

According to Spectra, tape technology has the “greatest potential” for capacity improvement of all current technologies, with a “robust” growth path over the next several years. It also believes that complex workflows and cloud options are prompting IT administrators to consider new strategies regarding what data should be stored where for best practices in data storage and disaster recovery.

“We are living in an era of keep everything, delete nothing,” says Spectra Logic CEO Nathan Thompson. “While digital information is clicked, viewed and shared, not everything is protected and preserved for the long term.”

Thompson says the dilemma is that people think that they can keep data forever without putting a data protection plan in place. What’s therefore needed is strategic planning and the implementation of a long-term digital data protection plan.

“As the volume of data expands, considerable storage innovation is needed to meet capacity, performance and budgetary requirements,” says Thompson.