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Digital content multiplying at breakneck speed

Last year enough digital information -- from e-mails and blogs to mobile phone calls, photos and TV signals -- was generated to fill a dozen stacks of hardback books stretching from the earth to the sun, according to research published yesterday.

The proliferation of digital cameras and mobile phones that can take pictures, coupled with the popularity of online video services such as YouTube and BitTorrent, has caused an explosion of images. This pushed the world's total digital content last year to 161 billion gigabytes. That is the equivalent of 161 billion iPod Shuffles or 161 so-called exabytes.

Massive amount

The sheer amount of data that has been created by the digital age becomes clear when comparing it with the spoken word. Experts estimate that all human language since the dawn of time would take up about 5 exabytes if stored in digital form. In comparison, last year's e-mail traffic accounted for 6 exabytes.

The survey, conducted by the technology consultancy IDC and sponsored by the IT firm EMC, shows that growth in the digital universe is being driven by the switch to digital imagery; the move from traditional phone calls to digital telephony such as mobile and voice over Internet calls, and the rise of digital TV.

Roughly a quarter of the digital universe is original -- such as pictures or e-mails or even phone calls -- while the other three-quarters is replicated material including forwarded e-mails, movies on DVD and pirated music.

Much of this digital information is being produced by individuals. YouTube, for instance, hosts about 100 million daily video streams, while more than a billion songs are shared over the Internet every day.

IDC estimates that by 2010, more than 70 percent of all the digital information existing in the world will have been created by consumers.

But companies and organizations are also creating a wealth of digital content: London's 200 traffic surveillance cameras, for instance, generate roughly 8 million gigabytes every day.

Surprised

Stephen Minton, IDC vice president, admitted he was surprised by the amount being produced, but that having the world's knowledge in digital form should make it easier to handle and utilize.

"There has always been a lot of information but in the past it was stored on paper in books," he said. "The real opportunity represented by digital information is that it can be used more efficiently, we now have the opportunity to analyze the heck out of it," he said.

But to analyze this data it needs to be stored and already the UK is creating more digital content than can be hosted on available devices -- such as networks or computers. The US is expected to reach this "tipping point" next year.

The US and Europe account for almost three-quarters of the digital content generated last year but there is likely to be a shift in the coming years as consumers in the Asia-Pacific region get online and use more gadgets such as camera phones. "The US is expected to continue to have pretty explosive growth," Minton said.

"But then you have regions like Asia-Pacific, that are currently small producers relative to the US and western Europe, where we expect very strong growth because so many people will be coming online in China and India over the next few years," he said.

IDC expects the data added annually to the digital universe to rise more than sixfold to 988 exabytes within three years.
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