Cloud is the new core
One of the key drivers of growth in the core is
the shift to the cloud from traditional
datacenters. As companies continue to pursue
the cloud (both public and private) for data
processing needs, cloud datacenters are
becoming the new enterprise data repository.
In essence, the cloud is becoming the new core.
In 2025 IDC predicts that 49% of the world’s
stored data will reside in public cloud
environments.
Introducing the world's first data
readiness condition (DATCON) index
Not all industries are prepared for their
digitally transformed future. So, to help
companies understand their level of data
readiness, IDC developed a DATCON (DATa
readiness CONdition) index, designed to
analyze various industries regarding their own
Datasphere, level of data management, usage,
leadership, and monetization capabilities. IDC
examined four industries as part of its DATCON
analysis: financial services, manufacturing,
healthcare, and media and entertainment.
Manufacturing’s Datasphere is by far the
largest given its maturity, investment in IoT,
and 24x7 operations, and we found that
manufacturing and financial services are the
leading industries in terms of maturity, with
media and entertainment most in need of a
jump start.
China's Datasphere on pace to
becoming the largest in the world
Every geographic region has its own
Datasphere size and trajectories that are
impacted by population, digital
transformation progress, IT spend and
maturity, and many other metrics. For
example, China’s Datasphere is expected to
grow 30% on average over the next 7 years
and will be the largest Datasphere of all
regions by 2025 (compared to EMEA, APJxC,
U.S., and Rest of World) as its connected
population grows and its video surveillance
infrastructure proliferates. (APJxC includes
Asia-Pacific countries, including Japan, but
not China.)
Consumers are addicted to data,
and more of it in real-time
As companies increase the digitization of their
business and drive consistent and better
customer experiences, consumers are
embracing these personalized real-time
Data is at the heart of digital transformation,
the lifeblood of this digitization process.
Today, companies are leveraging data to
improve customer experiences, open new
markets, make employees and processes more
productive, and create new sources of
competitive advantage – working toward the
future of tomorrow.
Global Datasphere expansion is
never-ending
IDC has defined three primary locations where
digitization is happening and where digital
content is created: the core (traditional and
cloud datacenters), the edge
(enterprise-hardened infrastructure like cell
towers and branch oces), and the endpoints
(PCs, smart phones, and IoT devices). The
summation of all this data, whether it is
created, captured, or replicated, is called the
Global Datasphere, and it is experiencing
tremendous growth. IDC predicts that the
Global Datasphere will grow from 33
Zettabytes (ZB) in 2018 to 175 ZB by 2025.
To keep up with the storage demands
stemming from all this data creation, IDC
forecasts that over 22 ZB of storage capacity
must ship across all media types from 2018 to
2025, with nearly 59% of that capacity
supplied from the HDD industry.
An enterprise renaissance is on the
horizon
The enterprise is fast becoming the world's
data steward…again. In the recent past,
consumers were responsible for much of their
own data, but their reliance on and trust of
today’s cloud services, especially from
connectivity, performance, and convenience
perspectives, continues to increase while the
need to store and manage data locally
continues to decrease. Moreover, businesses
are looking to centralize data management
and delivery (e.g., online video streaming,
data analytics, data security, and privacy) as
well as to leverage data to control their
businesses and the user experience
(e.g., machine-to-machine communication,
IoT, persistent personalization profiling). The
responsibility to maintain and manage all this
consumer and business data supports the
growth in cloud provider datacenters. As a
result, the enterprise’s role as a data steward
continues to grow, and consumers are not
just allowing this, but expecting it. Beginning
in 2019, more data will be stored in the
enterprise core than in all the world's
existing endpoints.
This study is based on IDC’s ongoing Global
DataSphere research and market sizing models.
Industry and specific geographic Datasphere
research was conducted in September 2018 by
IDC. In addition, 2,400 enterprise decision
makers were surveyed, and in-depth interviews
were conducted with senior IT executives at a
variety of industries to inform this study. The
survey was with decision makers who had
responsibility for or knowledge of their
organization’s use, management, and storage of
data leveraging advanced technologies including
Internet of Things, real-time analytics, and
AI/machine learning. The survey spanned several
countries and regions including the United
States, China, EMEA, APJxC, and others.
About this study
IDC White Paper I Doc# US44413318 I November 2018
The Digitization of the World – From Edge to Core I 5
engagements and resetting their expectations
for data delivery. As their digital world
overlaps with their physical realities, they
expect to access products and services
wherever they are, over whatever connection
they have, and on any device. They want data
in the moment, on the go, and personalized.
This places greater demand on both the edge
and the core to be able to produce the
precise data consumers require, often in
real-time. IDC predicts that due to the infusion
of data into our business workflows and
personal streams of life, that nearly 30% of
the Global Datasphere will be real-time by
2025. Enterprises looking to provide superior
customer experience and grow share must
have data infrastructures that can meet this
growth in real-time data.
Today, more than 5 billion consumers interact
with data every day – by 2025, that number
will be 6 billion, or 75% of the world's
population. In 2025, each connected person
will have at least one data interaction every
18 seconds. Many of these interactions are
because of the billions of IoT devices
connected across the globe, which are
expected to create over 90ZB of data in 2025.
