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According to IDC, which has been predicting data growth for many a year, the digital universe could grow to more than 160 zettabytes (ZB) of data by 2025. It’s fuelled in no small part by the rise in the myriad of social and mobile activities. In StorageCraft’s report on big data, the total number of emails (business and consumer) sent per day will exceed 281 billion this year. By 2022, it will reach more than 333 billion. Add to that the data being generated by the internet of things (IoT) – where connected devices across the home are swapping digital information – and that projection of 160ZB looks easily achievable. As the volume of data continues to increase, the challenge facing the storage sector is to find ways to meet the demand to store it. “Current infrastructure can handle only a fraction of the incoming data deluge, which is expected to consume all of the world’s microchip-grade silicon by 2040,” said Wired. True, not all the data generated will be kept for long, or even at all, said Spectra Logic in its Digital data...