CorpComms Magazine

A new unit of measurement has been coined to accommodate the deluge of digital information hurtling through our servers. The zettabyte can be likened to every one of Earth's inhabitants tweeting incessantly for a hundred years.

Thanks to the awesome advance of social networking and online video and photo sharing sites, the digital universe is estimated to have grown by 62 per cent last year, according to the fourth annual survey by technology consultancy IDC. That is equivalent to 800,000 petabytes and can now be expressed as 0.8 of a zettabyte.

Just to boggle the mind yet further, experts have estimated that all human language used since the dawn of man would only amount to a pitiful 5,000 petabytes - less than one per cent of the digital data generated since the invention of the first computer. And there is no sign of slowing down. By the end of this year, this online outpouring is anticipated to outstrip the zettabye and reach 1.2 ZB.

share me: del.icio.us | digg | reddit | Tweet