India's Digital Universe Invaded by sensors: EMC study

EMC announced results of the seventh EMC Digital Universe study, the only study to quantify and forecast the amount of digital data produced annually. This year's study titled "The Digital Universe of Opportunities: Rich Data and the Increasing Value of the Internet of Things," with research and analysis by IDC, reveals that strong adoption of wireless technologies, coupled with the growth in Internet consumption, migration to digital TV and increasing "sensors" based machine to machine communication are playing a central role in catapulting the volume of India's data. Due, in part, to this Internet of Things, the digital universe is India is nearly doubling in size every two years and will multiply 9-fold between 2013 and 2020 - from 326 exabytes to 2.8 zetabytes.

The Internet of Things comprises increasing number of everyday objects that are equipped with unique identifiers and the ability to automatically record, report and receive data - a sensor in your shoe tracking how fast you run or surveillance cameras tracking traffic patterns. The data from these connected devices represents 4% of the total data in India today. IDC now forecasts, that by 2020, it will represent almost 10% of the country's data.

The Internet of Things will also influence the massive amounts of "useful data" - data that could be analyzed - in the digital universe. The study estimates that business don't need to wade through the vast amounts of data but instead can extract tremendous value by focusing on high-value, "target rich" data that accounts for 1.7% of the current Digital Universe.

This phenomenon will present radical new ways of interacting with customers, streamlining business cycles, and reducing operational costs, stimulating huge opportunity for businesses. Conversely, it presents significant challenges as businesses look manage, store and protect the sheer volume and diversity of this data. For example, IDC estimates that more than 50% of the data in the digital universe require some level of protection, from heightened privacy measures to fully-encrypted data.

Speaking on the occasion, Rajesh Janey, President, EMC India and SAARC said, "Data is the prime source knowledge an enterprise thrives on, with the enormous amount of data being created by enterprises, we at EMC are uniquely positioned with our federation model to seamlessly span the continuum of enterprise needs from data storage to information management to knowledge sharing while offering protection at every step with our best-of-breed, integrated, technology."

 

Other Key Findings:

Emerging markets are producing more data: Currently, 60% of data in the digital universe is attributed to mature markets such as Germany, Japan, and the United States, but by 2020, the percentage will flip, and emerging markets including India, Brazil, China, Mexico and Russia will account for the majority of data.

· Mobility will be a key driver of the Digital Universe. Mobile "Connected Things" generate 18% of the Digital Universe in 2014 and it is estimated to grow to 27% by 2020

· India's share of the global Digital Universe will double over this decade - from 3% in 2010 to 6% in 2020.

· Consumers create data but enterprises are responsible for it: Two-thirds of the digital universe bits are created or captured by consumers and workers, yet enterprises have liability or responsibility for 85% of the digital universe.

· More than 50% of the Digital Universe in India needs protection- This is significant especially if we look in the context of India ranking 4th in terms of most phishing attacks globally in 2013. 4.4 trillion gigabytes of data created in 2013, less than half the data that needed protection received protection, things most at risk are Corporate financial data, Personally identifiable information (PII), Medical records and User account information. Organisations based in India (80%) are more likely to have experienced data loss and/or systems downtime within the past year, than those overall across Asia Pacific and Japan (71%) .

· The Internet of Things will create new opportunities for Indian businesses - Investment in the "Internet of Things," as well as falling costs and increased usage of devices that capture, create, manage, and protect information, will enable Indian businesses to realize new sources of value five distinct ways - new business models, real time information on mission critical systems, diversification of revenue streams, providing global visibility and deploying efficient and intelligent operations. New monetization opportunities exist for Indian enterprise but they will need to invest in analytics and talent.