Q + A + Q + A + Q + A + Q + A + Q + A + Q + A + Q + A +
DAVID FRIEND,
FOUNDER AND
CEO OF WASABI
EDITOR’S QUESTION
We used to think about data
storage as an unfortunate but
necessary expense, what I call
the ‘scarcity’ mentality. As the cost of data
storage continues to drop, it frees us to
think about data as a resource, what I call
the ‘abundance’ mentality. Taken to its
extreme, if the cost of data storage was zero,
everybody would store everything forever.
For most companies, data is the lifeblood
of Digital Transformation. The increasing
sophistication of technologies like AI depends
on a need to collect and store huge troves
of data. In my role running a cloud storage
company, I frequently talk with customers
who now regret having thrown away data
because the cost of storage outweighed its
likely value. AI has changed that equation. It
turns out that there could have been much
to learn from that old discarded data. Today,
the trend is to keep more data because
AI is moving so fast that you risk grossly
underestimating its potential future value.
By 2025, IDC estimates that the amount of
data stored worldwide will explode to 175
zettabytes (that’s 175 billion terabytes).
This represents a compound annual growth
rate of 61%, which is such a frenetic pace
that it is forcing organisations to rethink
how they store the data they generate.
Storing all of their data on-premises, as
enterprises traditionally did, becomes
a logistical challenge when storage is
expanding at such a pace. Many are
coming to the conclusion that it’s time to
migrate data storage to the cloud where
there is virtually unlimited capacity.
Cloud data storage comes at a fraction
of the overall cost of on-premise storage.
There’s little strategic advantage to
managing one’s own storage infrastructure.
Moving to cloud not only saves money, but it
increases reliability and, by definition, makes
data far more accessible to people who
are working remotely. Companies save on
manpower, space, electricity, the distraction
of periodic equipment upgrades and data
migrations, and having to make and
manage off-site backups. Organisations can
focus on projects that benefit the revenuegenerating
side of their business.
Moreover, to cope with the explosion of
data that Digital Transformation heralds,
many organisations are considering a
multi-cloud approach. Data that resides in
the cloud still needs to be backed up and
it would be foolish to keep backups in the
same cloud as the primary data. So, it’s
increasingly common to see organisations
that might have their primary data in
Amazon’s cloud but backup their data to
another cloud. A multi-cloud approach also
gives you more business leverage over your
cloud providers.
Companies are clearly waking up to the
benefits of the multi-cloud approach to
support their transformation efforts. •
“
TODAY, THE TREND
IS TO KEEP MORE
DATA BECAUSE
AI IS MOVING SO
FAST THAT YOU
RISK GROSSLY
UNDERESTIMATING
ITS POTENTIAL
FUTURE VALUE.
www.intelligentcio.com
INTELLIGENTCIO
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