India’s data usage doubling every two years.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: A new report, conducted and released jointly by tech companies EMC and International Data Corporation (IDC), predicts that the growth of Internet usage, digital television, and mobile devices in India will lead to the country’s digital footprint skyrocketing over the next several years, growing by a factor of nine between 2013 and 2020.
According to the report, entitled “The Digital Universe in 2020: Big Data, Bigger Digital Shadows, and Biggest Growth in the Far East – India,” the country’s data usage has been steadily doubling every two years, but is now set to take off as the adoption of digital devices increases exponentially. The firm number that the report predicts is astronomical: India’s “digital universe” currently consists of roughly 326 exabytes, which is equivalent to 326 billion gigabytes, but by 2020 that number will increase to 2.8 zettabytes (one zettabyte equals 1,000 exabytes).
Worldwide, the report estimates that the digital universe will grow to a size of 44 zettabytes, or 44 trillion gigabytes, with the number of digital bits floating around cyberspace being equivalent to the number of stars in the universe. EMC and IDC define this cyberspace as the “Internet of Things,” which essentially consists of everyday objects, or anything that has a microchip in it: phone, televisions, computers, cameras, sensors, and so on.
“This is the digital universe,” says the report. “It is growing 40% a year into the next decade, expanding to include not only the increasing number of people and enterprises doing everything online, but also all the “things” – smart devices – connected to the Internet, unleashing a new wave of opportunities for businesses and people around the world.”
Currently, that Internet of Things accounts for about 4% of all data generated in India. But by 2020, it will produce about 10% of all of India’s data. Today, roughly 17% of the global digital universe is accounted for by India and China; by 2020, that number is expected to increase to almost 30%. Today, the vast majority of digital data comes from developed, established markets; roughly 60% of data generated comes the US, Japan, Germany, and so on. But that number will flip; as emerging markets continue to develop and assert themselves, they will ultimately be responsible for close to 70% of data.
Despite India’s data growth, however, the report indicates that the country still has a long way to go in terms of protecting that data. About 50% of Indian cyberspace can easily be hacked, leaving vital information at risk of exposure and theft. Companies and organizations that are based in India are an alarmingly 80% more likely to experience some kind of cyber-security threat or loss of data at some point in their existence.
Most data generated last year came from corporations, roughly 85%, but that number will drop significantly in the years leading up to 2020. And despite this preponderance of data generation, the report readily admits that most of it is useless, since the majority of data is neither properly tagged nor identified. Only about 22% of data generated and collected in 2013 fell into that designation, according to the report, and that number will only go up to about 37% by 2020.