In the "distant" 1995 a film destined to mark the annals of science fiction was released in cinemas: "Johnny Mnemonic", directed by William Gibson, where the adventures of a young "remember" were narrated, a data courier who memorized - through brain implants - information confidential, and then deliver them to customers. And five years earlier, the second album of the American hard-rock group "Living Color" contained a song entitled "Information Overload" (information overload), in which the growing and suffocating mass of news flows was denounced.
Twenty years later, rather than a burden to bear, data is a veritable mine to be exploited. And taking a look at the numbers allows us to grasp the breadth of the business that on the "Big Data” could develop in the near future: in the last two years the proliferation of devices connected to the network (PCs, tablets, smartphones) has doubled the production of data, which today amounts to about 2,8 “zettabytes” (trillions of bytes) and which in 2020 it will reach – according to a study by IDC presented by EMC Corporation - quote 40 zb, 14% more than previous estimates.
This is a number that is difficult to understand, but to intuitively grasp the extent of the "ocean of data" on which we will soon be navigating, it is sufficient to say that 40 Zb are equivalent to 57 times the number of all grains of sand that make up the beaches on earth today.
Extract value from this immense mass it is easier said than done, but if digital information represents booty, the danger is that pirates will try to take possession of it. So the "Big Data" will be a increasingly contested market by brands that offer protection and "rationalization" of the knowledge spread on the web.
It is a business that currently fails to cover the annual increase in the information produced, given that over 97% is dispersed compared to a potentially usable 23%, a growing percentage that could reach 33% by 2020.
The gap between supply and demand for security and management tools is constantly increasing: in 2012, 15% of the information that needed it did not have adequate services, also due to the scarcity of available skills and the reluctance with which users adapt to technological changes.
Also geographically, notes the IDC study, we are witnessing a strong redistribution of "sources": if the emerging markets represented 23% of the digital universe up to 2010, in 2012 the percentage grew to 36%, while by 2020 The 62% of the data production will be attributable to emerging markets, among which China will have the lion's share with 22% of the total.
The scenario can only make it urgent, in Western countries but also in the Far East, the development of infrastructure physical and virtual that will have to support the growing amount of information. Broadband, liberalizations and entry of new players on the markets they will therefore be the cornerstones of the ICT architecture of the future.
