What the heck is a zetabyte?
That was the first thought I had when I read about a new “Global Cloud Index” created by networking technology vendor Cisco. According to the inaugural index released this week, data traffic from cloud computing will reach 1.6 zetabytes by 2015. That is roughly 12 times the traffic related to the “cloud” today, which stands at a mere 130 exabytes. According to Cisco, 1.6 zetabyte is a ginormous amount of data roughly equal to:
- 22 trillion hours of music (streaming, no less!)
- 5 trillion hours of business Web conferencing WITH a Web cam
For perspective, the Cisco index data suggests that in the 2015 timeframe referenced, cloud infrastructure traffic will account for about one-third of total data center traffic.
So, even though the cloud data explosion is mind-boggling, the amount of data that “traditional” data centers will need to handle is even moreso. That becomes even more true as servers, storage and networks are virtualized and all manner of workloads are shuttled around internally as needed.
For me, this data (even if it winds up not being 100 percent accurate when 2015 rolls around), points up the enormous management task posed by the ongoing shift to virtualized data centers and to collaborative applications that mix video all on the same grand IP or communications infrastructure. Sadly, the simpler we make computing for end users, the more complex things often become for those responsible for managing the infrastructure behind-the-scenes.
For all this to work, ultimately, a huge portion of the routine tasks that go into keeping data centers humming along smoothly (or not) will need to be automated and entrusted to smart management technology. Or there could be plenty of stop and go traffic ahead for your data center, quite literally.
Is your organization ready to play traffic cop?
