The Internet is nearly four decades old, but 90% of its data is no older than 2016. In fact, IDC’s Seagate Rethink Data Survey found that the amount of data created in just one hour today is the same as an entire year’s worth of data would be twenty years ago. These statistics illustrate data’s explosive expansion in recent years, a trend that is poised to continue. Just how has the world become one of big data?
How Data Got So Big
The type of data–or content–that is created in 2021 differs from the data of the original Internet. Video content reigns supreme, and thanks to broadband connections, users can easily stream it from their desktop or mobile devices. Even video games are streamable, a far cry from waiting hours or days to download a single MP3 at the turn of the century.
Social media boast millions of users and billions of new posts, photos, comments, and reactions each year, all of which create data that social networks must store and issue on command. However, data isn’t all about ‘play.’ Professionals work from home using online apps and data backed up to the cloud instead of local programs or hard drives. This would not have been possible just ten years ago.
The Right Connection for Growing Data
An impressive array of servers and networking equipment, not to mention the professionals who service those devices, make the Internet possible in its current form. Yet even if a server is online and capable of sending data, local machines and networks must be able to upload and download data nearly instantly. This is never more true than for businesses that deal with large files or many concurrent users.
Because of the growth in data, even some medium businesses now utilize dedicated Internet access. A standard high-speed connection might be good enough for home users and the smallest companies, but bandwidth quickly becomes strained when there are multiple simultaneous users or operations. Beyond that, traditional broadband Internet signals are shared among multiple households, not just users within one household. This further divides bandwidth.
For facilities with hundreds or even thousands of users, dedicated Internet access is a must. These services ensure a signal transmits directly between the provider and the consumer without bandwidth sharing. This limits downtime or lag, which may be costly for productivity by preventing internal and external users from accessing critical data.
Recent Comments