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Consumers to store more content in the cloud
IT News |
28/06/2012
As consumers become more comfortable with the concept of cloud computing, they are expected to store more of their digital content on remote servers.
According to IT analyst Gartner, the desire to share content and access it on multiple devices will motivate consumers to store a third of their digital content in the cloud by 2016.
Just seven per cent of consumer content was held in the cloud in 2011, but this is expected to grow to 36 per cent by 2016.
"Historically, consumers have generally stored content on their PCs, but as we enter the post-PC era, consumers are using multiple connected devices, the majority of which are equipped with cameras," explained Shalini Verma, principal research analyst at Gartner.
"This is leading to a massive increase in new user-generated content that requires storage."
She said that with the emergence of the personal cloud, this fast-growing consumer digital content will quickly get disaggregated from connected devices.
Gartner predicts that worldwide consumer digital storage needs will grow from 329 exabytes in 2011 to 4.1 zettabytes in 2016, due to the increased adoption of camera-equipped smartphones and tablets.
Average storage per household will grow from 464 gigabytes in 2011 to 3.3 terabytes in 2016, the analyst predicted.
"The bulk of the cloud storage needs of consumers in the near term will be met by social media sites such as Facebook, which offer free storage space for uploading photos and videos for social sharing," Gartner said.
On-premises storage will remain the main repository of consumer digital content, although Gartner predicts that its share will progressively drop from 93 per cent in 2011 to 64 per cent in 2016.
Cloud storage will grow at an aggressive pace during this period, the firm stated, led by the North American and Western European markets.
Ms Verma said local storage will become further integrated with home networking, presenting opportunities for local storage providers to partner with home networking and automation service providers.
"Cloud storage will grow with the emergence of the personal cloud, which in turn will simplify the direct-to-cloud model, allowing users to directly store user-generated content in the cloud," the expert claimed.
"As storage becomes a part of the personal cloud, it will become further commoditised. Therefore, online storage and sync companies need to have a strategic rethink about their future approach."
Posted by John Lynes
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