Top 5 Technology and Data Trends of 2023 by Western Digital
Trend n°1: sustainability, driver of innovation
The volume of data and the use of modern technologies such as AI (artificial intelligence) are increasing. A phenomenon that leads to increased electricity consumption in data centers. Germany’s Bitkom industry consortium shows in a recent study that it expects an annual growth of 3.5-5% in this demand until 2030. . Storage solutions are a key parameter for energy consumption in data centers. Modern technologies that are both energy efficient and cost efficient will therefore be in great demand. An example of this is helium-based hard drives.
Helium is an internal gas that is hermetically sealed in the hard disk’s casing instead of air, which is seven times as dense. This gain helps to reduce the effects of the flow that occurs when the discs rotate in the case and the amount of power required for this process. This allows more, thinner drives to fit into the case, resulting in a higher-capacity solution for the same format. Helium-based hard drives have other advantages: they tend to heat up less than air-filled hard drives, so less ventilation is required in data centers. This reduces power consumption and improves disk reliability.
Trend n°2: metaverse and digital twin
Metaverse bridges the gap between the real and virtual worlds. Therefore, this year should meet another advanced technology, namely digital twin technology, which can be used to create digital models of physical or logical objects, from simple resources and products to complex environments such as power grids, warehouses or factories.
Thanks to the data collected by sensors of connected objects (IoT), it is possible to create more realistic digital twins for, for example, a factory. Thus, companies will be able to immerse themselves in this environment using, for example, virtual reality (VR) headsets. Facilitating knowledge and gaining deeper experience without having to physically enter production processes. In this way, it will be possible to improve the development or design of products in particular.
Trend #3: Long-term data archiving
When faced with the continuous growth of data volumes generated, cold storage becomes important. This is the long-term archiving of data that is not used as soon as it is produced and is processed only when necessary. These include CCTV recordings and unstructured data such as data or images from sensors with great potential for future applications around AI or analytics. Cold storage is an inexpensive and increasingly popular approach to data storage. By 2025, approximately 80% of digital data may be stored in archives.
Trend #4: DNA storage
New solutions and innovations are needed to be able to archive digital data for more than 100 years. Storage in DNA, or more specifically, in the molecular structure of DNA, is particularly promising. If it sounds like science fiction, the implementation of this technology is completely possible today and may even revolutionize the future of data storage. The use of DNA molecules for data transport has great advantages: very high storage density and low maintenance costs. While it is still in development, major advances in genetic engineering and sequencing in recent years, as well as declining costs of DNA synthesis, may soon promote DNA storage to the market.
Trend #5: A smart storage strategy
Data storage has become a critical issue for businesses, partly due to the irreversible explosion in volumes created. Technologies such as IoT, 5G and AI are also well established in the market, generating data for video surveillance, retail or crime prevention in data centers, network edges and end devices, smart cities. Due to the variety of application areas, storage requirements vary greatly. Even the formats differ significantly depending on whether it is a surveillance camera, a drone or a factory robot. Therefore, to succeed, companies will have to adopt a smarter strategy by adapting their data storage architecture to their future needs.
Companies should be ready by 2023
Regardless of how fast these trends develop in the coming year, the key business activity will be to adapt existing data infrastructure to tomorrow’s needs. The idea is to become a data-driven organization that will unleash their full potential. By 2023, companies must put data at the center of their strategies and operations, regardless of their specialty.
