Storage data changes in 2022

According to Davide Villa, Sales Director EMEA at Western Digital, these accelerations are partly due to the pandemic. He has made five key predictions for 2022:

1. Increase in archive data and need for policy
Archive data will be stored in cheaper and underused layers that store information until it is needed, such as a malfunction or cyber attack. “Cold” or static storage is the starting point for data that needs to be protected, but not necessarily accessed in a millisecond. The amount of storage space in data centers will continue to increase as companies start making multiple backups in various locations. As a result, it will be necessary to look closely at the way in which these companies archive their data. The data that is not actively needed can be stored at a lower cost.
One prediction is that most archive data will be stored on tape or hard disk drives (HDDs). In addition to being cheaper than HDDs, tape storage also has a higher data access latency, making it an option only for very cold storage. Developing HDD technologies into next-gen platforms to improve both the total cost of ownership (TCO) and accessibility of active archive solutions. These include higher surface densities, mechanical innovations and material innovations.

2. The rise of the green data center
Data centers can be the largest energy consumer in a country and this contributes to increased CO2 emissions. Thanks to energy saving targets, we will see an increase in organizations working on making their data centers more sustainable in 2022. These organizations will therefore focus on investing time and money to make existing data centers more efficient, rather than building new ones. There is more interest in less writing with a higher capacity. That’s more energy efficient than multiple low-capacity drives. In addition, it increases the storage density per rack and can reduce the number of racks required to reach the required capacity, further reducing overall power consumption and TCO. JBOD solutions can be used to reduce power consumption. With the ability to isolate drives from vibration and channel airflow to maintain optimal temperatures, each drive can intelligently perform at its maximum.
The prediction for 2022 is that companies will also increasingly prioritize data centers that use air cooling or renewable energy.

3. Data Ownership Drives Storage Revolution
The acceleration of digital transformation brings new concerns about data ownership. Maintaining regional control over the data generated by digital technologies is becoming a critical priority for organizations. Data must be stored and protected in accordance with regulations. For companies based in the EU, this means that data must remain within the borders of the Union.
By 2022, organizations are predicted to experience a ‘storage revolution’ to meet data protection requirements. Consider, for example, the online storage of medical information. This requires major investments in high-capacity, low-latency storage solutions.

4. Gaming shifts to the cloud
2021 saw an increasing shift from gaming to the cloud. Streaming services played an important role in this. Take streaming Netflix that entered the cloud gaming market through Netflix Games for mobile devices. The data center plays an important role in this, both in terms of enabling online gaming and storing the livestream gameplay. With the shift to cloud gaming, companies like Xbox and Netflix must virtualize their data centers to stay profitable.
The prediction for 2022 is that non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are on the rise in gaming. EA has even stated that NFTs are part of the game industry’s future. These tokens are unique units of data stored on blockchains that prove products are genuine and allow gamers to commercialize personalized downloadable content, from weapons and cheat codes to packs. As companies and individuals increasingly explore the potential of NFTs, storage requirements should also be considered.

5. Clustered Storage for Self-Driving Vehicles
Autonomous cars will act as small data centers. Self-driving vehicles currently use a distributed storage architecture, but in the future they will rely on clustered storage by default. These clusters or zones communicate with a central hub, where data processing takes place. For example, the application software brings together data from internal maps with the latest traffic information. The vehicle’s internal IoT sensor devices also help provide a complete picture of the overall traffic situation. This zone-based storage relies on centralized compute and storage solutions rather than distributed solutions. In addition to less cabling, ECUs and small storage devices, this architecture also reduces the weight of the car and therefore the associated costs. New architectures are also fueled by sustainability considerations: the reduced weight of the car means less CO2 emissions.