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Sharad Srivastava
With the planet moving into the digital era and professionals becoming increasingly mobile, it becomes essential to carry our world with us. This becomes possible through the use of high-end data storage systems. However, I feel that the relationship between data storage and changing business is one that is synergistic. As the world progresses, requirements change and technologies advance to meet these needs.
The data storage industry has evolved remarkably in the past fifty years. The world has witnessed hard drives with fifty platters, each measuring two feet in diameter in 1956 to drives measuring less than an inch in diameter today. The very first hard disk drive launched was the IBM 305 RAMAC (Random Access Method of Accounting and Control). It had a capacity of 5 MB and cost approximately USD 50,000 (taking into account today’s price and exchange into consideration, this would work out to about Rs. 2.3 crore).
The next development came in 1963 when IBM had introduced the removable disk pack drive. This was followed by the launch of the eight-inch floppy disk drive in 1970. The year 1973 marked the launch of what is now considered as the predecessor of all current hard disk drives – the model 3340 Winchester sealed hard disk drive. Further to this, the first hard disk drive for microcomputers was launched in 1980 with a 5.25-inch form factor. This was followed by the introduction of the first one-inch high 3 1/2 inch hard disk drive in 1988.
Today, you can buy the smallest hard drive (less than one inch) with a capacity of 4 GB costing less than US$ 200.
Over the decades, as technologies have evolved, the cost of hard disks have fallen drastically. However, the increased levels of performance, capacity, and reliability have complemented this. It has become, the most cost effective medium of storage for any digital content. In recent years, the hard disk industry has seen many new developments like reduction in drive noise levels, advanced power management, increase in drive ruggedness as well as durability, time shift capability, etc. These capabilities have made hard disk suitable for new appliances and devices (E.g. consumer electronics).
Going places
The hard drive today is going to places that one had not imagined before. Some of the trends in this segment are elaborated below.
The world has become a smaller place. This is due to an exponential growth in technology innovations, telecommunications, personal technology and most importantly, consumerism. In keeping with this, the consumer electronics market has grown as well. It is the newest target segment now open to manufacturers of data storage. Globally, consumer electronics is expected to grow at approximately 37 per cent year-on-year for the next few years. This includes personal video recorders (PVRs) and small form factor storage for handheld devices such as entertainment (MP3 and video) players, mobile communications devices (such as phones) and navigation devices. India is also seeing growth in these newer market segments.
Living digital
The concept of the “Digital Lifestyle” too is taking root in India. The likes of Intel, Microsoft and Cisco have been backing the trend with their range of entertainment and communications offerings for the home user. The new age Smart Home is now equipped with state-of-the-art home theatre systems, wireless networks, gaming consoles and security systems. As these aspirational technologies go mainstream, so too has the need for additional data storage to keep up with the data they generate. The consumer is now looking to store photographs, films, and music in digital formats. In additional to the primary storage component that is part of a standard PC, external data storage too is becoming an integral part of this eco-system, offering the ability to back-up and archive data at the push of a button.
Enterprises too have been looking at strengthening their data storage infrastructure. I personally believe that this has been a huge growth area for data storage manufacturers. As enterprises reach critical mass in terms of the data that they create, send and receive, data storage will garner a greater emphasis by IT leaders. This also ties in closely with their disaster recovery infrastructure, which is a must-have for enterprises of all sizes and scale. Building redundancies into the network data storage has become crucial and is a critical success factor when faced with natural or manmade disasters.
A different ball game - Gaming
Another segment that is seeing some traction worldwide is gaming. The gaming market here has seen tremendous growth recently, giving data storage manufacturers a new market to target. As gaming inches its way to becoming the Indian geek’s pass-time of choice, hard drives are becoming the objects of their affection as well. Although a niche segment, hard drive manufacturers are creating drives that not only provide higher capacities and RPMs but also slick casings and special lighted drives.
The proliferation of digital content, continuous expansion of data generated by the business world, and the means to distribute and consume that content is creating high demand for data storage in computing and consumer applications. Rotating magnetic storage is a dominant form of data storage because of its extreme capacity per cost, high performance and variety of form factors.
As technologies have moved into the realm of next-generation applications and platforms, so too have data storage technologies. At the enterprise level in particular, reliability, performance and capacity are three factors that the market demands. Emerging hard drive technologies such as perpendicular recording promise the next generation in areal density over the next few years.
Personal and closer
With its fifty years of rich history and evolution under its belt, hard disk storage proves to be a strong support for businesses and consumers. This is evident from the remarkable growth of the data storage market and increasing rate of demand for high-capacity, affordable storage for the computing systems and entertainment devices by the businesses as well as the consumers. The hard drive has gone beyond the traditional computing space to touch parts of our lives that are more personal and closer to the average consumer. In the future, we can expect to see the hard disk integrated into almost every major appliance in our home or office.
The author is director - Sales (India & South Asia), Western Digital
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