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Internet of things creates data challenge

Lebo Mashiloane
By Lebo Mashiloane
Johannesburg, 15 Apr 2014

The Internet of things continues to accelerate the rate at which data is created, presenting challenges in how this information is protected and made readily available.

So says Sumash Singh, senior manager, data protection and availability division at EMC Southern Africa.

"The reality today is that South Africa's data acceleration is equivalent to what's happening in the more developed world," explains Singh. "We suddenly have an accelerated use of platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The Internet of things is driving rapid growth of data and allowing for many new opportunities to open up in the digital universe."

Additionally, the emergence of wireless technologies, smart products and software-defined businesses are playing a central role in catapulting the volume of the world's data, says Singh, adding that "as a result of new levels of competitiveness being created by organisations, consumers find themselves with different applications that perform similar functions, meaning more data".

To illustrate this rapid creation of data, he cites the iPad analogy that the amount of information in the digital universe could fill a stack of iPad Air tablets reaching two-thirds of the way to the moon (253 704 kilometres). By 2020, there will be 6.6 stacks.

"It's no longer just about having this information at hand, it's now about the analytics behind how you exercise your access to it as a consumer, as a taxpayer," he says. "So if I'm investing my money as a tax payer, what are the results of that, and where is this money going?"

Singh notes that this is where we start seeing financial institutions, agricultural organisations, mining companies and the public sector taking all this information and handing it over to the Internet of things. This way, he says, they are able to set up a system analytics that, in turn, creates a brand new set of information, which has its own level of importance and benefits for a company.

"And then, we become consumers of that information," observes Singh. "How do we better maximise our efficiency when driving from one point to another using the Internet of things for example?" he asks. "The use of navigational devices today is an answer to how we are able to save money through finding quicker routes from the data we receive."

However, Singh notes that this information has to be stored somewhere and made easily available. He points out that its future use means just putting money into a bank account will no longer be sufficient for consumers. "With the data at our disposal we will want to know, 'what could I have done differently to save more money?'"

At the back of this, he shares that EMC has set up a data protection and availability division, which is an evolution of the company's existing back-up recovery system. With EMC acquiring Data Domain in 2009, Singh states that the unit's specific focus is on driving customer adoption of more efficient and revolutionary data protection technology.

"The reason for that came from an internal survey which found that 70% of ICT professionals have no confidence in data recovery systems. The unit is built on a principle that data protection needs to be a foundational component within a software-defined data centre. It also accelerates data protection-as-a -service, enabling IT to shift from on-premise to public and hybrid cloud environments."

When information is broad, it's uncontrollable, remarks Singh. In SA, he says, a lot of information that sits on laptops, tablets and smartphones, is growing and will reach a continuum in the next five years before the power shifts more to mobile phones, forcing EMC to ensure that whatever is done then, the foundation is laid now.

"We are making a lot of our operating models platform-ready. EMC is also creating massive amounts of applications for consumers to interact with their data on a more personal level. Ultimately, we want to be able to help customers determine how much of their information is valuable to the business," concludes Singh.

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