More power needed: storage is part of the solution. (Critical Issues).

Few people had access to computers 20 years ago, and mainframes ruled processing. Today, the situation is reversed. Today, the annual growth of storage demand is 60%. By 2008, the average company will manage 10 times as much data as it does today. The widespread use of a broad array of data devices and services has created unprecedented demand to store, retrieve, and communicate information.

According to the landmark University of California at Berkeley data demand study (www.sims.berkeley.edu/research/projects/how-much-info/index.html), total worldwide information volume generated annually is about 1.5 exabytes (1x[10.sup.18]). In addition, of this total, an estimated 93% is now born digital, i.e., it first occurs in a digital format.

In addition, roughly 55% of the world's disk drives, where much of these data are generated, are on single-user desktop systems. These single-user systems, personal computers (PC), and workstations require energy and cooling when spinning disks to maintain data. Sleep mode

reduces electricity demand somewhat. However the amount of data being created is staggering, resulting in continued astronomical growth in data storage demand.

Storage Technologies

Four media types--magnetic, optical, film, and paper--provide most of the data storage capacity.

Magnetic storage is clearly the technology choice for data storage, with more than 80% of the world's original content stored on magnetic disks and tapes. Densities for magnetic disks have increased more than 60% a year since 1990, measured in millions of bits per square inch, keeping pace with the growing demand for storage. Magnetic tape capacities are improving at rates far beyond historic levels, with future roadmaps describing cartridges that contain more than 1 terabyte of data and densities of more than 11 gigabits per square inch.