Data Age 2025: The Evolution of Data to Life-Critical Don’t Focus on Big Data; Focus on the Data That’s Big Sponsored by Seagate vending machines, which produce data in small signals. In the meantime, Big Data analytics, cloud applications, and real-time data requirements are pushing faster growth in core and edge platforms. While mobile communication networks continue to improve in speed and reliability, time-sensitive applications that impact the quality of service, or even the sustenance of life, require data fabrics to extend out from the datacenter core to a dynamic enterprise edge. Software-defined storage technology enables rapid creation and migration of edge storage environments wherein the intersection of live data and Big Data analytics occurs, meeting the need of local and mobile analytic workloads. Delivering data in this way will enable seemless and efficient traffic flow management among connected vehicles (e.g., prioritized traffic protocols for emergency response vehicles) or real-time fraud detection or facial recognition for improved security at sporting events or transportation hubs. The growing amount of data creation across an increasing number of connected devices in a mobile, real-time world is a fundamental driver of edge storage. Figure 3. Where Data is Created 100% 80% 60% 40% Core 20% Edge Endpoint 0% 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 Source: IDC’s Data Age 2025 study, sponsored by Seagate, April 2017 We see another rapidly changing landscape when evaluating the platforms that generate and ultimately store data (see Figure 4). One of the fundamental realities occurring is the resurgence of the enterprise as a location for data usage. From 1980 to the early 2000s, PCs and entertainment media dominated data creation and consumption. However, with improved network and IP connectivity over time, there is less need for data to be stored locally on PCs and other mobile devices. In IDC White Paper © 2017 IDC. www.idc.com | Page 8