Dave McCrory, VP of Growth and Global Head of Insights and Analytics

December 10, 2020

On Sept. 28, the first report measuring and quantifying the Data Gravity megatrend was released.

In it, we explained Data Gravity as a gravitational force that was impairing workflows, creating latency and impacting security. We also showed how Data Gravity was expanding on a global scale and the macro trends that were amplifying it along the way.

However, the intensity or growth did not end with the Data Gravity Index release.

Nor did it reduce the urgency to deal with it.

Today, we're releasing Version 1.5 of the Data Gravity Index. You might be asking what's changed and why is this update so important? I have answers for you.

The metro expansion and industry inclusion
We've added 32 additional metros to our original 21, and the top six with the highest CAGR through 2020-2024 are:

Jakarta

Singapore

Rome

Hong Kong

Melbourne

Atlanta

We've also been analyzing 23 industries, and we discovered roughly 70% of those industries are experiencing intense thresholds of Data Gravity. Specifically, the report drills down into seven of those 23, providing insights related to CAGR and exactly where Data Gravity intensity occurs globally.

Prime example: The Banking and Finance Industry
The Data Gravity intensity is extremely elevated in the banking/finance industry. They adopt technologies to fight problems, and the rest of the Global 2000 and large enterprises have to do the same thing. However, it's important to point out that as new technology is deployed…more data is created.

So, it's incredibly beneficial to start looking at these insights and begin changing how to think about their IT architecture - now instead of later. This means moving from an application-centric architecture view to a data-centric architecture view.

Even if you're not in the banking/finance industry, data creation remains incredibly important if you work in, or are partnered with businesses in this industry. This is especially true if you're trying to plan internally for multi-site infrastructure deployments or if you're trying to prepare for what's going to happen with strategic partnerships or other initiatives.

Deeper insights into data creation, growth and movement
In the Data Gravity Index DGx™ 1.5, the Continuous Data Creation Lifecycle page is updated with new processing and aggregation/exchange data.

The Data Gravity Index 1.0 spoke to the fact that there's an enormous amount of data growth that's occurring, also it is increasing at an incredible rate.

Enterprises have to start making decisions on:

What data are they going to store?
Where do they store it?
Where's the best place to process the data?
Do you bring the processing to the data?
Do you bring the data to the processing?

The pace at which data is growing far outstrips the speed at which storage can be deployed. People interact more with systems - whether it's because of the pandemic where we're all working virtually from home or because of the latest innovations with everyday tech, like smartphones.

These are all leading us to interact more, and those interactions generate more data.

Businesses are then analyzing that data, and that generates even more data.

So, every time the data gets touched…it's creating more data.

That virtuous cycle is just moving the flywheel of data creation faster and faster.

How do you process the data? Traditionally, we're dragging the data to where the processing is, and that won't work if the data grows at an exponential rate. There's a lack of network capacity to move it a long-distance or process and store all of it.

The thinking behind approaches and architectures must change.

New global forecasts
Through our global footprint of multi-tenant data center facilities, we have a unique vantage point in understanding the effects of Data Gravity Intensity on a worldwide scale. The Data Gravity Index DGx™ 1.5 features new forecasts, including:

A metro forecast chart expanded to 53 metros (with new CAGR callouts)
Forecast updates for Enterprise Data Processing and Enterprise Data Storage
A new Global Industry 2020-2024 CAGR forecast
Global industry forecasts for seven strategic industries that will likely be the first to need to address Data Gravity

What these trends mean to you
If you aren't in motion, you are stagnant, and that means you are likely to fall behind. That's just a fact of life. In the technology space, things have been evolving and growing, faster and faster. For an enterprise to stay on top and remain competitive, it has to evolve at that same pace or even more quickly.

Here are a few questions you should ask yourself:

What are you dealing with (data-wise)?
Where are your centers of Data Gravity?
What locations are impacted, and how are they being affected?
Where are you partners located?
Where are your customers?

The last one is a prime example of the necessity of understanding the situation. You may believe that your customers are in one place, but they may actually be in many places. How do you serve them all properly and provide a great customer experience?

You have to fully understand this and map out how to make good, well-informed decisions.

The sooner, the better.

The Report Proves the Need for Swift Change
As data creation continues to grow and Data Gravity continues to intensify, the numbers, forecasts and impacts will also grow and evolve. We're already at the 1.5 release, and 2.0 will be out next year.

Things will evolve each time, whether it be improvements to the model or more data segmentation. It's part of our commitment to provide continuous improvement to insights and allow business leaders to make better decisions.

So, each time there's a new version of the Data Gravity Index, there will be some unique valuable insight for enterprises, service providers, IT professionals and decision-makers. If you are interested, you will be able to zoom in on that interest, get more out of it each time, and hopefully make better decisions for your enterprise that result in reduced risk, lower costs and revenue growth through unbounded, secure data analytic performance.