A Day in the Life of a Datum

Each day we create and consume massive amounts of data. This slide show illustrates the journey one datum goes through from inception to reality.

Big data and the Internet of things (IoT) are disrupting entire markets and merging our virtual worlds with our physical worlds. Within the last two years, more than 90 percent of the world's data has been created. IDC predicts that the data we create and copy annually will reach 44 zettabytes, or 44 trillion gigabytes, by 2020. Salesforce projects the number of connected devices available will reach 75 billion by 2020. Data surrounds us. Whether it's on our mobile phones, wearables, or home and/or office devices, we create and consume massive amounts of it each day. Have you ever stopped to think about where and how that data started its day? Who it touched before you? Or what happens to it afterward? In the following slide show, Calvin Hsu, a Citrix vice president, illustrates the journey one datum goes through from inception to reality, highlighting the phases of data—at rest, in use and on the move—and the types of devices, applications and services that data reaches along the way.

See the slideshow