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I think I've tracked down this extraordinary claim to this 2007 DoD paper on the "Global Information Grid", where it states: Key target GIG technologies includ
by Jabbles 13y ago
I think I've tracked down this extraordinary claim to this 2007 DoD paper on the "Global Information Grid", where it states:
Key target GIG technologies include:
Very large scale data storage, delivery, and transmission technologies that support the need to index and retain streaming video and other information coming from the
expanding array of theater airborne and other sensor networks. The target GIG supports capacities exceeding exabytes (10^18 bytes) and possibly yottabytes (10^24 bytes) of data.
So someone had a vague plan for a storage centre and couldn't put a finger on how much it would store to within 6 orders of magnitude! I don't count this as evidence that the NSA has more storage capacity than everybody else on the planet put together.
http://www.msco.mil/documents/_7_GIG%20Architectural%20Vision%20-%20200706%20v1.0.pdf http://www.msco.mil/documents/_7_GIG%20Architectural%20Visio...
- Einherji 13y agoSomeone at the DoD did not think this one through...
- Symmetry 13y agoWell, if this is some infrastructure that's designed to last they're going to be expecting to migrate to denser sorts of storage in the future. A storage system that stores exabytes today and can be scaled to store yottabytes in 2033 does seem like a hard but reasonable ambition.
- jcurbo 13y agoThe GIG does not describe one data center, it is an all-encompassing term for the entire set of interconnected computing resources owned and operated by the DoD.
- epistasis 13y agoThank you for finding this! While exabyte-scale is fairly realistic, yotta-byte relies upon utterly massive improvements in technology in order to fit in a data center the size of the one in Utah. The article states that microSD cards would be the volume of the pyramid at Giza. 4TB drives at maximum density, full racks of 4U-80 drive enclosures, would occupy 360 square miles of racks. Tape is less dense than hard drives, though it has huge benefits for shipping, transport, and long term storage. So yottabytes may be feasible, but it's a ways out there.