Memorex 2006 Annual Report Download - page 4

{2} Imation Annual Report
a solid platform for profitable growth
The world’s demand for data storage capacity continues to
accelerate, driven by both personal needs and the enormous
information output of businesses and governments.
Why the need for so much data storage capacity? According to
industry experts,* the world now creates more than five exabytes
(or 1018 bytes) of new data each year. Ninety-two percent of that
data is digital, while only eight percent is film or paper based.
E-mail, almost ubiquitous in today’s households and businesses,
now accounts for about 400,000 terabytes of new digital data per
year (this is equivalent to two times the amount of all material ever
printed!). Across the data storage industry, an estimated 80 percent
of all digital data resides on removable media, predominantly tape
and optical disc.
While much of the sheer volume of data generation is business
related, our digital consumer lifestyles are creating a daily personal
influx of new digital data – and the need to store it. Consider that a
single high-resolution digital photo requires megabytes of storage,
and it is easy to see how quickly consumer storage needs can grow.
A modern “digital home” can contain nearly a terabyte of personal
storage in the family’s collections of music and movies, digital photos
and home office backups, typically stored on CDs and DVDs. (This
amount of data, if printed, would require the paper made from 50,000
trees.) New and emerging formats such as USB flash drives, flash
cards, removable hard disks, and next-generation high-capacity HD
DVD and Blu-ray discs continue to meet the diverse needs of users for
fast, reliable, convenient and efficient storage media as the rate of
data creation, accumulation and storage shows no signs of slowing.
*University of California, Berkeley and Horison Information Strategies
USB flash drives and flash cards
A LARGE GROWTH OPPORTUNITY
Source: Market Research and Company Estimates