Back Up My Shoes

2:20 PM -- ORLANDO, Fla. -- Storage Networking World (SNW) -- Storage managers, brace yourselves: You're about to have some storage problems you never dreamed of.

"How many of you woke up this morning thinking, 'Oh my gosh, I've got to worry about data coming into my systems from someone's running shoes,' " quipped technology forecaster Paul Saffo in his keynote address here at SNW this morning.

But with the growth of co-called interactive personal media, that kind of prospect isn't so far-fetched.

Saffo, whose credentials include degrees from Harvard, Stanford, and Cambridge, said we are moving into a new economy, in which folk consume and create a market at the same time.

His chief example was Second Life, an online community and "virtual world," in which residents create avatars to dress up, socialize, and buy and sell various items -- all in a world called "Linden."Many attendees hadn't heard of Second Life. "You people have to get out more!" Saffo said. "Second Life has huge storage implications."

What's happening in Linden will likely be a precursor to lots of other online activity that will ultimately affect data centers, Saffo warned. "People will use cell phones and iPods to track their avatars and activity on eBay," he said. Data from sensors, RFID-equipped gear, and robots will add to the mix.

As all of this unfolds, there will be greater granularity in the kinds of interactions folk have online, with attendant storage requirements. "This stuff is going to stream upwards dramatically," Saffo said.

To prepare for this imminent future, Saffo suggests that storage managers think "outside the context," noting that what may have the most impact on their data centers may come from outside the storage industry.

There isn't much time for delay, in his view. "I think we're in for a period when things are going to accelerate... A whole bunch of futures are about to arrive late -- and in unanticipated ways."Mary Jander, Avatar Editor, Byte and Switch