1. Motivated by Mobility: Five groups in this typology – making up 39% of the adult population – have seen the frequency of their online use grow as their reliance on mobile devices has increased. For these groups, growth in frequency of online use is linked not only to increasing broadband adoption, but to positive and improving attitudes about how mobile access makes them more available to others. Across the groups, a lot of variation exists regarding what these changes mean to users. Some find this extra connectivity a platform for self expression. Others are not entirely positive about ICTs’ impacts on their lives.

2. Stationary media will do: The remaining 61% of the adult population does not feel the pull of mobility – or anything else – drawing them further into the digital world. Across the five groups that make up this part of the population, several have a lot of technology at hand and have seen their tech assets grow in recent years. Yet ICTs remain on the periphery in their lives, suggesting that some adult Americans reach a plateau in their technology use. Some groups are content with this distant relationship to technology. For others, even a little modern gadgetry is too much.

For 39% of the adult population, mobile and wireline access tools have a symbiotic relationship. Mobile users typically have ready access to high-speed connections at home, which likely pushes them toward deeper home high-speed use; the digital content found on the mobile device may prompt more activity on their broadband-enabled big screen at home.

At the same time, the desktop internet experience migrates to “on the go” as the handheld becomes a complementary access point to connect with people and digital content wherever a wireless network reaches. The five groups reliant on stationary media tools show no growth (or declines) in the frequency of online use even though more of them have broadband access. They show low levels of use of mobile applications and decidedly tepid attitudes about ICTs.

In other words, 61% of the adult population have a settled disposition toward ICTs and – whether they experience information overload, difficulties in getting gadgets to function, or frustration when the cell phone rings – are not rapidly becoming more active users of ICTs.

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A growing number of mobile phone subscribers worldwide are taking online social networking to the streets. The U.K. leads Europe in mobile social networking on a percentage basis — with the U.S. boasting comparable numbers. In the U.K., approximately 810,000 mobile subscribers, or 1.7% of all mobile subscribers in the country, visited social networking websites on their mobile phones in the first quarter of 2008. That reach percentage was twice as high as it was in other major European markets?though similar to the U.S., where 1.6% of all mobile subscribers (4.1 million in all) accessed social networks via their phones in December 2007.

In the U.S., MySpace.com, the leading social networking site among PC users is also the most popular mobile Internet social networking site. The site logged 2.8 million unique mobile users in December 2007. Also in December, Facebook, which has the second largest audience among social networking sites, had 1.8 million unique mobile users. In contrast, Facebook led mobile social networking sites in the U.K. with 557,000 unique mobile users per month in Q1 2008, while MySpace followed with 211,000 unique mobile users. While Facebook and MySpace.com were also among the top social networking sites in other European countries during the first quarter of 2008, MSN’s Windows Live Spaces led in Italy (154,000 unique mobile users per month) and France (106,000), and ranked second in Germany (45,000) behind MySpace, which boasted 52,000 unique mobile users per month. Social networking is already a global phenomenon, and going mobile is the next big thing. In the U.K and the U.S. already see millions of users of MySpace.com, Facebook and other social networks interacting with their virtual spaces while they’re on the go. Consumer demand for mobile social networking may be a significant driver of mobile service pricing models as evidenced by Vodafone UK’s recent move to offer unlimited Internet access as a standard feature of its new monthly mobile price plans.

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Bloggers are younger and higher percentages are Hispanic & African American than the general population. A higher percentage of Democrats than of Republicans are blogging.

Now that Blogging might better be called a market segment rather than a market niche, it’s useful with regard to positioning the marketing message to understand what a Blogger looks like, as distinguished from the rest of the population. According to the BIGresearch Simultaneous Media Survey, 26% of all adults say they regularly or occasionally blog. Of those:

• 53.7% are male
• 44.7% are married
• 28.4% hold a professional or managerial position
• 10.4% are students.

Bloggers tend to be younger, averaging 37.6 years old, compared to 44.8 for adults 18+ (the “general population”). Ethnically:

• 69.7% of Bloggers are White/Caucasian (vs. 76.1%)
• 12.2% are African American/Black (vs. 11.4%)
• 3.7% are Asian (vs. 2.0%)
• 20% of Bloggers are Hispanic, compared to 14.8% of adults 18+

In addition, Bloggers report a lower income ($55,819 vs. $56,811) and are better educated (14.3 years of education vs. 14.2).

Political blogs are becoming increasingly common, especially in this election year, where 24.6% of registered voters say they regularly or occasionally blog. Political affiliation of regular/occasional Bloggers look like this in 2008:

• 37.6% of Libertarians regularly/occasionally blog
• 26.9% of Democrats
• 25.7% of Independents
• 22.9% Republicans

Analysis of Bloggers shows that they are using most forms of new media significantly more than the average market.

Although Bloggers are more likely to use new media, the analysis finds that more conventional forms of media trigger their Internet searches. Magazines, at 51.6%, rank highest, followed by:

• 48.8% reading an article
• 46.1% broadcast TV
• 44.5% cable TV
• 42.5% face-to-face communication
• 39.7% newspaper

Gary Drenik, President of BIGresearch, concludes ?”Bloggers are a diverse group and not who you would expect…”

For more information, please visit BIGresearch here.

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The World’s Broadband

Four European Union (EU) nations have the best broadband deployment rates in the world. The Single Telecoms Market Progress Report has shown that Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden saw penetration rates in excess of 30 per cent at the end of last year. Along with the UK, Belgium, Luxembourg and France, these countries saw higher rates than the US in 2007, with some 19 million EU broadband lines added last year.

UNITED KINGDOM
Currently in the UK the big issue is the gap between advertised and actual speeds, so while 10Mbps might be available from a few suppliers, very few actually get this speed. According to speedtest.net – a global speed test created by actual users and approved by most of the major ISPs in the US – the real speed is closer to 3Mbps.

Things get faster next year as ADSL2+ comes online promising speeds of up to 24Mbps, although as with all DSL technology, there are physical limits and only those close to the exchange will actually get the top speeds. Virgin Media is currently trialling a 50Mbps cable service and BT is also experimenting with fiber to the home, which could offers speeds of up to 100Mbps.

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FRANCE
France has an advertised average of 44Mbps.

According to speedtest.net the average speed from those doing the test is 4.6Mbps but higher speeds are beginning to come online. ADSL2+ is already available and is being marketed as providing speeds of up to 28Mbps.

Actual speeds will vary although the copper telephone lines are generally of better quality than in the UK, so speeds are typically higher. The leading ISPs in France have announced fiber-based services. Orange and Frees’ offerings are live now and are marketed at offering speeds around 50Mbps. Free’s offer at 29 euros a month, comes bundled with a broadband telephone service, IPTV, plus a free set top box.

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GERMANY
Average advertised speeds of 9Mbps falls to 4.8Mbps according to speedtest.net.

In Germany the main delivery mechanism is still largely DSL, and the leading company is the old incumbent Deutsche Telekom. They have a VDSL network – which provides fiber as far as the street cabinet. This is live in the main German cities, and offers speeds of up to around 25Mbps. Outside of the main towns there is a mixture of ADSL 1 and 2 technologies.

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SWEDEN
Average advertised speed of 21Mbps but according to speedtest.net, people are actually achieving an average of 7.4Mbps.

In Sweden there is a VDSL network live. Fiber has been available for quite a long time with a significant number of people served by it. Speeds vary depending on which network, but can go up to 100Mbps, However there is a big polarisation between those that get it and those still relying on DSL products.

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POLAND
Average speed of 4Mbps, falls to 1.6Mbps according to speedtest.net.

In Poland there is virtually no local loop unbundling, which means little competition for the France Telecom-owned incumbent.

Speeds there aren’t fast by western European standards although there are quite a lot of so-called LAN networks (Local Area Networks) using ethernet cable, which allow for super-fast speeds because of their limited geography. This phenomenon is peculiar to eastern European countries such as Poland where the existing infrastructure isn’t great but it is relatively easy for local entrepreneurs to set up such systems quickly.

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SOUTH AFRICA
1Mbps (this data comes from the ITU as OECD doesn’t have figures for Africa).

Alongside countries such as Morocco, South Africa is one of the biggest broadband countries in Africa. The primary delivery mechanism is via broadband. WIMAX penetration is still low. Although it is likely to become an important infrastructure in Africa, currently it is too expensive to be widely deployed.

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ISRAEL
Israel’s advertised figure is 2Mbps.

Israel has very high penetration levels with around 70% of households using a broadband connection. There is quite a lot of cable services available alongside DSL and there has been quite a big government spend on broadband.

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UNITED STATES
The US has an average speed of 8Mbps according to the OECD, although it is nearly half this (4.6Mbps) according to speedtest.net.

The US is unusual because it is one of the few countries in which cable is the largest connection network. Typically cable is marketed at offering between 5Mbps and 20Mbps. Number of fiber providers, most notably Verizon which offers fiber to home, with speeds up to 20Mb, This is just available on the east coast. ATT is offering a hybrid DSL service while Qwest has just announced a fiber to street strategy.

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MEXICO
Mexico’s advertised speed is 2Mbps.

In Mexico the predominant infrastructure is broadband via DSL.

Its rich incumbent telecom firm TelMex are considering laying fiber and despite the fact that there is no large scale implementation it is likely to overtake the UK very soon in terms of the amount of fiber available.

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NEW ZEALAND
Average advertised speed of 13.5Mbps, falls to 2.4Mbps according to speedtest.net

Broadband comes largely via DSL in New Zealand where Telecom New Zealand is very dominant.

Cable is limited to one or two cities. There are very specific challenges for providers in New Zealand. Because of the distances between houses there tends to be very long telephone lines, meaning quality is not great for many. International connectivity is also an issue because of its physical distance from the rest of the world. There is not much competition meaning speeds stay slow. The model of local loop unbundling – opening the telephone exchanges to other operators – is being considered as is the idea of providing fiber to the street cabinet or to push DSL into remoter street cabinets to reduce line length.

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JAPAN
Japan has an average speed of 93Mbps according to the OECD, but this falls to 10.6Mbps according to speedtest.net, which could be indicative of the fact that fiber is concentrated in the towns and cities.

Cable broadband is quite strong in Japan but the biggest market is in fiber to the home.

This has proved so popular with consumers that DSL is actually in decline. Companies are so advanced with fiber delivery that they are beginning to find DSL surplus to requirements. The speeds fiber provides means applications such as sharing video files are standard. Fiber also dramatically improves upload speeds, making it much more suitable for web 2.0 communication, with individuals contributing back to the internet with pictures and videos.

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SOUTH KOREA
South Korea’s figure is 43Mbps.

In South Korea there has also been a very strong fiber rollout, which has been enabled, at least in part, by state contributions.

Often regarded as something of a gold standard when it comes to super-fast broadband, an amazing 90% of homes have a broadband connection of between 50 and 100Mbps. They also pay the lowest rates in the world. There are pilot services offering connections starting at 1,000Mbps. The big driver for fast broadband here is gaming and 43% of the population has a personal profile in the virtual world Cyworld, which recorded $10m worth of trade per month last year.

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CHINA
ITU data puts China’s broadband speed at 1Mbps.

China is fast becoming the world’s largest broadband economy. It is laying quite a lot of fiber which is a less disruptive option in China because of the amount of new building work being done. It already has 14 million fiber lines, compared to 9.6 million in Japan, 1.7m in the US and just a few thousand in the UK but it doesn’t generate the same speeds as in other Asian countries because the fiber tends to feed into blocks of flats rather than individual dwellings.

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61% high speed Internet users watch/download online video content at least once a week and 86% do so on a monthly basis, compared to 45% and 71%, respectively, in the 2006 study, according to a new study by Horowitz Associates. News and user-generated, non-professional content are the most often viewed genres, followed by movie previews/trailers, music videos, and previews/segments of TV shows. Weekly viewing of full episodes of television shows doubled from last year, with 16% of high speed Internet users watching TV online on a weekly basis.

NBC and ABC are the networks Internet users mention the most frequently for online TV content, with Grey’s Anatomy being the most often mentioned TV program viewed online. While consumption of broadband video has grown, the study shows that television is still the preferred platform for traditional TV content. The vast majority (70%) of Internet users who watch TV online say do so because they missed the episode on TV. 18% of these respondents say they watch TV shows online to watch them a second time (after having watched them on TV), or that they watch TV shows online just when they happen to find them or when someone else tells them about them (20%). Conversely, 13% Internet users who watch TV shows online say they watch them directly online, and not on regular TV.

Penetration of video-enabled handheld devices is on the rise; concomitantly, so is viewing of video content on these devices. 27% of Internet users have a cell, iPod/MP3 player, or PDA with video capability, and an additional 23% do not have this capability but are interested in getting it. Among those with video-enabled handheld devices, 35% watch video on their devices at least weekly and 62% do so at least monthly, translating to 18% of Internet users overall who watch video content on a handheld device at least monthly. This figure is up from 8% just one year ago.

There is a dynamic relationship between broadband access, broadband content and broadband consumption. More and better broadband content, particularly entertainment content in video form is bringing more consumers to the platform, either on their computers or on their handheld devices. This, in turn, creates an even greater demand for and expectations regarding broadband video. Importantly, the data suggest that broadband video is not cannibalistic to linear video, but rather, an enhancement to the consumers traditional TV experience”.

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By Georg Szalaifor The Hollywood Reporter

Aug 22, 2007

NEW YORK — Personal time that consumers spend on the Internet is rivaling their TV time, with user-generated content and networking sites among the most popular destinations for entertainment seekers. Plus, people seem more open to mobile content and are looking for more traditional entertainment offerings on their mobile devices than previously thought.

These are among the findings of a new IBM survey of consumer behavior in the digital age, which suggests that studios, advertisers, ad agencies, content distributors and other industry players must continue to adjust their business strategies amid changes in media usage and consumers’ increased expectations for control and community.

Among key lessons for studios: Make your content available everywhere, but don’t expect to get paid for every platform. And keep an eye on key influencers on the Web to succeed in creating word-of-mouth.

The survey is part of an IBM study on the future of advertising, set to be released in the fall, and it showed that consumers are divided over their preferences for free online content with ads or subscription fee-based content without commercials. About a third is for free content, but about 20% are willing to pay for the HBO-style model, according to IBM.

“Given the rising power of individuals and communities, media and entertainment industry players will have to become much better at providing permission-based advertising and related consumer-driven ratings services,” said study co-author Bill Battino, communications sector managing partner at IBM Global Business Services.


In the latest sign of television’s decline as the primary media device, 19% of respondents said they spend six hours or more each day on personal Internet usage. That compares with 8% who said so about the TV. One to four hours of TV usage was reported by 66%, compared with 60% for the Web.

“The Internet is becoming consumers’ primary entertainment source,” said Saul Berman, IBN Media & Entertainment Strategy and Change practice leader. “The TV is increasingly taking a back seat to the cell phone and the personal computer among consumers age 18-34.”

The number of TV viewers using DVRs continues to expand, with 24% of U.S. respondents saying they have a DVR and watch 50% or more of TV programming in replay mode, IBM found. Of those viewers, 33% said they are watching more TV since owning a DVR, in line with other recent studies.

Australians show opposing trends from the U.S., with most respondents preferring live TV and replaying less than 25% of programming, according to IBM.

Watching video content on the Web is a popular activity these days. An average of 67% of consumers surveyed by IBM globally said they have watched or want to watch online video.

For video content online, the most popular destinations are user content-generated sites like YouTube, with 39% of respondents saying that’s where they go most frequently. TV network sites (33%), search engines (32%) and social-networking sites (28%) are the next most-popular locations for Web video offers, according to the IBM study.

In the U.S., 26% said they have contributed to a social-networking site, and 7% have done so to a user-generated content site, compared with Australia, which has a leadership position in these areas with 36% and 9%, respectively, the survey found.

As far as mobile video is concerned, an average of 35% surveyed globally by IBM said they have or want to watch mobile video. Seven% report having a video-content subscription for their mobile phones. Nearly a third of U.K. users said their mobile consumption ate in their TV viewing time, according to IBM.

Battino said his team was surprised that shortform content tailored to the mobile device was less popular than they had expected. About half of users said they prefer to access traditional video offers like TV shows on their mobile.

Could this lead consumers to one day watch more movies in mobile form as well? “We think that will be a natural progression from watching TV shows currently,” the IBM expert said, adding that the under-20 age demographic especially loves portability of content. “They may start a film at home and then watch it on a laptop or cell on the go,” he said. “And they like to watch in discreet time segments,” meaning they might watch a movie in several 20-minute sessions.

The lesson of the IBM survey for studios is to continue making content available on various platforms. However, “don’t expect consumers to spend incrementally on different devices,” he warned. “People want to pay for content once and then move it” to whatever device they like.

Also, online ratings, reviews and word-of-mouth continue to emerge as key drivers of boxoffice success in the digital age, he added.

“Magnets,” or online opinion leaders, are fast emerging as key influencers that media and entertainment companies must keep in mind when promoting their content, the IBM expert said. “Some companies have started putting such people on their payroll,” he added without providing examples.

Battino said he thinks there is “very strong” consumer interest in day-and-date VOD releases by cable operators, which are testing such offers with studios. Hybrid purchases like allowing a movie buff to buy a ticket for a film plus get it on DVD at a theater as well also will be a wave of the future, he predicted.

Among key digital age gadgets and services, portable music offers are among the most popular, with 23% saying they are using them, according to the IBM survey. Also, 11% reported using a PC-based music service, and 18% reported an online newspaper subscription.

The online survey was conducted between mid-April and mid-June by the IBM Institute for Business Value and generated 885 responses in the U.S., 559 in the U.K., 378 in Japan, 338 in Germany and 263 in Australia.

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Boys and younger teens are more likely than girls or older teens to post false information on their online profiles; 64% of profile-owning boys post fake information compared with 50% of girls who do the same. Younger and older teens exhibit another split, with 69% of younger teens posting fake information versus 48% of older teens, all according to a new report from Pew Internet & American Life Project reports.

How Teens Use Social Networking Sites
* 55% of online teens have profiles
* 82% of profile creators have included their first name in their profiles
* 79% have included photos of themselves
* 66% have included photos of their friends
* 61% have included the name of their city or town
* 49% have included the name of their school
* 40% have included their instant message screen name
* 40% have streamed audio to their profile
* 39% have linked to their blog
* 29% have included their email address
* 29% have included their last names
* 29% have included videos
* 2% have included their cell phone numbers
* 6% of online teens
* 11% of profile-owning teens post their first and last names on publicly-accessible profiles
* 3% of online teens
* 5% of profile-owning teens disclose their full names, photos of themselves and the town where they live in publicly-viewable profiles

Most teens are using the social networks to stay in touch with people they already know, either friends that they see a lot (91% of social networking teens have done this) or friends that they rarely see in person (82%). 49% of social network users say they use the networks to make new friends. 32% of online teens have been contacted by strangers online – this could be any kind of online contact, not necessarily contact through social network sites. 21% of teens who have been contacted by strangers have engaged an online stranger to find out more information about that person (that translates to 7% of all online teens). 23% of teens who have been contacted by a stranger online say they felt scared or uncomfortable because of the online encounter (that translates to 7% of all online teens).

The most popular way of communicating via social networking sites is to post a message or comment to a friend’s profile, page or “wall”. More than 4 in 5 social network users (84%) have posted messages to a friend’s profile or page.

23% of teen profile creators say it would be pretty easy for someone to find out who they are from the information posted to their profile, and 40% of teens with profiles online think that it would be hard for someone to find out who they are from their profile, but that they could eventually be found online. Another 36% say they think it would be very difficult for someone to identify them from their online profile. Asked where they thought teens were most likely to be approached by a stranger, the majority of online teens believed that people their age were most likely to be approached by strangers online rather than offline. Nearly three-quarters (73%) of online teens believe that someone their age is most likely to be approached by a someone unknown to them online, while 23% of online teens believe it is more likely to take place offline. One in three (32%) online teens have been contacted online by a stranger. Among those contacted by strangers, two-thirds (65%) said they ignored the contact or deleted it the last time it happened to them. Some 21% have followed up on the encounter by asking for more information from the person contacting them.

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A new study by Ipsos analyzed online video behaviors, at the end of 2006 58% of Americans age 12 or older, with Internet access, had streamed some form of video content online…100 million Americans, or 44% of the overall US population age 12 or older. The YouTube phenomenon has caught on with Americans, and given their appetite for video, the ability to select and watch exactly what you want online has become a strong lure for many consumers. And it’s instant gratification for entertainment lovers. The report goes further to say that 28% of Americans age 12+ have downloaded a digital video file, with a significant amount of overlap between these two types of digital video formats – so many consumers who stream video also experiment with downloading video online. Teens and young adults are the most likely to stream video online: three in four of all teens age 12-17 and young adults age 18-24 in the US have ever streamed digital video content online. The demographic of the typical video streamer skews younger, are more likely to have higher incomes, and be highly educated.

Teens and young adults, on average, have stored 20% of their entire video library either digitally (stored on a hard drive) and/or have burned this content onto DVD-R, says the report. The size of consumers’ digital video libraries will continue to grow as the streaming and downloading market matures. Shorter video clips are by far the most preferred type of video file accessed today by Internet users. Three quarters of all digital video streamers have streamed short news or sports clips, while two thirds have streamed amateur or homemade video clips. 40% of those that have streamed or downloaded video content have accessed YouTube, and many in the past 30 days. Other video file sharing sites such as MySpace and Google Video are also common destinations for video streamers, with about one in five ever having accessed these two sites overall.

Most Americans still have never streamed or downloaded a full-length TV show or movie. However, despite the relatively low prevalence levels of downloading movies and TV shows among US adults today, many appear to find the idea appealing: 43% of all digital video downloaders and streamers express some level of interest in downloading full length movies in the near future, while 38% express interest in full length TV show downloads. The most common barriers to downloading are users’ unwillingness to pay for this content, as well as a perceived difficulty or inability to burn these files onto DVD.

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The number of broadband subscribers worldwide at 281.3 million as at end 2006, this represents growth of 31% for the year, according to a report from Point Topic. The top ten list of broadband countries shows little change although China continues to close the gap on the US, down to 5.4 million from 8.6 million a year ago, after adding more than 14 million lines in 2006.

However France was the country that achieved the highest growth in the top 10 in 2006 with over 40%. Although other countries outside the top 10 are growing faster in percentage terms (India with 152%, Turkey 88%) the net adds in the ‘Top 10′ broadband world generally continue to outstrip other countries. Worldwide, DSL remains the most popular broadband access technology with a 65.7% market share. DSL accounts for 87% of all broadband subscribers in the Middle East and Africa ? the fastest growing broadband region ? and 82% in the European Union (EU). The EU added 17.5 million DSL subscribers in the year to maintain its position as the world?s number one broadband and DSL region. Of the other broadband access technologies, fiber to the home or other close location (FTTx), now delivers more than 10% of broadband services across the world. Less than 1% of broadband is delivered by satellite, accounting for 784,750 subscribers.

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988 Billion Gigabytes of Digital Information Created in 2010

In 2006, 161 exabytes of digital information were created and copied, continuing an unprecedented period of information growth. This digital universe equals approximately three million times the information in all the books ever written – or the equivalent of 12 stacks of books, each extending more than 93 million miles from the earth to the sun. According to IDC, the amount of information created and copied in 2010 will surge more than six fold to 988 exabytes, a compound annual growth rate of 57%.While nearly 70% of the digital universe will be generated by individuals by 2010, most of this content will be touched by an organization along the way – on a network, in a data center, at a hosting site, at a telephone or Internet switch, or in a backup system. Organizations – including businesses of all sizes, agencies, governments and associations – will be responsible for the security, privacy, reliability and compliance of at least 85% of the information.

The incredible growth and sheer amount of the different types of information being generated from so many different places represents more than just a worldwide information explosion of unprecedented scale. It represents an entire shift in how information has moved from analog form, where it was finite, to digital form, where it’s infinite. From a technology perspective, organizations will need to employ ever-more sophisticated techniques to transport, store, secure and replicate the additional information that is being generated every day.

Digital Media Storage Need Projections:

* Images – Images, captured by more than 1 billion devices in the world, from digital cameras and camera phones to medical scanners and security cameras, comprise the largest component of the digital universe.

* Digital Cameras – The number of images captured on consumer digital still cameras in 2006 exceeded 150 billion worldwide, while the number of images captured on cell phones hit almost 100 billion. Forcasts show the more than 500 billion images by 2010.

* Camcorders – Camcorder usage should double in total minutes of use between now and 2010.

* E-mail – The number of e-mail mailboxes has grown from 253 million in 1998 to nearly 1.6 billion in 2006. During the same period, the number of e-mails sent grew three times faster than the number of people e-mailing; in 2006 just the e-mail traffic from one person to another – i.e., excluding spam – accounted for 6 exabytes.

* – There will be 250 million IM accounts by 2010, including consumer accounts from which business IMs are sent.

* Broadband – Today over 60% of Internet users have access to broadband circuits, either at home, at work or at school.

* Internet – In 1996 there were only 48 million people routinely using the Internet. The Worldwide Web was just two years old. By 2006, there were 1.1 billion users on the Internet. By 2010 another 500 million users to come online.

* Unstructured Data – Over 95% of the digital universe is unstructured data. In organizations, unstructured data accounts for more than 80% of all information.

* Compliance and Security – Today, 20% of the digital universe is subject to compliance rules and standards and about 30% is potentially subject to security applications.

* Classification – IDC estimates that today less than 10% of organizational information is “classified,” or ranked according to value. Estimates show the amount of classified data to grow better than 50% a year.

* Emerging Economies – These now account for 10% of the digital universe but will grow 30-40% faster than mature economies.

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