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Microsoft: We're Going to Have 44 Zettabytes of Data in the Cloud

Satya Nadella says IoT will lead to a rapid cloud growth

Mar 19, 2015 13:45 GMT  ·  By
Nadella says IoT represents a huge opportunity for all companies, not only for Microsoft
   Nadella says IoT represents a huge opportunity for all companies, not only for Microsoft

Microsoft is one of the companies that are aggressively investing in the Internet of Things (IoT) world, and its CEO Satya Nadella believes that Redmond already has the necessary equipment to make the most of this rapidly developing industry.

Cloud services will play an essential role for IoT and Nadella says that “whatever it is that you make, any service that you provide” needs to be connected to the cloud.

In a speech at Convergence 2015, Nadella has explained that the number of devices connected to the Internet will increase at a very fast pace in the next years, estimating that, by 2019, there will be 29 billion Internet-connected devices.

The growing number of devices will lead to what Satya Nadella called “an explosion of data that will rendezvous with the cloud,” estimating that no less than 44 zettabytes of information will be stored in the cloud.

For starters, 44 zettabytes equals 44 trillion gigabytes, which is... a lot. If you want to do the math, this is all you need to know to find out how much 44 zettabytes actually represents: 1000 Megabytes = 1 Gigabyte, 1000 Gigabytes = 1 Terabyte, 1000 Terabytes = 1 Petabyte, 1000 Petabytes = 1 Exabyte, 1000 Exabytes = 1 Zettabyte.

Windows 10 and its critical role

Windows 10 will be an operating system that will not only power PCs, tablets, and smartphones, but will also support various form factors and will be specifically designed to support the IoT growth.

“For us Windows 10 marks a huge milestone on this journey of more personal computing where it will span with one consistent experience for users, developers, and IT administrators from across Internet of Things to these holographic computers,” Nadella said.

Bringing Windows 10 in the IoT world will, however, be a challenge and Microsoft knows this very well, but the Redmond-based tech giant has slowly become one of the key companies betting on this side of the market.

Windows 10 will launch later this year, so Microsoft still has enough time to pave the way for its new OS and prepare for making the first steps in the IoT world.