Big data, T.H.E. IT topic of 2012, would seem to only come in one size – big – but in many flavors, everything we study. In every industry from autos to science and beyond, the volume of data has reached an almost epidemic scale, at least for the people who need the flow of it to power their business, their study, their music even.

And speaking of epidemics and such, nowhere has the data set been more forcefully applied that in the fields of medicine, the public good, Earth science, energy, and other arenas dependent on statistics of the sheer safety of our world. Sure, predicting volcanoes and earthquakes may not be your everyday calculations in business, but never the less NASA, the World Health Organization, the CDC, the US Department of Energy, and the United States Geological Survey, are a few centers of research and study with their own massive need for data storage – speed – and future capacity.

The infographic below shows an almost alarmist view of things like pandemics, natural disasters, energy crisis, and even Armageddon-like potential (probability) for calamity – real science too, based on mountains of data higher than Everest itself. Imagine all the data gleaned just to come up with this simple suggestive.

Source: MPH Online

Now multiply that by several quintillions. Our own John Furrier’s recent article about the rapid growth of storage startups; “Storage Startups Growing Fast Providing Gear For Cloud” attests a bit to another kind of human emergency, what may be a losing battle (if some startups don’t solve for) for storage of data to keep pace with need.

If big data solutions are so badly needed to decipher and help solve for pandemic and other catastrophes, then a solution to cloud storage is also a vital antiserum. And if you think these mountains of data, the need to be able to contend with said growth, if you consider these trivial compared to natural catastrophe, think again. Data collapse, can such a catastrophe happen caused by the very bits and bytes we use to determine such things as causes for muscular dystrophy?

Every day we generate 2.5 quintillion bytes of data. It takes electricity to not only store, but to transmit this data. At the rate we are cramming info into every conceivable kind of server environment… Well, you get the point. Is there such a thing as a data explosion? Maybe somebody will make an infographic for data Armageddon soon?

This post has officially caused you to think.

Big data image: Courtesy Ben Chams – Fotolia.com