The Linux Foundation has announced the release of the 2021 Data and Storage Trends Report, produced in collaboration between SODA Foundation and Linux Foundation Research. It reveals new findings on enterprise use of data and storage as it relates to cloud services and workloads in the era of Cloud Native, Edge, IoT and 5G.

SODA Foundation is also a sponsor of this week’s KubeCon event.

Key Findings from the report include:

• Storage requirements move from Terabytes to Petabytes
  Mainstream annual data growth is between 1-100 TBs per year as reported in the study. However, 9 percent of the sample is seeing annual data growth of 1 PB or more. This is 10 to 100 times greater growth than the mainstream and is likely a harbinger of where many enterprises will find themselves within a few years.
• Enterprises pivot to cloud-based containerized environments
  Forty-eight percent of enterprises are using cloud VMs in production and development environments, while 75 percent use Kubernetes or a hybrid Kubernetes on-prem and public cloud combination.
• Software-Defined Storage could revolutionize how we manage data
  When asked what storage technologies are included in the enterprise’s storage infrastructure, three technologies shared a leadership position. File Storage (65 percent), Software Defined Storage (60 percent), and Public Cloud Storage (60 percent) are the storage technologies of choice for most enterprises.
• Containerized cloud native storage is not without pain points
  Performance was identified by 49 percent of end-user enterprises as the number one pain point when using containers and/or cloud native storage. Performance was followed closely by availability at 46 percent.
• Open source projects are shaping data and storage infrastructure use
  Thirty-seven percent of enterprises are engaged with SODA Foundation, the #1 response, while GlusterFS and Alluxio followed.
• Enterprises fixated on data protection and security
  Data protection and availability at 61 percent as well as security and compliance at 57 percent were the top two capabilities identified by end users.

“Data has changed the nature of both enterprise computing and business operations,” said Steven Tan, chair, SODA Foundation, and VP and CTO of Cloud Storage Solution at Futurewei. “No longer can companies take a passive or reactive approach to market changes or customer behaviors. Understanding how to collect, manage and consume data is a competitive advantage in today’s digital economy, and we believe the 2021 Data and Storage Trends Report can inform this journey.”