Data creation is accelerating at an unprecedented speed. AI models, IoT, and machine learning (ML) applications are generating staggering volumes of structured and unstructured data. According to IDC, annual data generation is expected to reach 527.5 Zettabytes (ZB) by the end of the decade. This trend presents companies with challenges that go beyond simply keeping up with the information surge. They need solutions that store data efficiently, sustainably and economically at scale, while enabling them to easily keep pace with the demands of today’s digital age.
Tech innovation discussions often focus on compute or AI algorithms, while paying little attention to the foundation of digital transformation: the backbone that allows any digital workload to store, access, and protect data. Data storage – and specifically HDDs – is continually being reimagined, with single-drive capacities expected to reach 100TB by 2030 thanks to energy-assisted perpendicular magnetic recording (ePMR), shingled-magnetic recording (SMR), and heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR). Next-generation recording techniques such as heat-dot magnetic recording (HDMR) are also in the starting gate. Innovations in material science and quantum computing promise further growth for decades, helping ensure businesses can efficiently keep up with the massive volumes of data today and in the future.
SMR writes the future of scalable storage
While SMR technology has been around for years in hyperscale environments, it is now taking the centre-forward position in democratising denser platform solutions for AI, HPC and big data environments. With many new vendor solutions that help reduce custom integration barriers, enterprises may no longer need specialised file-system optimisations to adopt the technology. Organisations of all sizes can now leverage SMR’s superior capacity advantages and reduce power consumption per terabyte (kWh/TB).
These new innovative file systems and software take full advantage of the technology’s sequential write benefits while managing SMR’s unique operational requirements at the host. As a result, storage platforms using the latest industry-leading SMR HDDs with up to 32TB deliver significantly higher density than conventional drives, enabling up to 3.26 petabytes (PB). With these new solutions, data analysis at exabyte (EB) scale becomes more sustainable and efficient for applications across research institutions, universities, and mid-market enterprises running demanding workloads, helping them to stay a step ahead of the data game.
The next frontier in storage architecture
Building future-ready storage requires more than simply adding higher-capacity drives. As modern workloads increase in complexity, storage architectures must keep up with accelerated compute infrastructures. Innovative, disaggregated NVMe® over Ethernet fabric systems can provide low-latency shared storage for scalable environments. Unlike traditional hyper-converged infrastructures (HCIs), which combine compute, storage, and networking into one system, these new disaggregated models physically separate resources to improve flexibility, efficiency, and scalability. This allows businesses to add compute capacity (e.g., GPUs) separately from storage. Designed to simplify deployment and eliminate legacy constraints, disaggregated architectures reduce overprovisioning, streamline operations, and avoid vendor lock-in, giving organisations more control to build systems to their specific requirements.
For AI in particular, disaggregated storage can equal meaningful advantages. It frees space within servers for additional processors or expanded capacity through high-density HDDs and SSDs, while better supporting the high-performance processing required by AI models. It provides a scalable, efficient foundation for accelerated computing, faster innovation, and future AI system growth, positioning businesses to stay competitive as the rules of the Zettabyte era and beyond continue to evolve.
Reliable data storage in the Yottabyte era
Looking ahead to 2026, storage is not a supporting player – it’s the goalkeeper of the digital world. From next-generation HDDs to disaggregated Ethernet-fabric platforms, innovations at every layer of the IT infrastructure are pushing the borders of what’s possible to meet the demands of AI, IoT, and ML. Organisations that make the right infrastructure decisions today and adopt scalable, efficient, and innovative storage won’t just handle the data of tomorrow. They will play to win, to set the pace, and to enable faster insights, smarter decision making, and a more resilient digital ecosystem for years to come.
Nigel Edwards is a vice president at Western Digital
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