IDC and EMC released a study showing that a digital "Big Bang" is underway pushing the abilities of companies and society at large to actually manage and store all the data be produced. According to the survey, this data surge will impact hospitals and clinics that will be faced with storing and securing electronic health records to comply with federal regulations. 
 
IDC predicts that by 2010 individuals will be creating 70 percent of the world's information, and IT departments within organizations will be tasked with the security, privacy, reliability, and compliance a large part of what the companies called the “digital universe.”

Key study points:

• In 2007 the amount of information created will surpass the storage capacity available;
• A fifth of organizations expect their data warehouses to double in 2007;
• By 2010, the amount of digital information will surge six fold to 988 exabytes; 
• Under 10 percent of organizational information is ranked by value or considered “classified.”  IDC said that it is likely that the amount of classified data will go up by 50 percent this year;
• Organizations are reorganizing their storage infrastructures to make them more dynamic and information-centric; and
• Security software expenditures will likely grow from $40B in 2006 to $65B in 2010. 

More information: http://www.emc.com/about/destination/digital_universe/index.jsp?hpid=1