Supersize IT: From Megabytes to Petabytes Send this Article Print this Article Talkback Related Stories By Mike Martin NewsFactor Sci::Tech, Part of the NewsFactor Network August 26, 2002 Scientific research, particularly in astronomy and biology, is very data-intensive. Images of galaxies or complex organs, such as the human brain, consume billions of digital bytes -- a data tsunami that promises to swamp storage capabilities in a few years. A deluge of digital data in life sciences and astronomy has scientists at Johns Hopkins University and Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) concluding that the titan of supersized data storage, the petabyte, may be as commonplace as the megabyte in less than a decade. In a yet-to-be-published paper entitled, "Petabyte Scale Data Mining: Dream or Reality?" Microsoft research division distinguished engineer Jim Gray said, "Today's astronomy data sets -- with tens of millions of galaxies -- already present substantial challenges for data mining . In less than 10 years, the catalogs are expected to grow to billions of objects, and image archives will reach petabytes."