The amount of data being generated on a daily basis by people and machines (the “digital universe”) is expanding at a rapid rate, providing a mass of Big Data potential, according to a new IDC study sponsored by EMC. The study concludes that 2.8 zettabytes (ZB) of data will be created and replicated this year. (1 ZB = 1021 bytes.) Of all that data, the researchers suggest that slightly less than one-quarter would be useful were it to be tagged and analyzed. But, just 3% is tagged and only 0.5% is analyzed, leaving what the study dubs “the untapped big data gap.”

via Just 0.5% of the World’s Massive Trove of Online Data is Being Analyzed.