According to new research from International Data Corporation (IDC), this inactivity, or data "decay," has spawned a cold storage ecosystem that includes a set of services, applications, systems, and media that is specifically designed to allow more seamless access to inactive data. IDC defines cold storage as the lowest tier of data storage solutions with a total cost that is lower than the residual or perceived business value of the data sets stored on them.

Data decay patterns are prevalent in both consumer and enterprise environments. Facebook noted during the 2013 OCP Summit that only 8% of all pictures uploaded to its site are accessed frequently, with the rest tagged as inactive. Additionally, IDC's Digital Universe Study* found that less than 1% of potential Big Data is being analyzed, which highlights new opportunity and unrealized value extraction.

"A range of Cold Storage strategies are gaining traction in the market today. They all are focused on ultra-cheap data storage that also offers acceptable levels of data accessibility and availability. The accessibility and availability requirements will dictate the type of storage medium used – these could include disk, tape and even optical media like Blu-Ray," said Ashish Nadkarni, Research Director, Storage Systems at IDC.