Information Pack Rats: To get an idea of how much information is in some of the world?s largest databases, imagine a bookshelf 150 miles long: the content of the books on that shelf would be roughly one terabyte of data.
According to a survey released this month by the Winter Corporation, a database consulting company in Waltham, Mass., the largest database reported by survey participants this year contained almost 30 terabytes of information. ?That would be about 4,500 miles of bookshelves,? said Richard Winter, the company?s president. ?It would stretch across the country and then some.?
That database belongs to France Télécom, mainly because the company keeps extensive records of its sales transactions.
