There is a lot of activity in NZ at the moment around the establishment of MUSH networks in local areas, providing linkage to the Advanced Network (KAREN) that has just been implemented. In the school’s area in particular, there are a number of initiatives exloring ways of using these networks to share services and resource repositories.

Seems that the whole issue of digital storage is attracting attention, particualrly as the so-called Web2.0 technologies take hold. The key here is the fact that consumers are now becoming producers – and the more they produce, the more the need for this to be stored – and the more that is stored, the greater the need for what is stored to be able to be searched for.

The relationship between storage and search is that more digital content requires more digital storage, and cheap storage stimulates consumer and enterprise proliferation of digital content. The more content that’s stored, the more important search functionality is. The better the search functionality, the more people will use it. And so the cycle continues.

All of this brings us back to the importance of digital storage. An interesting blog post titled Future of Online Storage, 40 points to think about by Jeremiah Owyang provides a really useful insight into this area for those who may be considering where to next in their network. Some of his points will challenge the traditionalists in this field, for example, the idea of viewing thinking about Peer to Peer storage and the prediction that By 2010 all Media will be 50% consumer created.