Database growth and problems

Hi everyone,
We had just learned about database and it applications in class. I came across an article from our textbook that caught my interest, so I thought I'll do a summary to share to everyone.

The problem with database growth was raised by an article in our textbook called “Dealing with Database Growth.” Large electronic companies such as Tektronix Corporation and Computerworld was concerned that with database applications average about 800 concurrent users per day could cause performance of database to decline. Even with upgrades, it could not keep up with the growth rate of 1.25 GB per month; there won’t be enough room for storage for all that activities. According to many database administration personnel, we need to do something to remedy the problem before it gets to the point of database crashing.
Some companies solve the problem with just increase their disk-space capacity; “throwing in more disks”, but this cannot solve the problem in the long run. Many had considered deleting old, seldom-used data from database. But this solution is not an easy one because there are data that cannot be deleted due to government laws and regulations. For example, documents such as company’s annual reports, hospitals, doctor offices, and many other health-provider organizations’ administrative procedures and reports must be kept; just to name a few. There are also greater problem for organization operating in foreign countries that has stricter law about data retention comparing to the U.S. Everyone must be actively involved to solve this problem that we are facing, from users to developers. Clear requirements, procedures, and policies are necessary to guide data archiving.