The DoD's 50 petabytes database

The Department of Defense is known for stretching the boundaries of technology. It's doing that again with a planned database system to hold medical records for 9 million military personnel that could eventually reach a capacity of 50 petabytes of data. To imagine how much data that is, consider what it would amount to in the form of double-spaced text on both sides of a piece of paper: "The stack would reach the moon and back to Earth--twice," estimates Richard Winter, president at database research firm Winter Corp.

The government's Composite Health Care System II, estimated to cost $3.8 billion over a 20-year period, is king-sized among database migration projects. It includes a data repository and data warehouse that, when completed in mid-2006, will handle text-based clinical records and digital images, such as X-rays, for all active U.S. military personnel and their families. It will start by managing about 5 petabytes of data--or 5,000 terabytes--and will grow each year to reach a projected total of 30 to 50 petabytes, says Larry Albert, senior VP of health-care practice at Integic, the prime contractor on the project.

"We're moving from hospital-centric to patient-centric systems," says Dr. Robert Wah of the U.S. Navy Medical Corps and a director of information management at the Defense Department. "As a physician, I can have the power of the computer--access to information electronically--to take care of my patients."

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