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Where unstructured data is headed by 2029

By 2029, over 80% of unstructured data will be deployed on a consolidated storage platform instead of separate file and object products, up from 35% in early 2025. Get the complimentary Gartner report to see what it means for your storage plan.

The Gartner research at a glance

Source: Gartner, The 2030 Data Infrastructure Playbook: Strategies for Managing Exponential Data Growth, 2026

  • Author: Rizvan Hussain

  • Published: 12 April 2026

  • Written for: heads of infrastructure and operations

Why this matters now

Explosive multisource data growth, spanning decades of unstructured content, analytics outputs, machine telemetry, observability data, rich media, and replication, is accelerating beyond what traditional storage management practices can economically sustain. Capacity-first expansion and retroactive clean up models cannot keep up pace with this velocity, scale and complexity.

Put your enterprise files to work

Most file infrastructure keeps up by moving, copying and syncing files between locations. That works up to a point, but every copy adds cost, risk and another platform to manage.

LucidLink takes a different approach. It activates your enterprise files where they are, so the same files can securely serve people, applications, automation and AI without the copies and sync.

LucidLink app showing a filespace uploading alongside a Mac Finder window.

What we believe you'll learn in the report

The Gartner 2030 Data Infrastructure Playbook is written for heads of I&O planning for the end of the decade. On unstructured data growth specifically, you'll find the Gartner take on:

  • Why unstructured data is outgrowing traditional storage management

  • How fragmented file and object platforms for drive cost and inconsistent policy

  • Where storage platform consolidation is headed by 2029

  • Success measures for tracking platform consolidation

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Gartner, The 2030 Data Infrastructure Playbook: Strategies for Managing Exponential Data Growth, 12 April 2026, By Rizvan Hussain.

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