Industry 4.0 – Backup and Disaster Recovery


After lagging behind other sectors for decades, many asset-intensive industries are set to undergo a long overdue digital transformation. Billed as “Industry 4.0”, the shift is being driven by the adoption of big data, Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT) and the cloud. The use of data to transform almost every aspect of industrial processes holds huge promise for increasing productivity, safety and efficiency. But it also creates a huge risk around the loss of data and will require these businesses to think very differently about industry data Backup and Disaster Recovery (DR) services.

Evolving Data Protection Across Industries

While the computer revolution initially transformed sectors as diverse as finance, entertainment, advertising and e-commerce, there are many others that remained relatively unchanged. Industries such as manufacturing, mining, logistics, energy, and transportation rely heavily on physical assets rather than digital processes. They have typically adopted information technologies (IT) only for administration and communications, while their basic operations remained undigitized.

As progress has marched forward, these industries are now beginning to join the digital transformation movement. Two of the biggest shifts leading to the adoption of digital operations technology (OT) are IoT and AI/machine learning. IoT sensors are enabling many physical processes to finally be digitally measured. Heavy machinery performance, physical asset movements and environmental conditions can now be carefully monitored using IoT sensors, which generate data streams continuously throughout the day.

AI machine learning analytics are then used to process this enormous amount of data to isolate patterns and draw insights on everything from when to plan maintenance, to optimizing end-to-end workflows and sensing environmental hazards. The digital data and machine learning insights can then enable the automation of extremely complex processes. Using digital twins technology, it is possible to model most physical processes using machine learning to continuously tweak operations, improve safety and find better ways to do things.

Machine learning typically relies on access to very large amounts of historical data in order to create algorithms that model the physical process. Whereas typically, logged data of this kind has traditionally been very low in terms of priority, it now becomes much more important, and thus may need to be given different priority in your backup and recovery plans. The AI machine learning programs must continuously go through the data source searching for patterns, even as new data is added. Models are continuously in a state of development and evaluation. They are constantly rebuilt as new data is added, and the model is refined. This closed loop repeats continuously.

This puts much greater emphasis on efficient and secure data storage strategies, including data backup (BaaS) and disaster recovery (DRaaS) to ensure that your systems have access to the right data at the right time. Especially at the beginning of the process during the training of the AI, it is difficult to determine what kinds of data need to be stored, since often the most relevant insights can be drawn from the sort of data that a human operator would simply disregard. As the AI model matures, certain workloads will become more important and will move from long-term, slower storage to very fast storage. AI “training processes” can access terabytes of storage per hour, putting extreme pressure on storage throughput.

Specialized Industry Data Backup and Disaster Recovery Services

For many businesses this hyper reliance on data is new territory, and it is important for them to engage a company that can provide expertise on how best to manage, protect and recover their data. One very good option is to choose a partner that provides Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS). This offers a practical solution for companies of all sizes, and especially those with limited IT personnel resources and capital to handle unpredictable disaster and emergency events. Leveraging specialized DR services enables businesses to focus their OT teams on core business needs while providing stand-by supportive resources when they need a helping hand the most.

It is important to plan carefully for what gets recovered and in what order because the AI data stores can be so large. This requires careful analysis of the criticality of your operations and systems, and the necessary order in which data needs to be recovered. Working closely with your DRaaS provider, you can create playbooks for exactly how to respond to different disaster scenarios, test them and then train your personnel to follow them.

A good DRaaS partner will also have extensive experience in helping companies recover from many different kinds of disasters including cybersecurity events, which are a new kind of threat for an asset-intensive industry as IoT introduces new avenues for attack along with enhanced connectivity.

As we embrace autonomous technologies built around IoT, AI and machine-learning, we are unleashing tremendous productive potential — all based on data. We are also setting ourselves up for serious difficulties if the data is lost. A good DRaaS partner can help you to navigate and survive events of this nature and ensure that your business thrives in its new data-driven model and is not crippled by the loss of it.

Need a framework to get started? Check out our free DRaaS Plan Template.

Have questions around Data Backup and Disaster Recovery? Ask our experts today!

Storagepipe to the Rescue

Your Industry Data Backup and Disaster Recovery Heroes

Storagepipe is a trusted global DRaaS provider of comprehensive Cloud, Data Protection and Cybersecurity services and can help to provide guidance as you work through your SMB or enterprise DR planning process.

Since 2001, Storagepipe has provided these robust and secure Managed Cloud and Disaster Recovery solutions from a scalable multi-tenant infrastructure, supported by our first-class in-house technical team. Storagepipe delivers highly flexible and responsive solutions with outstanding value and service, using state-of-the-art technology to offer ultimate protection and peace of mind. Storagepipe is an accredited Microsoft Office Level 1 backup and DRaaS provider.

We are driven to be your trusted industry data backup and DR partner and to ensure that we deliver a Storagepipe Experience that meets your business requirements with the reliability, scalability and support that your business demands.

Contact us today to discover your options around data loss prevention solutions and rapid ransomware recovery with services such as Cloud to Cloud Backup for Microsoft 365 and Storagepipe DR services. Regardless of internal user error, ransomware attacks, or when a disaster strikes, ensure your business continuity by meeting your operational demands while protecting and recovering your most valuable asset – your data.

Questions? Ask Our Experts!