In the Age of Digitalization, data became the essence, the main input, and the driving force of business. Under this premise, it is neither pretentious nor exaggerated to propose that, with data at the center, everything else is in place to protect, process and make it profitable.

In fact, according to a study by the Boston Computing Network, the critical importance of data reaches such a level that, among companies that lose it due to some type of incident, 60% tend to close within 6 months after the event; and even 93% of companies that suffered attacks on their Data Centers for 10 days or more declared bankruptcy during the year following the attack.

In this scenario, it is imperative for the survival of businesses to have High Availability (HA) protocols and architectures to ensure the handling and management of the data life cycle, from creation, capture, storage, processing, analysis, use and application in actions that generate income.

However, and despite understanding its importance, many companies do not have the necessary digital infrastructure to guarantee the availability of data and access to this resource in an uninterrupted manner.

Availability and security

Implementing a High Availability strategy requires more robust and reliable technological infrastructures.

For Martin Vela, Regional Manager of Hitachi Vantara Latin America, High Availability protocols and strategies must guarantee the integrity of the data in its maximum expression and throughout its life cycle. "This involves a journey that goes from capturing, storing and protecting them, enriching them to extract their potential, activating them to determine what they will be used for, and monetizing them to create innovative offers and services that generate income and competitive advantages. Establishing an effective data value ladder requires that strengthening the on-premises IT ecosystem be a constant and sustained process."

Now, along with effective data lifecycle management, eliminating single points of failure and reducing downtime are equally relevant.

Having data available without interruptions implies the configuration of High Availability systems based on two components: the main one, the one that is providing the service with high availability; and the secondary one, which is similar to the previous one to offer the same service in case of contingency. Both have to be similar in operating characteristics so that the user does not experience system crashes and can continue using it continuously.

Availability is expressed as a percentage, which indicates how much uptime is expected from a system or component in a given period; where a value of 100% indicates that the system never fails. Therefore, if a system guarantees 99% availability in 1 year, it means that the remaining 1% implies a downtime of 3 days and 15 hours.

In different industries today 24 hours of downtime can be fatal for the business. In these cases, the availability requirement must be close to 99.999%.

"When there is not a high level of availability, the impact on the data is not the only problem, operational and commercial areas are also affected with the loss of business opportunities, acquisition, positioning, sales, and the experience and trust of customers and users is also deeply impacted. When the monetary loss associated with these variables is quantified, the implementation of protocols and architectures that guarantee high availability of data implies a useful strategy to reduce the impact of this type of events on the organization's income," explains the executive.

The current requirement to which companies that base their businesses on digital ecosystems are subject, and that need to guarantee the availability of data and access to it in an uninterrupted manner, can no longer be satisfied solely with the periodic scheduling of data backup, since this only allows the protection gaps to be reduced to limits that, in any case, can lead to operational failures.

“Vertical industries, such as banking, financial services, telecommunications, government, among others, require 100% available storage platforms with protection systems that no longer need to back up data (backup-less), which implies that their on-premises technological infrastructures must be solid and stable enough so that, if required, they do not depend on external architectures to continue operating,” says Martin Vela.

Finally, companies that operate in industries that require High Data Availability must be able to constantly increase their performance and flexibility, through their own increasingly robust and stable digital infrastructures.