Artificial Intelligence in Backup: Friend or Foe?

Where can it excel?

As we all know, for the past twelve months, the buzzword has mostly been "AI, AI, AI" – Artificial Intelligence. This technology, especially Generative AI, has matured to the point where it can be adapted across many fields. We're not just talking about IT infrastructure here, but really every aspect of our lives, where AI, Machine Learning, and Generative AI are changing the way we work and operate. While it's a fascinating subject, we must keep in mind that AI will not solve all our problems, neither today nor tomorrow. The human factor will still be essential, but the way we work and use systems, even backup systems, will undoubtedly change.?

So, how does Storware approach the issue of AI in the world of Backup and Recovery? At Storware, we believe that artificial intelligence and the automation it brings is the future, but it is not yet a must-have for existing clients. However, we can already reveal that we are working on several AI-related projects.?

First of all, we are exploring the use of Generative AI for what we call the Conversational Layer. This aims to enhance the way backup administrators communicate directly with Storware Backup and Recovery, enabling them to extract a much larger amount of information related to analytics, reporting, and even task automation. This is the first area where we see potential for AI integration.?

Second of all, we are developing what we call the Backup Assistant. This initiative aims to leverage AI to assist administrators and operators in daily backup system management and configuration. The goal is for the AI to fill knowledge gaps and manage certain aspects autonomously. For example, one of the biggest issues in IT today is the shortage of human resources to handle the volume of work and system maintenance. The more our system can autonomously make decisions on behalf of the administrator, the greater the benefit for the company using the system. Thus, this autonomy and support for backup administrators will be an essential part of our investment in AI.?

Thirdly, AI as a collective learning system. By aggregating information and behaviors from all our clients, our recommendation system, known as Storebrain, aims to extract best practices and optimal configurations. This system will learn from all implementations and installations to build a knowledge base that increases the efficiency of tasks such as backups and restores for all users.?

Lastly, AI in the world of backup will also be related to mechanisms for prevention and protection against threats such as ransomware attacks and cybersecurity issues. While AI alone won't suffice, integration with other solutions to react, learn, and predict potential attacks will be invaluable. At Storware, we are developing our digital bunker technology called Isolayer, and we aim to incorporate AI and Machine Learning mechanisms into the overall solution.?

In summary, considering these four aspects, AI will become a component of most modern data protection solutions. However, we are at an early stage where our considerations could still take different directions. Stay informed, stay interested, and ask questions.