Data Gravity: Navigating the Shifting Landscape of Data Management

In the world of IT, where the only certainty is change, there's a single element that has remained consistent over the past two decades: the nature of data. Since my journey in IT began nearly 20 years ago, focused on backup platforms and data management, I've seen firsthand how data continues to grow, shift, and evolve.

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We've coined terms like "data lakes" and "oceans of data" to describe this relentless expansion. But while the sheer volume of data has surged, one thing hasn't changed: the data itself. What has dramatically transformed, however, is where this data resides — a phenomenon I refer to as Data Gravity.

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The Evolution of Data Residency

To understand Data Gravity, we must look at the history of data storage and management. In the 1970s, everything was centralized—data was housed on mainframes and accessed via terminals. 1980s market introduced a personal computer (IBM, Apple). Fast forward to the 1990s, and the on-premises data center became the norm, with organizations building and maintaining their own centralized storage environments. This was the era of dedicated server rooms, with data neatly contained within corporate walls. In the 2000s+ we made a huge movement to virtualize more than 90% of server workloads.

As technology advanced, so did the way we handled data. The rise of mobile edge devices like laptops introduced new complexities—data was no longer tethered to a single location but began to spread outwards. In the last 15 years, the shift towards cloud computing has further decentralized data. We’ve witnessed a massive migration from on-premises environments to the cloud, leading to an even greater dispersion of data across various platforms and services.

This ever-changing residency of data is what drives Data Gravity. As data gravitates from one environment to another—whether from on-premises to cloud, from one hypervisor to another, or from traditional servers to edge devices—it exerts a pull, drawing applications, services, and infrastructure along with it. The more data accumulates in a particular environment, the stronger its gravitational pull becomes, making it essential for organizations to rethink how they manage, control, and protect this data.

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The Challenges of Data Gravity in the Backup World

In the context of backup and recovery, Data Gravity presents unique challenges. The days of simply backing up data from a single, centralized location are long gone. Today, data is constantly on the move — changing, merging, and shifting between environments. This creates a complex landscape for IT professionals who must ensure that data is consistently protected, regardless of its location.

Take virtualization as an example. Today, your workloads might run on VMware, but tomorrow, they could be migrated to Nutanix,? Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager, XCP-NG or OpenStack. The day after that, some workloads might shift to Azure VMs or Google Cloud Platform (GCP). This constant flux isn't limited to virtual machines; it extends to databases, file systems, and other applications that can move from on-premises installations to Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) or Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) environments.

This fluidity demands more sophisticated tools and strategies to manage data gravity effectively. Backup platforms must evolve to provide more than just backup and recovery. They need to offer advanced mechanisms like Virtual-to-Virtual (V2V) migration, data movement procedures, and seamless integration across multiple environments. These tools are essential for managing data migrations, especially when dealing with large volumes of data, such as moving virtual machines between hypervisors.

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Storware Commitment to Managing Data Gravity

At Storware we've recognized the growing importance of Data Gravity and the need for advanced solutions to manage it. We understand that as data continues to move and evolve, the tools used to protect and manage it must evolve as well. That's why we're investing in new technologies that go beyond traditional backup and recovery.

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Later this year, we're excited to introduce our first Virtual-to-Virtual (V2V) migration tool, designed to help you manage data gravity within virtual environments. This tool will simplify the process of moving data from VMware to OpenStack, marking the first phase of our broader strategy to address the challenges of data migration. Additionally, we’ve developed OS agents that assist in migrating and managing data between different physical machines and operating system levels.

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This is just the beginning of our journey. Over the next few years, you can expect Storware to continue innovating in this space, providing new paths to help you navigate the complexities of data migration and management. Our goal is to equip you with the tools and capabilities needed to not just cope with, but master, the forces of Data Gravity.

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Conclusion

In conclusion, while the nature of data itself remains unchanged, the forces surrounding it are in constant flux. Data Gravity is a concept that captures this ongoing shift, highlighting the importance of understanding where data resides and how it influences everything from security to performance. As data continues to evolve and spread across various environments, the challenge for IT professionals is to harness this gravity, using it to drive innovation and growth in an increasingly complex digital world.

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By investing in flexible, scalable, and secure data architectures, and by adopting advanced tools that go beyond traditional backup and recovery, you can ensure that your data remains protected, no matter where it resides. At Storware we're committed to helping you navigate this journey, providing the solutions you need to manage Data Gravity effectively and confidently.