LAWRENCE, Kan. — Jan. 25, 2024 — Cobalt Iron Inc., a leading provider of SaaS-based enterprise data protection, today announced that it has earned another new patent, this time on its technology for data locality-based brokering of cloud computing operations. Patent No. 11843665, issued on Dec. 12, 2023, describes new techniques for Cobalt Iron Compass®, the company’s enterprise SaaS backup platform. When the patented techniques go into effect, Compass will be able to analyze and optimize cloud operations automatically and dynamically based on changes in data locality, business priority of data, performance, and availability conditions — thereby making cloud operations compliant, more secure, and better-performing.

Increasingly, enterprises are using cloud resources for various aspects of their computing operations, but they almost never do it efficiently, which leads to high cloud expenses, inefficient operations, and poor operational service levels. 

Another emerging consideration is that, since cloud resources are typically virtual, enterprises often don’t know or track the physical location of those cloud resources and the data that resides in them. This could lead to compliance challenges for organizations that use the cloud while also trying to adhere to data locality and other requirements from standards such as the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation. 

In addition, cloud resource utilization is often statically configured and doesn’t respond to changing conditions and events. Some conditions (e.g., locality of cloud resources, changes in operational behavior, changes in availability or performance of cloud resource services, or cyber events associated with a cloud resource) could indicate the need to use other cloud computing resources in order to optimize operations or maintain compliance.

For all those reasons, enterprises need more dynamic means of reconfiguring cloud computing resource usage when cloud resources, data locality, and other things change.

This patented technology satisfies that need. It qualifies for a patent because it introduces unique cloud operational and infrastructure analytics to determine the best possible usage of cloud resources. The techniques disclosed in this patent dynamically adjust the use of cloud computing resources by cloud computing operations (e.g., data backups or disaster recovery) based on data locality and other characteristics.

Specifically, once the patented techniques are fully implemented, Compass will:

- Monitor for changes in the data locality of cloud computing resources and in data locality policy rules.

- Analyze changes in data locality conditions, business priority of data, and data resiliency requirements to determine an optimal configuration of cloud resources to perform cloud computing operations.

- Automatically reconfigure cloud computing operations to use different cloud resources based on locality, business priority of data, data resiliency requirements, and cloud resource performance and availability characteristics.

For example, Compass will be able to ensure that cloud computing operations always properly adhere to data locality policies and regulations. 

In another example, for compliance and auditing purposes, Compass will be able to monitor the locality, performance, and availability characteristics of cloud resources being used by data protection operations. In addition, as conditions associated with these characteristics change, Compass will be able to perform analysis to determine if there are other cloud resources available that can better perform the data protection operations. Further, Compass might reconfigure cloud resource usage proactively to optimize the cloud operations.

The cloud resources Compass would monitor, analyze, and manage could include cloud compute, network, storage, operating systems, application software, data ingress services, data egress services, and more.

“While cloud services simplify use of computing resources, organizations are still responsible for their own data and operations. They must use the cloud responsibly by, for example, ensuring cloud resource usage is optimized, data in the cloud is properly protected, and cloud operations are compliant to regulations such as data locality requirements,” said Greg Tevis, vice president of strategy at Cobalt Iron. “At Cobalt Iron, we are constantly innovating to improve the security and efficiency of IT infrastructure, data, and operations. This latest patent introduces means for monitoring, analyzing, and adjusting cloud resource usage based on data locality and other cloud resource changes.”