Why Storage Needs to Be Involved in the AI ​​Debate

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Thought LeaderIs your data storage strategy ready for AI?mmupdated on April 14, 2025By Anthony Cusimano, Director of Solutions at Object Firs

One of the most overlooked aspects of a mature data management strategy is having adequate storage requirements to backup and archive critical data. Businesses face numerous data security threats, and adequate storage to handle AI workloads may be the only way to prevent AI-generated data from being lost or tampered with due to ransomware or other disasters. Your business may be AI-ready, but is your storage infrastructure AI-ready?

There are several reasons why proper storage is essential for data created and used by AI: companies must ensure that data remains easily accessible, is protected from evolving threats, can be recovered in the event of a disaster, and must be optimized for AI workloads.

Accessibility is important because developers need to be able to quickly and efficiently find and leverage data to train other AI algorithms. Most of the time, this type of data is considered “mission critical” and can be the most valuable to business operations. Having this type of data readily available is critical to ensuring lean processes at the most critical times.

This data must also ensure the highest level of security while it is stored. Given that 96% of ransomware attacks Now that backup data is targeted, storage must be ransomware-proof and able to withstand any downtime or disruption an organization may face. Backups are prime targets for attackers because they prevent companies from restoring their data, increasing the likelihood that they will pay the ransom to recover their critical data. Meanwhile, companies could be left defenseless and face long periods of IT downtime if their “mission-critical” data is inaccessible. This could cause both reputational and financial losses, devastating bc data china shareholders, customers, and employees.

Cybersecurity attacks are not the only cause of storage loss or manipulation. Production data, which is the data used in a company’s day-to-day operations, should always be treated as if it were destroyed or corrupted. Therefore, a recovery copy, which is a clean, reliable, and isolated copy of critical data, is mandatory. Accidental deletion, data overwriting, or any other type of error caused by human error can compromise data. Software and hardware failures, such as corruption or viruses, can also put data at risk, especially if software and hardware do not have the latest updates. Finally, environmental factors such as power outages, floods, and extreme weather conditions are all valid reasons to ensure backup data is restored.


When choosing a ransomware-proof backup and storage vendor, it is important to ensure that you select an immutable storage system that can withstand any type of disaster that could put your data at risk. It is important to note that not all immutable storage systems honor this agreement. If “immutable” data can be overwritten by a backup or storage administrator, a vendor, or an attacker, then it is NOT a truly immutable storage solution. Understanding the fundamental concept of true immutability will help distinguish secure backup systems from false vendor claims.