U.S. Patent 11882094, issued on Jan. 23, describes new capabilities that will be available in Cobalt Iron Compass, an enterprise SaaS backup platform. The techniques, as disclosed in this patent, use analytics and user-defined policies to automatically optimize network throughput levels to reduce security risks and improve data operations under various, changing conditions.

Conditions in today’s technology and data environments sometimes change rapidly. These changes can affect the amount of IT resources, such as network bandwidth capacity, that are needed for various operations. However, amidst these changes, IT infrastructure and operations remain relatively static, leading to unoptimized resources and security vulnerabilities. One particular area of static infrastructure is networking. Information networks are typically preallocated resources that don’t get adjusted or optimized in response to dynamic conditions in the environment, such as cyber attacks, changing business or operation priorities, or environmental events. These and other conditions could all necessitate network throughput levels that are different from the norm.

When it comes to being able to make these dynamic network throughput changes, the industry is lacking. Backup administrators, network administrators, chief information security officers, and other IT professionals need more advanced means of monitoring and dynamically adjusting networks.

This patent discloses techniques that, when fully implemented, will make it possible for Compass to dynamically adjust, or shape, network throughput levels for data protection operations based on a range of conditions.