[MUSIC] The last module focused on the end state and the overall vision of the digital thread as well as providing some understanding about how people, and organizations handle change. This module begins to focus on some initial steps that can be taken towards the vision of a digital thread. Building on effective information technology practices, the module introduces data storage strategies and how they relate to the digital threat. Take a moment and think about how you store information whether in files, handwritten notes and post-its or in some other format. Every action we take generates data, leaving a little trail for others to follow and extract information. On the web, that information could be that a particular product was looked at on Amazon and then somehow ads for that product pop-up all over your web searches. These data trails exist everywhere, even in industry. When we look at the wind power industry, we can see that there are many potential sources of data that can be captured. Consider an individual turbine. Sometimes turbines can capture data up to 400 times a second and that's just 1 turbine. The industry is looking to improve turbine life and adjust turbines for demands on the electric grid, including what other turbines in the wind farmer are doing as well as variations in the wind. So, why is data storage so important? It's been mentioned that data is generated at each stage of the product life cycle. If captured, this data can be processed and use again in the future to investigate possible design defects in already launched products in the field. Refining requirements and specific specifications for future products. Understanding design assumptions that go into the creation of a product. Comparing performance changes between different raw material lots. General electrics vice president of software research Colin Parris says, quote, we are doing the same thing with digital twin. We are getting all the data we can possibly get about our engines data for every flight, of the physics of the engine blades and how the engine is operating, data about ambient temperature and dust levels and then I can predict exactly when to bring the aircraft in for inspection, unquote. GE has even developed software that can integrate information from disparate sources to help predict what is going to happen to a complex product. Please take a moment to watch this video. The video presents a vision of the end state of the transformation to a digital thread. It is useful to keep this end goal in mind, as we discuss some steps toward capturing and storing useful information. Take a moment and consider that on your computer, you likely have many video files, audio files, documents, simulation model and spreadsheet. Many of them may be used on a daily basis. Why are you storing all these things on your computer? What could happen if your computer fail? If you were hit by the proverbial bus, how long would it take for your project data to be made useful to others? It's easy to think of many different options for actually storing data. Some are convenient and others less so, but all have long-term advantages and disadvantages. Let's consider the easiest and most straightforward option for storing data. That's keeping it locally on your own computer. The advantages that you have complete control over the data that you generate, so you can use it in the future. Storages relatively inexpensive and you don't have to worry about accessing the data across the network. However, a disadvantage of storing data on your own machine is it can only be accessed if you are present. If you do choose to overcome this disadvantage by sharing this access over the network, it can be very tricky to properly configuring a machine to share folders securely. In addition, there's a risk of losing the data. Personal machines are not always included in back up rotations. And at times, data can be accidentally deleted. Another approach is to use removable devices. Some examples are CDs, DVDs, USB drives, even hard drives can be made portable and removable. This sort of storage has a great advantage, because you can take it wherever its needed and access it directly from there, wherever you are. Even without network access, you can still access large volume of simulation data, even on a trans continental flight. The disadvantages are, it's difficult for other users to access the data remotely. If you think about it, the storage device might even need to be carried to the next user and there is also always the risk of loss of the physical device. That loss could result in lost data which would be time consuming and expensive to recreate, but it could also result in the theft of intellectual property, especially if the device is not encrypted. A third option explored for data storage is in the cloud. Cloud storage can take multiple forms. The one we most frequently think about is what's called the public cloud, as it's directly accessible from the internet. Dropbox, Google Drive and Box come to mind as examples of cloud based storage. One advantage to this approach is that storage is relatively inexpensive, sometimes it's even free. You can setup automatic synchronization from your desktop and you can have multiple people access from multiple locations at the same time. Cloud storage services are typically robust and reduces your risk of losing the data. However, there are disadvantages. The primary risk with Public Cloud Storage are that users can only access the data if they have a current internet connection, unless they synchronized data with there desktop. And also, that recovery of accidentally deleted data can be difficult to impossible as public users do not have typically have access to backups. Synchronizing data does overcome the internet connection requirement, but there can be issues with synchronizing large volumes of data. At times, the synchronization can become corrupt and you have to start from scratch. The final disadvantage of cloud storage and it's usually the one that stops the use of the services is security concerns. Typically, these concerns are a variation of the data is sent over the network. And therefore, it's outside of the company's direct control. So, you're relying on another organization's security protocols. Also, with some cloud hosting services, you cannot be sure if the data will all remain within one country. In the US, there are limitations on sensitive data leaving the country and export controls have the force of law and that can even apply to cloud storage. Large organizations can often deploy a variation of the public cloud that addresses the control, backup and security concerns of a public cloud solution using a private cloud. Private Cloud Storage often looks to the user as if it's on Google Drive iCloud, but its soul purpose is to store enterprise data internally. So, security concerns of the public cloud is addressed. The major disadvantage of the private cloud approach is that it can be significantly more expensive, because the organization consumes all of the cost for having highly available, highly secured backup infrastructure.
