Cloud Application Infrastructure Recovery: What is CAIRS and Why Should You Care?

Gartner's introduction of the Cloud Application Infrastructure Recovery (CAIRS) category in its Hype Cycle for Backup and Data Protection Technologies 2025 highlights a critical shift in the enterprise backup industry, emphasizing the inadequacy of traditional disaster recovery solutions in cloud environments. This new paradigm arises from the need to not only back up data but also to ensure the recovery of complex cloud infrastructure, which traditional methods fail to address. CAIRS focuses on treating infrastructure as software that can be reliably recreated using Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC), marking a transition from restoring systems to rebuilding them more effectively. This approach allows organizations to automate the discovery of application dependencies and recreate infrastructure efficiently, transforming disaster recovery from a major setback to an operational inconvenience. With only three vendors recognized by Gartner in this space, including Firefly, the development underscores a significant market gap where current solutions fall short in addressing infrastructure dependencies, leading to potential vulnerabilities and higher costs. The evolution towards CAIRS and DR-as-Code reflects a broader transformation in cloud infrastructure management, where organizations that adopt these practices can gain operational advantages and reduce risks, while those reliant on outdated methods may face increased complexity and costs.

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