Modernizing a backup environment today means navigating an uncomfortable tension: hardware is expensive, budgets are tight, and cyber resilience requirements keep rising. That is precisely where a well-designed immutable S3 object storage model becomes compelling.
*This article was originally published on October 15, 2026, in IT-Sicherheit Online (https://www.itsicherheit-online.com/managed-security/backup-umgebung-mit-s3-storage-cyberresilient-und-kosteneffizient-modernisieren/).
Hardware—A Valuable Asset in the Age of AI Workloads
Costs for storage and compute hardware are under significant pressure. One driver is sustained demand from AI workloads: the need for data center components is pushing up both prices and lead times. Dell'Oro Group reports a sharp increase in data center semiconductors driven by AI hardware demand. [1] Reuters describes how the AI boom is affecting prices for less-discussed components such as memory. [2]
Concrete numbers put the scale in perspective. A standard Veeam repository system — 16-core CPU, 32 GB RAM, 300 TB HDD capacity — currently costs between EUR 25,000 and 35,000 net. Individual 20 TB enterprise HDDs (e.g. Seagate Exos X20) are listed on German price comparison platforms from around EUR 800; with 15 drives for 300 TB raw, the storage alone exceeds EUR 12,000. [3] The same capacity built on enterprise SSDs starts above EUR 100,000 — and likely higher. Enterprise SSD prices more than quadrupled between Q2 2025 and Q1 2026; a 30 TB TLC enterprise SSD moved from roughly EUR 3,000 to over EUR 17,000. [4] Spot-market lead times for high-capacity drives are running at six to twelve weeks.
A standard 300 TB Veeam repository: approx. EUR 25,000–35,000 net with HDD — over EUR 100,000 with enterprise SSD.“ Matthias Mrugalla, Head of Managed Solutions at Empalis
For backup and recovery environments, this matters because the infrastructure must be not just capable, but reliable, immutable, and auditable. Investing reflexively in new appliances, additional disk systems, or a separate hardware silo often buys more complexity — not better cyber resilience.
The role of cyber resilience in the context of backup
A completed backup job is not the same as resilience. What counts is whether data can be recovered in a controlled, verifiable way within the required window — after an actual attack. That means isolated copies, immutability, clear recovery paths, and separation between production systems and the restore target.
Modern S3 object storage with immutability addresses exactly this. Backup data cannot be easily deleted or overwritten, which reduces the attack surface. S3 also simplifies integration because most backup platforms support this storage model natively.
Greater sovereignty with a logical, secure air gap
Based on our experience and insight into forward-looking approaches that improve security, our cyber resilience and architecture consulting services rely on robust S3 storage. An additional copy stored in an immutable, external target environment—such as a secure air gap—provides a direct way to offload business-critical data as a third copy to an external location, free from access or permissions within your own organization or even managed by service providers like us.
The practical point: you get a logically separated backup target architecture without necessarily operating another hardware island of your own.
That is economically attractive because it allows you to balance security posture and operational overhead more effectively. Instead of buying, integrating, hardening, and eventually replacing hardware, organizations use an S3-based target that acts as a logical air gap. Given current hardware pricing — and the unpredictability of lead times and price trajectories — this argument reaches beyond technical preference.
An important caveat: a logical air gap is not a magic shield. It does not replace clean identity management, recovery testing, or proper access and key management. But it creates a solid technical foundation that makes those measures effective.
Why this matters for decision-makers
For executives and IT decision-makers, what counts is risk, effort, and predictability. When a 300 TB SSD repository system costs over EUR 100,000 today — after a price trajectory that quadrupled in less than a year — the question of whether that investment makes sense within a three-year refresh cycle is legitimate. An S3-based immutable backup target decouples the security architecture from this hardware volatility.
Anyone looking to modernize an existing backup environment should therefore start not with more hardware, but with architecture: Where is the immutable copy? How far is the target separated from production? How fast can you actually recover when it counts? When those questions are answered well, a classic backup environment becomes a resilient cyber-recovery structure.
Conclusion: Taking a smart approach to securing legacy systems against today's cyber risks
The current hardware environment amplifies a familiar problem: many backup platforms were built for a different era of risk. An immutable S3 object storage model with a logical air gap is a practical way to modernize backup resilience without waiting for the hardware market to stabilize.
Sovereign S3 storage—hosted in Germany as a “third copy” independent of existing multi-cloud environments, thereby combining immutability with secure logical separation—is the ideal component for this purpose. We recommend relying on a trusted S3 storage provider and supplementing it with popular vendors for the third copy. Those who take cyber resilience seriously should start right here—not with the next expensive hardware purchase, but with a better storage and recovery architecture.
If you want to reassess your backup architecture from the perspectives of cost and resilience, it’s worth taking a structured look at recovery objectives, immutability, and air-gap strategies.
Sources
[1] Dell'Oro Group: "Data Center Semiconductors and Components up 44 Percent on AI Hardware Demand in 2Q 2025", 2025. Available at: https://www.delloro.com/news/data-center-semiconductors-and-components-up-44-percent-on-ai-hardware-demand-in-2q-2025/
[2] Reuters: "Chip crunch: how AI boom is stoking prices of less trendy memory", 2025. Available at: https://www.reuters.com/world/china/chip-crunch-how-ai-boom-is-stoking-prices-less-trendy-memory-2025-10-20/
[3] Geizhals Deutschland: Seagate Exos X X20 20TB — price comparison, as of June 2026. Available at: https://geizhals.de/seagate-exos-x-x20-20tb-st20000nm007d-a2648746.html
[4] dropreference.com: "Price of SSDs in 2026: why they are skyrocketing and when they will decrease", 2026. Available at: https://dropreference.com/en/blog/news/ssd-price-increase-2026-nand-flash-crisis — ⚠️ verify URL before publishing
