Report Reveals Data Infrastructure Becoming Major Bottleneck in Aerospace Development

EL SEGUNDO, Calif., Nov. 20, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Sift, the company powering mission-critical engineering and observability infrastructure, today released its "2024 Aerospace Observability Report," revealing that 77% of aerospace companies face significant challenges scaling their internal tools to match business growth.

The report, based on a survey of 100 aerospace professionals, exposes the hidden complexity of managing test data in modern hardware development. Key findings include:

• 85% of organizations encounter hidden costs in maintaining internal data solutions
• 65% report delays and setbacks from managing their own telemetry infrastructure
• 63% struggle with data management, traceability, and contextualization
• 66% identify data integrity as a major risk with internally built systems

The study also revealed a critical impact on innovation: 62% of respondents agreed that internally built observability tools negatively impact time to market. This challenge becomes particularly acute as hardware systems grow more complex and generate exponentially more test data.

"Hardware companies are drowning in complexity," said Karthik Gollapudi, Co-founder and CEO of Sift. "Engineers who should be focused on building the next generation of machines are instead spending countless hours managing data infrastructure and internal tooling. This report confirms what we've long observed: the traditional approach to hardware observability isn't just inefficient—it's actively holding companies back."

The findings highlight a growing recognition that hardware companies need new approaches to data management. Notably, 82% of respondents identified cost optimization through reduced infrastructure and personnel costs as a critical benefit of modern data solutions. The report also found that 81% of organizations value the ability to focus internal resources on core business objectives rather than building and maintaining data tools.

"These results align perfectly with what we learned building software at SpaceX," said Austin Spiegel, Co-founder and CTO of Sift. "When you're pushing the boundaries of what's possible in hardware, you can't afford to have your best engineers bogged down in data infrastructure. Companies need systems that scale automatically with their ambitions."

Looking ahead, the report suggests a significant shift in how hardware companies approach data management. With 78% of respondents valuing improved data security and compliance management from specialized solutions, there's growing recognition that purpose-built infrastructure can better serve the unique needs of hardware engineering teams.

"What's particularly striking is how universal these challenges are across the industry," added Gollapudi. "Traditional observability tools, designed for IT and cloud applications, simply weren't built for the complexity of modern hardware systems. Whether you're working with autonomous systems, robotics, or aerospace, adapting these tools to build your own stack creates massive engineering headwinds. The fundamental challenge isn't just about handling data—it's about having infrastructure that actually understands how hardware engineers work."

The full report is available at www.Siftstack.com.

About Sift

Sift builds infrastructure for the world's most ambitious hardware companies. Founded by former SpaceX engineers, Sift's unified observability platform seamlessly ingests, stores, and analyzes vast amounts of sensor data. With Sift, engineers can focus on innovation, knowing they have real-time insights at their fingertips. Based in El Segundo, California, Sift serves leading companies in aerospace, transportation, robotics, and advanced manufacturing. Learn more at siftstack.com.

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SOURCE Sift