What counts as an outage event?

Any event that lost or delayed OT data: broker outage, historian crash, gateway power fault, network partition. Scope to events long enough to cause analytics or compliance impact.

How do I model with-protection vs. without-protection?

Run the calculator twice: once with current share-unprotected and once with target share-unprotected after the protection investment. The difference is the avoided exposure.

Should I include cybersecurity events?

Only if your scope includes cyber-driven data loss. Cyber loss is usually modeled in a separate exposure calc with different base rates.

What dollar impact per event is realistic?

Often 5000 to 50000 dollars on production-impacting outages, much higher on batch-record or regulator-reportable events. Use finance numbers, not estimates.

IIoT, SCADA & Edge Connectivity calculator

Data Loss Exposure Calculator

Estimate annual OT data loss exposure. Enter outage events per year that lose OT data, dollar impact per event (lost analytics, regulator fine, missing batch record), the share of events not protected today, and the fixed cost of protection (store-and-forward, DR, redundant gateway). The calculator returns variable exposure and the loaded total against the protection investment.

What this calculator does

Estimate annual data loss exposure on the OT data path from outage events per year, dollar impact per event (lost analytics, regulator fine, missing batch record), the share of events not protected by store-and-forward or DR, and a fixed protection cost (replication, backup, redundant gateway).
Use it when an OT data ops or compliance lead is making the case for store-and-forward, DR, or redundant gateways before the next OT data outage hits a regulator-reported window.
It returns annual OT data loss exposure given current protection coverage, with the protection cost shown separately so you can compare with-and-without protection.

Formula used

Variable data loss exposure = outage events per year × impact per event × share unprotected
Total data loss exposure = variable exposure + fixed protection cost (compare exposure-without-protection vs. exposure-with-protection by changing share unprotected)

Inputs explained

OT data outage events per year: Use the count of OT data outage events in the last year that lost or delayed data (broker outage, historian crash, gateway power fault).
Dollar impact per outage event: Use loss per event: missed analytics, regulator-reportable batch record gap, customer credit, or recovery labor.
Share of events not protected today: Use the share with no store-and-forward, DR, or redundant gateway protection. Mature plants run 10 to 30 percent unprotected; legacy plants can run 50 to 80 percent.
Fixed protection cost: Use the annual cost to protect (store-and-forward license, DR site, redundant gateway hardware amortization).

How to use the result

Use it before approving store-and-forward, DR, or redundant gateway investment, or when an audit asks for a defensible loss-exposure number.
Regulator fines are case-specific. Use a conservative impact-per-event when fines are in scope and validate with compliance before publishing the number externally.

Common questions

What counts as an outage event? Any event that lost or delayed OT data: broker outage, historian crash, gateway power fault, network partition. Scope to events long enough to cause analytics or compliance impact.
How do I model with-protection vs. without-protection? Run the calculator twice: once with current share-unprotected and once with target share-unprotected after the protection investment. The difference is the avoided exposure.
Should I include cybersecurity events? Only if your scope includes cyber-driven data loss. Cyber loss is usually modeled in a separate exposure calc with different base rates.
What dollar impact per event is realistic? Often 5000 to 50000 dollars on production-impacting outages, much higher on batch-record or regulator-reportable events. Use finance numbers, not estimates.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.