Hi Matt,
I'm not really sure I fully understand the question, but I suspect the answer is "it depends." What sort of data are you gathering? How are you gathering it? By "always on" do you mean you have some service that you need hard guarantees as to its availability? I would probably begin by identifying what your application needs to do exactly, then posing questions about the specifics as you encounter difficulties in implementing it. You might look into SOA or ROA and the relevant Java technologies (e.g. Switchyard) to see if those address your needs.
Best!
Joe