In the fast-paced world of technology, where innovation is the lifeblood of progress, a company has emerged that is breaking the mold of what storage providers could be.

Vast Data Inc. might have started out as just another storage service provider, but during the “Vast presents: Build Beyond” event, the company unveiled its “Build Beyond” initiative.  At the event, Vast showcased its new data platform aimed at redefining the future of data management and analytics. The event included discussions about what Vast is bringing to the data and generative artificial intelligence space.

“Years ago, when I saw Vast launch, I was like, OK, hey, another storage company. That’s kind of cool,” said Dave Vellante, industry analyst for theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. “These guys are bringing new thinking to the market in a way that [is] starting to tweak our idea of what that future data platform is going to look like.”

Vellante was joined by co-analysts John Furrier, Rob Strechay and George Gilbert, during the keynote analysis segment during the event. (* Disclosure below.)

Here’s theCUBE’s complete video keynote analysis:

Check out three key insights you may have missed during the event:

1. Vast Data is changing the way enterprises manage and utilize data.

In a rapidly evolving world of technology, Renen Hallak (pictured), founder and CEO of Vast Data, has been leading the charge in shaping the future of AI and data storage. His vision for the future revolves around enabling fast access to vast amounts of information for AI applications.

Vast’s platform is poised to change how enterprises manage and utilize data. The journey began with a bold ambition to support the AI of the future, even when AI was still in its nascent stages. True AI, where machines generate original ideas and solve complex problems, is on the horizon, according to Hallak.

“[We’re] a lot further along than I thought we would be in 2023 and definitely a lot further along than we were when we started, but it’s still not real intelligence,” Hallak said in an interview with theCUBE. “They’re not creating new things just yet, and we hope, we think that’s coming and that they can help us solve the hard problems.”

Here’s theCUBE’s complete video interview with Renen Hallak:

At the cutting edge of the ever-evolving world of AI, Vast is helping to redefine the possibilities with innovations in AI infrastructure. Jeff Denworth, Vast’s co-founder, shared the company’s vision in an appearance on theCUBE, emphasizing the need to unite application and storage to solve complex problems effectively. Vast’s unified data platform simplifies AI infrastructure, eliminating the challenges of piecing together different technologies.

By making flash storage as cost-efficient as disk storage, the platform achieves a single-tier infrastructure with lightning-fast data access, thus helping to change the storage industry. Denworth envisions a future where data centers are consolidated and AI operates at unprecedented levels of efficiency.

“It just makes infrastructure really simple,” he said. “We realized there was a huge gap as people moved away from business-reporting systems and data warehousing to actual deep learning. There’s nothing in this space. We’re here to make it much simpler than it’s been in the past.”

Here’s theCUBE’s complete video interview with Jeff Denworth:

2. Vast is working with its partners to improve predictive models and analyze large datasets.

Vast is working with major enterprise companies, including Nvidia Corp., to make significant contributions to the revolution in generative AI. The company unveiled its Vast Data Platform, which includes integration with Nvidia’s DGX AI supercomputing platform. The collaboration aims to simplify AI development, enhance performance and improve scalability for data scientists and developers.

Furthermore, Vast announced the launch of Vast DataSpace, a global namespace that allows seamless storage, retrieval and access of information from any location, including multiple cloud platforms. The partnership between Vast and Nvidia emphasizes the importance of data-driven architectures to unleash the full potential of GenAI and meet the evolving AI needs of enterprise customers.

“The work that Vast does mirrors our own design philosophy, and how we look at the full AI developer stack and what’s required to give these teams productive work capacity that can scale linear with the size of system that’s being used,” Tony Paikeday, senior director of product marketing, AI systems at Nvidia, told theCUBE. “Our customers have asked us time and again to simplify this, give us better performance with scale, better utilization, better productive work capacity for data scientists and developers. That’s what this coming together is all about.”

Here’s theCUBE’s full interview with Paikeday, who was joined by John Mao, vice president of global business development at Vast:

Aquatic Capital Management (Aquatic Group LLC), known for its systematic investment strategies and scientific approach, aims to build the world’s best prediction machine using applied research and AI. The company relies on scientific computation methods and continuous model refinement through frequent iterations, according to Kevin Weiler, head of infrastructure at Aquatic Capital. To support its predictive research, Aquatic turned to Vast to leverage its technology to synthesize and analyze large datasets from various sources.

Vast’s unified architecture allows Aquatic to gain insights from structured and unstructured data, improving the accuracy of its predictive models, according to Weiler. The Vast DataBase empowers researchers with native SQL applications and accelerated query engines, facilitating rapid and efficient iteration of AI models.

“This company is very much driven by pure scientific research,” Weiler told theCUBE. “The thesis is that we can do a better job than anyone by applying scientific computation methods. It’s a combination of a lot of different modeling techniques. After we find something that we like as far as a model is concerned, we deploy it, we trade on it and then feed it back into the system.”

Watch theCUBE’s complete interview with Kevin Weiler, who was joined in the interview by Vast co-founder Jeff Denworth:

3. Vast’s strategy is reshaping data management for the AI era.

Vast’s “Build Beyond” announcement is helping to drive a shift in the world of data management. The event brought together industry experts to discuss Vast’s disruptive strategy, challenging conventional norms and reshaping the future of data management.

In the analyst roundtable during theCUBE’s event coverage, Sanjeev Mohan, industry analyst and principle at SanjMo, talked about the company’s innovative approach to data infrastructure for AI. Vast is unique in the industry as a storage company that offers new capabilities beyond its core functions, according Mohan.

Vast’s platform challenges traditional data practices, eliminating features, such as tiering and data movement, found in other storage solutions. Vast platform’s transparency and suitability for the AI era enables seamless data access and analysis, making it a good fit regardless of file sizes or data location, according to the analysts.

The company’s collaborative approach through ecosystem partnerships is crucial for success in the complex data management landscape, according to Mohan. With the ability to accommodate both on-premises and cloud deployments, Vast has positioned itself to cater to diverse customer needs in the rapidly evolving data landscape.

“In my career, I’ve seen a lot of data companies start expanding beyond their core capabilities into the stack. This is the first time I’ve seen a storage company come into the picture and start offering all of these new capabilities,” Mohan said.

Here’s theCUBE’s full analyst roundtable, featuring Sanjeev Mohan, John Furrier, Dave Vellante and Rob Strechay:

To watch more of theCUBE’s coverage of the “Vast presents: Build Beyond” event, here’s our complete event video playlist:

(* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for the “Vast presents: Build Beyond” event. Neither Vast Data Inc., the sponsor of theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE