Universal Storage logo

Universal Storage

by VAST Data · Since 2016
No reviews yet
ActiveAvailable globallyCloud
Quick facts
VendorVAST Data
Year launched2016
StatusActive
LocationHannibal, Missouri
Countries servedGlobal
Languages10
Integrations1+
Free tierN/A
Free trialN/A
Contact salesYES

About Universal Storage

[API Error: HTTPSConnectionPool(host='api.openai.com', port=44]

The VAST DataStore by VAST is a groundbreaking universal storage platform engineered to handle the extreme performance and scalability requirements of AI and deep learning workloads. At its core, it consolidates all unstructured data into a single, all-flash tier, completely removing the need for traditional tiered storage systems and hard drives. This transformation is powered by VAST’s unique Disaggregated, Shared-Everything (DASE) architecture, which separates compute from storage to deliver independent scaling, exceptional performance, and long-term durability. By leveraging QLC flash technology with a lifespan of up to a decade, paired with advanced data reduction techniques such as Similarity-based global compression, VAST DataStore makes all-flash storage as cost-effective as traditional HDDs. This ability to lower costs while maintaining extreme speed and reliability positions it as a disruptive solution for AI-driven enterprises seeking to unify massive datasets under a single, scalable storage infrastructure. VAST DataStore emphasizes simplicity at scale, featuring a web-based graphical management interface (VAST Web UI) that makes monitoring and administration intuitive, even in complex environments.

Pros & Cons

Pros
  • Unified Storage Architecture: Eliminates traditional tiering; flash-based storage supports petabyte to exabyte scale.
  • Optimized for AI & HPC: Engineered to meet high-performance demands with support for NVIDIA GPUDirect and parallel access protocols.
  • Data Reduction Breakthrough: "Similarity" compression achieves up to 3:1 reduction, even on encrypted data.
  • Global Namespace Access: VAST DataSpace enables real-time transactions across distributed environments.
  • Multi-Protocol Support: Seamless access via NFS, SMB, S3—eliminates infrastructure silos.
  • Snapshot Simplicity: Create and replicate exabyte-scale snapshots with zero performance impact.
  • Environmental Efficiency: Lower power usage through flash efficiencies and real-time I/O.
  • Future-Proof Scalability: Mix and match hardware generations in a cluster—no migrations or refresh pains.
  • Security & QoS Features: Includes multi-factor authentication and fine-grained I/O governance.
Cons
  • Flash-Centric Model: Dependency on flash infrastructure may not suit organizations heavily invested in HDD storage.
  • Enterprise-Focused: Sophisticated features may exceed the needs of smaller businesses or teams.
  • Proprietary Compression Claims: "Similarity" is unique to VAST—cross-platform comparison may be limited.
  • Learning Curve Potential: Advanced features and architecture could require specialized onboarding or support.

Features

Key features

DASE Architecture

A unique "Disaggregated, Shared-Everything" architecture that separates compute from storage, allowing independent scaling and eliminating performance bottlenecks. ⚙️

Flash Economics Redefined

Employs DASE efficiency algorithms, Similarity data reduction, and new Erasure Codes to make flash storage cost-effective, comparable to HDD. 💸

Similarity-Based Data Reduction

A breakthrough global compression technique that achieves unparalleled data reduction by uncovering correlations missed by traditional methods, guaranteeing market-leading savings. 📉

Global Namespace (VAST DataSpace)

Provides seamless, consistent data access across edge-to-cloud locations with decentralized locking for high-performance transactions. 🌍

Elimination of Refreshes & Migrations

Its asymmetric cluster architecture allows combining multiple generations of hardware into a single cluster, ending disruptive hardware refresh cycles and data migrations. 🔄

Enterprise Multi-Protocol Support

Embraces standard protocols like NFS, SMB, and S3 with in-house optimization and GPUDirect Storage, offering high performance and unified data access. 🤝

Additional features

Universal Storage Platform

A single, unified platform for all unstructured data.

Engineered for AI

Specifically designed to meet the demands of modern AI computing architectures.

Eliminates Compromise and Unifies Storage

Addresses the trade-offs between performance, capacity, and cost by unifying storage into one tier of flash.

No More Hard Drives or Tiers

Simplifies storage by making it universal and eliminating legacy tiered infrastructures.

DASE Efficiency Algorithms

Algorithms that bring the cost of flash in line with HDD storage.

Similarity Data Reduction

A global data compression technique offering industry-leading data reduction.

New Erasure Codes

Minimize the overhead of failure protection, contributing to efficiency.

New QLC Flash Management

Protects QLC flash for a decade, ensuring durability of low-cost flash.

VAST DataSpace (Edge-to-Cloud Global Namespace)

Provides global data access across all compute locations with a decentralized approach to distributed locking for performance and consistency at the edge.

Simple & Scalable Snapshots

New data structures enable easy, non-impactful snapshots even at exabyte scale, supporting hundreds of thousands of snaps at any system depth.

Eliminate Refreshes & Migrations

Asymmetric cluster architecture combines multiple hardware generations into a single cluster, avoiding refresh cycles and data migrations.

Flexible Quality-of-Service (QoS)

Multiple levels of QoS allow scalable service delivery and infrastructure consolidation, governing or isolating I/O flows.

Environmental Benefits

Efficiency algorithms provide storage-level power savings and save on compute power by enabling real-time I/O to the archive.

High-Performance Client Access

Embraces open, standard protocols with optimizations, eliminating the need for complex client-side drivers.

RDMA, Multi-pathing, NVIDIA GPUDirect Storage

Enhancements for high-performance client access, particularly for NFS.

Enterprise Multi-Protocol Architecture

All protocols (NFS, SMB, S3) are written in-house for optimal performance and permissions, sharing equal data and performance access via the Element Store.

VAST Catalog (Semantic Layer)

A built-in high-speed index for files and objects, enabling real-time, fine-grained queries and data enrichment with custom metadata.

Breakthrough in Unstructured Data Reduction

Similarity is a revolutionary global data compression method that efficiently reduces deduplicated, compressed, and encrypted data, with a guarantee to outperform competitors.

Multi-Protocol by Design

A single platform to eliminate data islands with integrated data management.

NFS V3, V4 Support

Parallel file system speed with NAS simplicity, removing limitations of legacy NFS without proprietary clients.

SMB 2.1, 3 Support

Enterprise workload support with multi-channel for non-disruptive, high-performance operations.

S3 Support

High-performance object storage for modern data analytics and massive scale.

Container Plugins (CSI Driver)

Programmatically create persistent and ephemeral Kubernetes volumes.

GPUDirect Storage

Achieves predictable, high performance for machine learning and deep learning workloads.

IPv4 & IPv6 Support

Future-proofs infrastructure for next-generation workloads.

Exabyte Scale Namespace

Independently scales performance and capacity in a single massive namespace.

LDAP, Active Directory Support

Secure multi-tenancy with multiple authentication sources.

Multi-Protocol ACL

Unified permission model for multi-protocol access to any data.

Metadata Index in the VAST Catalog

High-speed, built-in index of files with point-in-time granularity.

Directory and User Quotas

Optimizes resource utilization with granular quotas.

Snapshots and Object Immutability

Protects data from ransomware and insider threats.

Capacity and Performance Analytics

Monitoring via intuitive UI or export to log analytics tools.

Distributed / Multiprotocol File Locking

Ensures consistency of operations across the cluster.

Multi-tenancy

Supports multiple securely isolated tenants across common infrastructure.

S3 Lifecycle Policy

Implements data management policies with cloud workflows.

Access Audit

Granular protocol and admin access audit logging.

Transactional Storage System

Achieves ACID database guarantees with parallel file system performance and object store scale.

Distributed Persistent Metadata

Non-volatile, cluster-wide metadata management for resilience, scalability, and performance.

Global Hyperscale Flash Translation

Unleashes ultra-dense, low-cost hyperscale flash for any workload with decade-long SSD durability.

Encryption at Rest and Flight

Protects data in transit and stored on flash.

Rapid Rebuild Erasure Coding

Revolutionary erasure coding with minimal overhead (2.7%) and rapid rebuild times.

Fail-In-Place Architecture

Controllers fail gracefully, and SSDs rebuild against free space even before replacement.

CNode Pooling

Dedicated pools of CNodes provide CPU-based QoS boundaries, serve common data across disparate networks, and enhance security.

Asynchronous Replication with Automated Failover

Control disaster recovery workflows with automated synchronization and reversed replication.

Cloud Backup

Leverages remote S3 storage for system backups.

Multi-Factor Authentication

Secures administrative access.

Consumption Model (Gemini)

Sold as managed software on hardware that can be bought directly from manufacturers at cost, offering commercial flexibility and savings.

On-Premise Appliance Deployment

Designed for optimized balance of performance and capacity, collaborating with leading enterprise technology manufacturers.

Scalable Cluster Architecture

Allows mixing and matching across generations of flash and storage compute infrastructure.

Block Storage Capabilities

Supports block storage for transactional databases and stateful containerized applications.

Apache Kafka-compatible Event Streaming Service

Transforms DataStore into a fully unified data platform supporting streaming data.

Support for Virtualization Platforms

Compatible with VMware, Hyper-V, and other hypervisors for managing virtual machines.

Pricing

Free trial
Free version
Request a quote
Promo Offer

Countries & Languages

Global
Countries served
10
Interface languages
16
Billing currencies

Interface languages

EnglishSpanishFrenchGermanItalianJapaneseChineseKoreanRussianPortuguese

Billing currencies

🇺🇸USD🇪🇺EUR🇬🇧GBP🇯🇵JPY🇦🇺AUD🇨🇦CAD🇨🇭CHF🇨🇳CNY🇸🇪SEK🇳🇿NZD🇲🇽MXN🇸🇬SGD🇭🇰HKD🇳🇴NOK🇰🇷KRW🇹🇷TRY

No reviews yet

Be the first to drop a review

Alternatives to Universal Storage

DeepEcho AI logo

DeepEcho AI

DeepEcho AI is an artificial intelligence software from Deepecho that focuses on voice analysis. It…

V

Vyasa Layar

[API Error: HTTPSConnectionPool(host='api.openai.com', port=44]

UVeye logo

UVeye

UVeye is an AI-powered inspection platform from UVeye that identifies critical issues across every vehicle…

Sky Engine AI Platform logo

Sky Engine AI Platform

Sky Engine AI Platform is a synthetic data software from Sky Engine that supports AI…

S

SignalBox

[API Error: HTTPSConnectionPool(host='api.openai.com', port=44]

Retina Deep Learning logo

Retina Deep Learning

Retina Deep Learning is a deep learning software from CHROMOS Group that focuses on advanced…

Spot something wrong or outdated?

Suggest a correction — a reviewer verifies every change.

Often compared with Universal Storage

Compare any two tools →
DeepEcho AI logo
DeepEcho AI
Medical Imaging
0.0
V
Vyasa Layar
Deep Learning
0.0
UVeye logo
UVeye
Deep Learning
0.0
Sky Engine AI Platform logo
Sky Engine AI Platform
Deep Learning
0.0