CXOToday has engaged in an exclusive interview with Jeffrey Denworth, Co-Founder, VAST Data
- Can you elaborate on the ‘OS for AI’ that is being developed. What is the thought process and where does VAST Data see the need and how is it going to help?
As enterprises enter into the new world of AI, these new workloads using various data types coming from all over the globe require a new type of infrastructure to efficiently manage this data, and new levels of resilience to keep that data secure. The VAST Data Platform serves as that new, enterprise-grade operating system that was built from the ground up for these AI workloads – eliminating complexity with an easy to use, nearly limitlessly scalable, highly performant, efficient, and highly resilient data platform for unstructured data.
2. How does VAST Data see India in terms of opportunity in the AI space? could you highlight on investment and growth opportunity for VAST Data In India?
From a VAST Data perspective, India is one of Asia’s hottest markets for AI, especially in CSPs, startups, and e-commerce. It has some of the region’s largest data volumes, driving a strong appetite for AI tech. India’s dynamic business environment and digitalization are key factors behind this trend.
In recent years, AI adoption has surged across many sectors like finance, healthcare, and retail. This growth is fueled by factors such as talent availability, supportive regulations, and increased digitalization. India has become a hub for AI startups and a target market for global companies, including VAST Data, expanding their AI offerings. This vibrant ecosystem, coupled with India’s massive data pool, positions the country as a key player in the AI landscape in Asia.
3. Reflecting on VAST Data’s journey, what pivotal factors do you attribute to the company’s current position in the industry?
When the company was founded in 2016, Renen (co-founder/CEO) had a vision to “build a thinking machine” – anticipating that AI would be the next massive wave for the tech industry. By starting with a storage system that would be the basis for an AI data platform, and leveraging the latest technologies available to develop the architecture, VAST has been well positioned to displace industry stalwarts that are stuck with an architecture developed with legacy technologies. The key factors in VAST’s current position as an industry disruptor and leader were the company’s early vision to solve the problems of AI workloads, years before AI was popular, and the development of a unique architecture that could efficiently deliver HPC scale and performance, with simple enterprise features for analytics, security and compliance.
4. How do VAST Data’s partnerships with industry giants like NVIDIA, Supermicro, and HPE, help overcome technology barriers and tradeoffs, ultimately enhancing the customer experience?
Partnering with the likes of NVIDIA, who are not only technology alliance partners, but also investors, allows VAST to serve the world’s most data-intensive organizations on their accelerated computing initiatives – with validated infrastructure that is integrated directly with the GPU technology leading the AI revolution.
Scaling effectively is important for any organization, and as a rapidly growing company, VAST has been able to focus its attention on innovation and customer-outcomes by only targeting organizations with the largest data footprints. Via partnerships with Supermicro and HPE, VAST is able to extend its TAM by tapping into the massive customer markets that both companies have access to as leading hardware and systems providers, by bundling VAST software on top of it as the case with Supermicro, or providing the solution as a first-party offering with HPE GreenLake for File Storage.
5. What are your existing and future plans for spreading the sales network across India. Your GTM.
We are expanding our presence in major cities such as Mumbai and Bangalore, establishing dedicated teams and collaborating with key partners like TechnoBind, NVIDIA, HPE, and Supermicro. This strategic approach allows us to leverage the expertise and networks of our partners while tapping into the vibrant tech ecosystems of these cities and beyond.
About VAST Data
VAST Data is the go-to data platform company tailored for the AI era. Serving as the benchmark for enterprise AI infrastructure, VAST Data Platform is trusted by organizations worldwide to tackle their most data-intensive computing challenges. With VAST Data, businesses can unleash the full power of their data through user-friendly, scalable AI infrastructure. Crafted from the ground up to fuel deep learning and GPU-accelerated data centers and clouds, VAST Data is your partner for unlocking data potential. Since its launch in 2019, VAST Data has swiftly become the fastest-growing data infrastructure company in history. For more information, please visit and follow VAST Data on X (formerly Twitter) and LinkedIn.
