Vast Data Adds 20+ Features to Universal Storage Architecture v3

The latest version of Vast Data’s universal storage architecture has more than 20 new features, including cloud data replication support.

Also included in Version 3 of the updated platform is support for native encryption for Windows and MacOS applications. Other updates include enhanced user behavior monitoring, performance improvements and new management features designed to ease deployment and system scaling.

The new Server Message Block (SMB) support for Windows and MacOS applications gives important new capabilities to enterprise customers. That includes multiprotocol access between network file system (NFS) and SMB file sharing protocols. The new SMB server also enables failover of SMB clients so customers have no downtime.

A new snap-to-object feature allows customers to protect critical data assets by snapshotting them to other systems. That can include to another Vast system, an on-premises S3 storage system or another cloud service. This can help reduce reliance on secondary data centers for disaster recovery strategies for file and object data.

Version 3 of the latest universal storage architecture will encrypt user data at rest. It uses FIPS-class AES-256 when stored to 3D XPoint and QLC flash. This step strengthens Vast’s security protocols and provides customers peace of mind that their information remains secure.

Also included is enhanced data reduction for unstructured data, which adds storage efficiency for customers. The similarity-based data reduction feature is designed for users who are not getting data reduction from their legacy storage systems. The new features are all part of Vast’s disaggregated, shared-everything (DASE) approach to all-flash enterprise storage.

New Capabilities for Customers

The new features give channel partners new capabilities for customers, Phil Manez, Vast’s director of channel sales, told Channel Futures.

Vast Data’s Phil Manez

“Version 3 enables channel partners to deliver a customer experience that has never been possible before,” said Manez. “Legacy unstructured storage systems, whether scale out or scale up, were never designed to be all-flash. And they were never intended to service the AI and analytics that customers see as critical for the survival of their businesses. With Version 3, channel partners can now offer a single platform that makes all-flash affordable for any workload, while also providing the foundation needed to make AI and analytics initiatives successful.”

With the updated universal storage architecture, channel partners can now deliver the true all-flash data center, said Manez.

“While it has been talked about for years, all-flash storage has been largely confined to tier-1, block workloads. Other all-flash storage solutions for unstructured data have come at a huge premium to those based on spinning disk. Version 3 marks the beginning of the end of tiers in the data center.”

Aaron Cardenas is the founder and CEO of solutions provider and Vast channel partner P1 Technologies. He called the product enhancements in version 3 “monumental.”

They are “big features that you typically don’t see in an early release from a new storage company,” Cardenas said.

P1 Technologies’ Aaron Cardenas

SMB support is “always the most difficult feature hurdle for most storage companies,” he added. “And it appears that Vast has not only executed, but executed well.”

There’s one really big benefit for the channel, said Cardenas. Vast’s offerings are now a much more marketable product with SMB and cloud capabilities.

“The addressable market for NFS-only opportunities is very small,” he said. “It lends to the Vast value proposition of having one storage tier that can do everything at a tier 3 price point.”

The new version of the platform will also help architects and administrators, he said. It takes away their worries about which workflows need performance or which data should be moved to less expensive disks.

“Most of these are table stakes features, so it takes Vast from being an aspiring enterprise data storage company to a legit player in the market, said Cardenas.

In April, the company unveiled a $100 million Series C funding round to continue to grow its business.

Vast released version 2 of its universal storage architecture last September. Version 2 added accelerated support for AI applications and asymmetric cluster expansion some 10 months after Vast announced the first version of its high-performance, all-flash NVMe, exabyte-scale platform.