VAST Data, an AI data platform company, is introducing two major enhancements to the VAST Data Platform: Block storage functionality for VAST DataStore and the new VAST Event Broker. These additions are designed to meet the evolving data demands of modern technologies like analytics and AI, while establishing a universal, multiprotocol storage platform.

The introduction of Block storage support marks a major milestone for VAST, according to the company. With this addition, VAST DataStore now unifies all major storage protocols—file, object, table, streaming data, and block—into a single AI-ready platform, eliminating the need for siloed infrastructure. “It represents a paradigm shift in enterprise data management, delivering a single-tier, flash-based solution that is cost-effective, high-performance, and AI-ready,” said Aaron Chaisson, VP of product and solutions at VAST Data.

Figure 1.VAST Data Expands Platform with Block Storage.

Enterprises no longer require separate solutions for different storage architectures, removing the silos and inefficiencies of traditional methods. VAST DataStore integrates multiple data architectures into a unified platform while maintaining high performance, scalability, and cost efficiency, according to VAST Data. Figure 1 shows VAST Data Expands Platform with Block Storage.

“Unlike traditional storage systems that sacrifice performance, scalability, or data consistency, VAST DataStore utilizes its Disaggregated and Shared-Everything (DASE) architecture to deliver a single-tier, all-flash platform without compromise,” said Chaisson [1]. By harnessing the power of NVMe and a globally shared SSD persistence layer, VAST DataStore provides high bandwidth, low latency, unlimited scalability, and cost efficiency.

The addition of Block storage now enables a variety of workloads, including:

• Large Boot from SAN, offering simple and scalable boot solutions.
• General-purpose databases, supporting MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, and other transactional workloads.
• Virtualized environments, including VMware, Kubernetes, and other hyperconverged infrastructure solutions.
• Cloud-native applications, designed for modern microservices and containerized apps.

In addition, VAST Data is launching the VAST Event Broker, a solution that eliminates the need for separate event-processing infrastructure by integrating real-time event streaming directly into a centralized data platform. This Kafka-compatible API enables seamless event-driven analytics and AI within a high-performance, unified data environment.

AI and real-time analytics require instant data movement, but traditional data lakes and storage systems lack native event-driven capabilities [2]. This has historically necessitated complex eventing systems like Kafka to mediate and cache data transfers, explained Aaron Chaisson, VP of product and solutions at VAST Data. “For the first time, enterprises can integrate real-time event streaming directly into their AI data platform, eliminating the need for middleware, accelerating AI-driven decision-making, and powering next-generation AI architectures with instantaneous, event-driven data flows.”

Because the VAST Event Broker is embedded directly within the VAST Data Platform, it serves as “the first event-driven transactional data warehouse and AI data platform, purpose-built for real-time enterprise AI,” according to Chaisson. Key benefits include:

• Native data awareness, generating events directly from storage interactions, removing the need for separate data movement tools.
• Ultra-low latency, enabling instant event streaming by eliminating intermediaries, reducing time-to-insight
• Seamless AI integration, natively working with the VAST DataEngine and AI pipelines to automate data retrieval and model updates.
• Simplified management, with enhanced observability tools, expanded SQL query capabilities, and increased resilience.
• 10x+ performance advantage over Kafka, offering unlimited linear scaling on comparable hardware.
• VAST DataBase enrichment, activating computation as soon as data arrives, transforming raw information into actionable intelligence in real time.
• Unlimited scalability, allowing enterprises to stream structured or unstructured data and immediately act on it.

Reference

1. https://www.bigdatawire.com/2025/02/20/vast-data-expands-platform-with-block-storage-and-real-time-event-streaming/
2. https://www.dbta.com/Editorial/News-Flashes/VAST-DataStore-Becomes-Universal-Multiprotocol-Storage-Platform-with-Block-Storage-and-Event-Processing-168108.aspx

Cite this article:

Keerthana S (2025),VAST Data Store Evolves into a Universal Multiprotocol Storage Platform with Block Storage and Event Processing, Scalable Data Products, AnaTechmaz,pp.113