The News: VAST Data and Lambda announced a partnership in which VAST Data Platform will be used to store and manage customer data in Lambda’s On-Demand GPU Cloud. Read more about the partnership in the press release on the VAST website.
VAST Data Partners with Lambda to Power GPU Cloud
Analyst Take: VAST Data announced it will be providing data services to Lambda’s NVIDIA graphics processing unit (GPU) cloud. The announcement, in general, makes a lot of sense. Lambda is building a GPU cloud to provide as much GPU computing power as possible for the recent explosion of AI workloads and large language models (LLMs). VAST has been building out a data platform designed to meet the data requirements of these same AI workloads – including a recent NVIDIA SuperPod certification.
The partnership provides VAST Data’s capabilities to Lambda’s customers across private and public clouds, including VAST Database and DataSpace. The VAST Database includes built-in data insights and analytics, while DataSpace provides a unified namespace across multisite and hybrid cloud deployments. It also includes bursting capabilities between private and public clouds.
I see the inclusion of VAST DataSpace as a crucial component to the solution. Often, AI workloads are thought of as being restricted to the public cloud due to the demanding resources required and potential increase in workload demand. By providing a single namespace with DataSpace, organizations can more easily utilize a hybrid cloud environment and burst into Lambda’s public cloud as workloads become more demanding and more public cloud resources are required. This setup provides much greater flexibility for running AI workloads across private and hybrid clouds.
Interestingly, the partnership between Lambda and VAST comes shortly after similar partnerships between VAST and other cloud providers. In August, VAST partnered with G42 cloud, and in September, VAST made another deal with CoreWeave. Both cloud partnerships were similarly focused around AI.
The past year has been a big one for VAST’s AI mission, with the company unveiling its AI data platform vision earlier this year and now inking the three previously mentioned AI-focused cloud deals. The overall theme in IT for all of 2023 has been the rise of AI, and VAST has emerged as an early leader in providing data infrastructure and services for AI. While it appears that we are only at the beginning of the AI trend, VAST has done well to position itself moving forward. The recent deal with Lambda appears to be a strong match between on-demand GPU computing power and VAST’s AI-focused data platform, and I expect to see even more AI-based momentum from VAST moving forward.
Disclosure: The Futurum Group is a research and advisory firm that engages or has engaged in research, analysis, and advisory services with many technology companies, including those mentioned in this article. The author does not hold any equity positions with any company mentioned in this article.
Analysis and opinions expressed herein are specific to the analyst individually and data and other information that might have been provided for validation, not those of The Futurum Group as a whole.
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Author Information
Mitch comes to The Futurum Group through the acquisition of the Evaluator Group and is focused on the fast-paced and rapidly evolving areas of cloud computing and data storage. Mitch joined Evaluator Group in 2019 as a Research Associate covering numerous storage technologies and emerging IT trends.
With a passion for all things tech, Mitch brings deep technical knowledge and insight to The Futurum Group’s research by highlighting the latest in data center and information management solutions. Mitch’s coverage has spanned topics including primary and secondary storage, private and public clouds, networking fabrics, and more. With ever changing data technologies and rapidly emerging trends in today’s digital world, Mitch provides valuable insights into the IT landscape for enterprises, IT professionals, and technology enthusiasts alike.
