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| Formerly | Panasas (1999–2024) |
|---|---|
| Company type | Private |
| Industry | Software-defined storage; HPC; AI infrastructure |
| Founded | 1999 (as Panasas) |
| Founder | Garth Gibson |
| Headquarters | San Jose, California, U.S. |
Key people | Ken Claffey (CEO) |
| Website | https://www.vdura.com |
VDURA (formerlyPanasas) is an Americansoftware-defined storage company that develops data infrastructure for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC). It is headquartered in San Jose, California, with additional offices in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Boulder, Colorado.[1]
Panasas was founded in 1999 by computer scientistGarth Gibson, co-inventor ofRAID and creator of the PanFS parallel file system.[1] The company introduced its first parallelnetwork-attached storage system in 2004.[1]
On May 7, 2024, Panasas rebranded asVDURA, a name derived from "velocity" and "durability," marking its transition from proprietary hardware appliances to a software-defined, subscription-based model.[2][3]
In 2025, the company announced updates to the VDURA Data Platform, including Version 11.2 withKubernetes CSI integration, end-to-end encryption, and a premium support program. The release also previewedV-ScaleFlow, a tiering technology designed to move data between QLC flash and high-density HDDs.[4]
VDURA develops theVDURA Data Platform (VDP), a modular software-defined storage system designed for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) workloads. The platform employs a microservices architecture and theVeLO (Velocity Layer Operations) metadata engine, which manages parallel performance at scale and provides key-value operations for billions of files.[5][6]
The platform supports erasure coding, automated load balancing, and unified management across flash and disk media. It is designed for concurrent read/write performance and includes policy-driven tiering between high-performance flash and high-capacity hard disk drives.[6]
VDURA markets its solutions for diverse data-intensive domains including life sciences, energy exploration, finance, government research, and media production, alongside AI training and simulation environments.[8]
In April 2025, VDURA was included in theCRN Storage 100 list of software-defined storage vendors, noting the platform’s AI-oriented architecture and metadata engine.[7]
In August 2025, VDURA announced a research partnership withNew Mexico State University to explore integrating NIST-standard post-quantum cryptography into its data platform for GPU-accelerated workflows.[9]
AtISC 2025, Goethe University Frankfurt discussed using VDURA’s platform alongside a large AMD GPU cluster for AI and scientific research workloads, reporting performance and scalability characteristics for 24×7 operation.[10]
In September 2024, VDURA announced a strategic partnership withJeskell Systems, aimed at enhancing IT modernization efforts across federal, public sector, and commercial clients.[11]
VDURA also maintains collaborations with multipletechnology partners in AI, data protection, HPC, and simulation, including AMD, ANSYS, Altair, Atempo, Autodesk, Cadence, and Agiga.[12]
In March 2025, VDURA participated inNVIDIA GTC, showcasing real-world use cases such as Toyota’s use of large language models for traffic analysis and Valley Water’s application of AI for water-flow forecasting.[13]
In June 2025, the company hosted theVDURA AI Data Challenge @ ISC 2025 in Hamburg, demonstrating its data infrastructure for AI and HPC workloads (Booth G21).[14]
In July 2025, VDURA recapped AI demonstrations and webinars, emphasizing applications across transportation, environmental management, and scientific workloads.[15]
In August 2025, VDURA sponsored theMonterey Data Conference (MDC), presenting updates to the V11 platform and noting a contract with a U.S. federal systems integrator.[16][17]
In mid-2025, CEOKen Claffey was named to Channel Insider’s list of "AI Leaders in the Channel".[18]
Later in 2025, VDURA is scheduled to exhibit at several additional international conferences, including:
AtSupercomputing 2024 (SC24), VDURA participated in a promotional event featuring strongmanHafþór Júlíus Björnsson, highlighting data-at-scale performance messaging with high-capacity SSD media.[19]
