Western Digital expands AI & HPC storage with new solutions
Western Digital has announced an expansion of its customer access to high-capacity storage, introducing new partnerships and solutions tailored to support artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) applications. The storage specialist aims to address challenges in scalability, flexibility, and performance for organisations handling increasingly data-intensive workloads.
Partnerships expansion
The company is working to provide UltraSMR technology to a broader customer base, moving beyond its previous focus on large hyperscale cloud providers. Through new collaborations, Western Digital is bringing this shingled magnetic recording (SMR) technology to research institutions, universities, and mid-sized enterprises. This move is set to enable more organisations to access the storage density and efficiency associated with SMR platforms.
Software partners Leil Storage and Swiss Vault have developed file system optimisations designed to take advantage of SMR drive characteristics, including their sequential write benefits. Combined with Western Digital's Ultrastar Data60 and Data102 JBODs, these enhancements promise increased storage density in existing data centre footprints. The latest 32TB UltraSMR hard drives allow the Data102 platform to offer up to 3.26PB in a single enclosure, supporting large-scale data analysis and workloads reliant on capacity and throughput.
Eliminating bottlenecks
Western Digital has also introduced a new approach to decoupling compute and storage resources through its OpenFlex Data24 disaggregated storage solution and RapidFlex NVMe-oF controllers. These technologies are designed to address traditional performance constraints in AI model training and HPC applications, where storage throughput and latency can limit the speed of computation.
The new platforms mean organisations can scale storage independently of compute, providing more granular resource management and improving infrastructure flexibility. This separation allows greater utilisation of high-value hardware such as GPUs, and enables customers to adjust their infrastructure investments according to changing demands.
Open compatibility focus
Through its expanded Open Composable Compatibility Lab (OCCL) ecosystem, Western Digital has increased the interoperability and choice available to customers. New OCCL partners include ASUS, Leil Storage, Open-E, Solidigm, and Swiss Vault, alongside existing participants such as DapuStor, Phison, and Sandisk. The lab serves as a vendor-neutral test environment where new configurations and hardware are validated for real-world use.
This approach aims to reduce risks for organisations investing in new storage architectures by ensuring pre-tested integrations. It also offers a pathway to limit vendor lock-in, a persistent concern for enterprises with specialised or evolving requirements. Organisations can optimise for performance, cost, and supply chain resilience while avoiding proprietary infrastructure constraints.
AI and HPC emphasis
Storage performance has become an increasingly critical issue in AI and HPC, with the volume and velocity of data outpacing conventional system capabilities. Western Digital's portfolio, integrating with high-performance software-defined storage from partners such as PEAK:AIO, targets this gap by offering faster and more efficient pipelines for data movement and processing.
"At Supercomputing 2025, we're demonstrating Western Digital's leadership in enabling AI and HPC workloads to scale efficiently across every environment. Our platforms serve as a force multiplier. From SMR democratisation that makes exabyte-scale analysis accessible beyond hyperscalers to our expanded OCCL ecosystem, we're not just supporting today's AI infrastructure demands, we're architecting the foundation for tomorrow's most ambitious computational workloads," said Kurt Chan, Vice President and General Manager, Western Digital Platforms Business.
