We’re honored to share that VAST again has been named “Data Technology Company of the Year” in the 2026 Data Breakthrough Awards, a highly competitive global program recognizing the companies and technologies shaping the future of the data economy. VAST was founded on a simple but ambitious idea: that data would sit at the center of the next great technological revolution. Long before AI became the defining force it is today, we set out to build something different. A new foundation for a world where machines don’t just process data, but learn from it, reason over it, and act on it in real time. Over the past year, that vision has come into focus.
With the VAST AI Operating System, we’ve moved beyond the constraints of fragmented infrastructure, where storage, databases, streaming systems, and AI frameworks exist as disconnected layers. VAST is the unified layer in which AI can operate directly on live data. By collapsing these layers into a single system, we eliminate the complexity and latency that have long held AI back, enabling real-time insight and action at global scale.
And as VAST founder and CEO Renen Hallak noted at VAST Forward, this journey has never been about infrastructure alone. It has always been about enabling a future where intelligence is abundant:
Where billions of intelligent agents collaborate in real time
Where systems can observe, learn, and improve continuously
Where the cost of creating, discovering, and solving is driven toward zero
Realizing that future requires a new kind of system altogether, an operating system for AI that can unify data, intelligence, and action across every environment, from edge to cloud to AI factories. We are grateful for the recognition from Data Breakthrough and even more excited for what comes next. Because in many ways, we are just getting started.
VAST is redefining the role of the data platform, transforming it from passive infrastructure into an active, global operating system for AI. VAST’s AI OS is the next step in computing’s evolution, eliminating a patchwork of disparate tools and providing a singular OS that manages everything from raw data to intelligent action in one place. VAST is our ‘Data Technology Company of the Year!’
Steve Johansson, Managing Director, Data Breakthrough
