Remote-First-Company | AALBORG, DENMARK – JUNE 24, 2026 — VAST Data, the AI Operating System company, today announced that Aalborg University (AAU), one of Denmark’s leading research institutions, has selected the VAST AI Operating System (AI OS) as the data foundation for a new on-premises AI research environment, delivered in collaboration with Advania Denmark.
As research teams increasingly rely on AI and data-intensive workflows, Aalborg University is addressing the growing challenge of managing large, complex datasets across fragmented systems, an issue that can slow experimentation, limit collaboration, and delay real-world outcomes. By adopting the VAST AI OS, AAU is establishing a unified, multi-petabyte-scale environment in which data is continuously available, enabling researchers to move faster from data to insight across critical domains including sustainability, healthcare, and advanced engineering.
Designed to keep GPU-intensive workloads continuously fed with data, this new system will support real-time analytics and secure, multi-tenant research environments. By bringing data, compute, and AI services together into a unified system, the VAST AI OS eliminates the need to move and stage data across different infrastructures, reducing operational overhead and enabling efficient and scalable research workflows.
“AAU works strategically to future-proof its HPC infrastructure,” said Jacob-Steen Madsen, Deputy Director IT Services, Aalborg University. “Over an extended period, we have analysed different platforms and selected the solution that best matches researchers’ needs – with a particular focus on security and digital sovereignty.”
As part of its IT modernization strategy, Aalborg University will consolidate its legacy system into a single, unified environment powered by the VAST AI OS. This includes the migration of several petabytes of data from an aging CEPH-based research storage platform, reducing operational complexity while introducing advanced data services natively within the system.
By moving to a unified operating model, AAU gains a scalable foundation for AI and research workloads, enabling researchers to work with data more efficiently while improving total cost of ownership and simplifying infrastructure management.
“AI is no longer constrained by models alone, it is constrained by systems,” said Christopher Huggins, Managing Director of AI & HPC, EMEA, VAST Data. “By constantly moving data between tiers and pipelines, you’re slowing everything down. With VAST, Aalborg is building a system in which data is always available at full performance, researchers can focus on what matters most to them, discovery, instead of wasting precious time on IT infrastructure.”
Advania Denmark played a central role in delivering the solution, working closely with Aalborg University to align the deployment with its operational, security, and governance requirements.
“Universities are increasingly being asked to support AI workloads alongside traditional research computing, often on infrastructure that was never designed for both,” said Tommy Nielsen, Sales Director AI Foundation, Advania Denmark. “Aalborg University is taking a forward-looking approach by creating a platform that can support data-intensive research, AI development, and future innovation within a single environment.”.”
With the deployment expected to become operational in August, Aalborg University establishes a modern AI-ready research environment designed to accelerate discovery, support advanced AI workflows such as Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) and vector-based analysis, and provide a future-proof foundation for continued innovation.