NIWA Selects VAST Data To Set New Standards In Environmental Research Infrastructure

VAST Data, the AI data platform company, today announced that the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), New Zealand’s leading Crown Research Institute for environmental science, has selected the VAST Data Platform to update and future-proof its data infrastructure. The platform will enable NIWA to synchronise its production workloads and research across primary and secondary sites, optimise storage efficiency, and prepare for next-generation GPU-based scientific workloads.

NIWA’s groundbreaking research in atmospheric science, oceanography, and climate modelling relies on over 20 petabytes of historical weather data. With the advent of AI and machine learning technologies, NIWA required a solution to unify its operations, ensure seamless scalability, and support evolving demands for high-performance computing.

The VAST Data Platform’s unique active-active clustering capabilities, enabled through a global namespace, allow seamless synchronisation and utilisation of data across multiple sites. This innovation reduces operational complexity compared to legacy systems, making it faster and easier to implement while offering advanced functionality like write-read access across both sites.

“VAST Data stood out in a crowded field for its ability to unify our sites and prepare us for the future of AI-driven research,” said Jeff Zais, HPC Senior Science Advisor and Platform Architect at NIWA. “The platform not only supports our current CPU-based workloads but also gives us the flexibility and confidence to integrate GPU capabilities as we transition to new weather and climate modelling codes. VAST’s synchronisation features, density advantages, and vision for the future were critical in our decision to partner with them.”

In addition to addressing current CPU-based workloads, the VAST platform simplifies storage management with its integrated compression, deduplication, and multi-tenancy capabilities. These features ensure optimal storage space utilisation while reducing daily management burdens, allowing NIWA to focus on advancing its research priorities.

VAST Data’s Disaggregated Shared-Everything (DASE) architecture played a pivotal role in NIWA’s selection, addressing challenges with legacy systems while reducing costs and operational complexity. The platform’s high-density design enabled NIWA to shrink its physical infrastructure footprint, cutting costs over a six-year period while improving data accessibility and reliability.

“The VAST Data Platform will provide the backbone for NIWA's advanced technology and intelligent data capture, empowering not only our storage and archival needs but also being able to support other research and agencies across New Zealand,” said Warrick Johnston, General Manager Technology and Innovation at NIWA.

“NIWA is a pioneer in climate and environmental research, and it’s critical that it has the tools to access and analyse its immense datasets in real time,” said Sunil Chavan, Senior Vice President, APAC at VAST Data. “The VAST Data Platform provides the scalability, performance, and integration needed to address the complexities of modern scientific workloads. We’re proud to support NIWA as it continues to innovate and lead on a global scale.”

With the ability to now fully utilise resources at its secondary site, NIWA can run more climate models simultaneously, improve disaster preparedness, and orchestrate more use cases with fewer resources. This ensures faster, more detailed insights into climate and environmental patterns, driving impactful science that benefits both New Zealand and global efforts.

The VAST Data Platform will form the backbone of NIWA’s data infrastructure as it embarks on projects involving GPU-ready applications, next-generation weather modelling, and collaborative global initiatives. The deployment process is underway, with full production readiness anticipated by May 2025.

This deployment positions NIWA as a leader in using AI-driven data platforms for environmental science. By adopting VAST’s cutting-edge infrastructure, NIWA not only sets a benchmark for other institutions but also highlights the transformative role of modern data solutions in tackling global challenges.

About NIWA

Crown Research Institute NIWA is New Zealand's leading environmental science and applied research service provider, specialising in atmospheric, freshwater and marine research. NIWA works at the forefront of some of the most critical environmental issues facing the planet, and NIWA staff are recognised as international experts in their fields.

About VAST Data

VAST Data is the data platform company built for the AI era. As the new standard for enterprise AI infrastructure, organisations trust the VAST Data Platform to serve their most data-intensive computing needs. VAST Data empowers enterprises to unlock the full potential of all of their data by providing AI infrastructure that is simple, scalable, and architected from the ground up to power deep learning and GPU-accelerated data centres and clouds. Launched in 2019, VAST Data is the fastest growing data infrastructure company in history. For more information, please visit and follow VAST Data on X (formerly Twitter) and LinkedIn.

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