How High Performance Data Platforms Unlock HPC and AI Applications: Lustre, Sycomp, VAST & Weka in Google Cloud
October 6, 2026
9:00 AM - 10:00 AM Pacific Time
Online
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About the Session
The demands of modern HPC and AI workloads require specialized data platforms capable of delivering ultra-low latency, massive bandwidth, and petabyte-scale capacity–-an additional features to enable collection, management, curation, replication and migration of data for a wide range of user and workload needs.
Join the Google Cloud Advanced Computing Community (GCACC) for a showcase highlighting four premier high-performance storage solutions, each engineered to eliminate I/O bottlenecks and accelerate scientific discovery. This online event will feature dedicated presentations from the experts behind four key platforms, focusing on the unique architectural strengths, integration points, and performance profiles that make them leaders in the HPC/AI space:
Google Cloud Managed Lustre (built on DDN’s Exascaler)
Sycomp Intelligent Data Storage Platform (built on IBM Storage Scale)
VAST Data Platform
WEKA NeuralMesh (formerly Data Platform)
Each vendor will present an overview into their solution's features, capabilities, and superior performance for demanding workloads. Attendees can submit questions that each vendor and/or Google storage experts will answer and post after the presentation to maximize the number of questions addressed and knowledge gained by attendees.
What You Will Learn:
Solution Strengths & Features: Understand the core technologies and features of each platform, including POSIX compliance, multi-protocol access, and robust data management capabilities.
Elite Performance: Discover the distinct I/O performance advantages and massive scalability each solution delivers, from ultra-low latency metadata operations for small-file workloads to petabyte-scale aggregate throughput for large-scale data-intensive tasks.
Workload Matching: Learn the definitive criteria for selecting the optimal storage solution for your specific scientific and technical workloads. Whether you require high-throughput scratch storage for tightly coupled HPC, high-speed model training for Distributed AI/ML, or large-volume persistent data lakes, you will learn how to match the right solution to your I/O demands in Google Cloud.
Attendees will gain a clear understanding of the diverse, powerful storage ecosystem available and how to select the best platform to accelerate their computational workloads in Google Cloud and beyond.
Speakers
Scott Fadden
Lead Cloud HPC Architect, Sycomp
Scott spent more than 15 years designing and deploying large scale HPC storage systems then then took 5 years to focus on improving the performance of big data and healthcare applications in virtualized environments. At Sycomp, Scott leads the development of the Sycomp Intelligent Data Storage Platform managed service.
Erik Garcia
Sr. Director, Google Partnership, DDN
Erik Garcia is Sr. Director of the Google Cloud Partnership at DDN, where he leads go-to-market strategy and joint initiatives across AI and HPC. He works closely with Google Cloud to accelerate adoption of Google Cloud Managed Lustre, powered by DDN, and help organizations build high-performance infrastructure for their most demanding AI and HPC workloads.
Erik brings more than 15 years of experience across enterprise technology, cloud partnerships, and go-to-market strategy, with previous leadership roles at WEKA and NetApp.
Tim Kresler
Partner Sales Engineer, DDN
Tim is a 30-year veteran of the data storage industry, with a career spanning NetApp, Qumulo, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, and now DDN. Throughout his career, he has worked at the intersection of emerging technology and real-world business challenges, helping organizations understand, adopt, and get value from the technologies shaping the future of data infrastructure. Today, his focus is on helping customers navigate the rapidly evolving world of AI, high-performance computing, and next-generation data platforms.
Shai Maskit
Cloud Product Management, WEKA
Shai Maskit is Senior Director of Product Management at WEKA, where he leads product strategy across hyperscalers and Neoclouds. Shai works closely with Google Cloud to support AI, HPC, HFT and HCLS customers. Before WEKA, Shai held product leadership roles at Redis Cloud and Dell EMC, building a career focused on data infrastructure.
Dr. Subramanian Kartik
Vice President & Chief Scientist, Systems Engineering, VAST Data
Dr. Subramanian Kartik is the Vice President & Chief Scientist, Systems Engineering, at VAST Data since January of 2020. He previously ran the Global Presales team at VAST as well. He is part of the incredible success of VAST Data which increased over 75-fold in valuation and revenue in this period. An accomplished scientist, technologist and executive in the industry, he has a wide array of experience in Clouds, Data Architecture, HPC, AI/Machine Learning/Deep Learning, as well as in Life Sciences. He is an expert in Generative AI and has worked for 5 years with Neural Network accelerator technologies – especially with Large Language Models (LLMs) training and inference, with several industry use cases. He has had a lifelong deep passion for studying complex problems in all spheres spanning both workloads and infrastructure at the vanguard of current day technology.
Prior to his work at VAST Data, he was with EMC (later Dell) for two decades, as both a Distinguished Engineer and global executive running the Converged and Hyperconverged Division go-to-market. After his undergraduate degree from the Indian Institute of Technology ((IIT-Bombay), he obtained his Ph.D. in Particle Physics from Indiana University and has over 75 publications and 3 patents to his credit over the years. He enjoys mathematics, jazz, cooking and traveling with his family in his non-existent spare time.
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