VAST Tackles AI’s Data Bottleneck with SyncEngine Launch

AI might be the engine behind today’s biggest breakthroughs, but we know that without the right data in the right place, that engine stalls. Most organizations are sitting on massive volumes of data buried in legacy file systems, scattered across cloud storage, or trapped inside platforms like SharePoint and Salesforce.

This data sprawl makes it hard to move fast. VAST Data calls this the “last mile” problem. Even with advanced models and plenty of compute, teams struggle to get their data into a pipeline where AI can actually use it.

VAST has introduced SyncEngine as a possible solution to this problem. It is designed to act as a universal data router, automatically discovering, cataloging, and moving unstructured data across fragmented systems and SaaS platforms. By collapsing migration, indexing, and transformation into a single workflow, SyncEngine helps organizations feed their AI pipelines without relying on brittle scripts or a patchwork of third-party tools.

The company frames SyncEngine as a key to unlocking the full value of enterprise data. AI efforts often lose momentum because teams only tap what is easy to access, while deeper, more valuable datasets remain fragmented and siloed across environments.

“The future of AI belongs to those who can harness all of their data, not just what’s conveniently available,” said Jeff Denworth, Co-Founder of VAST Data. He called data sprawl the silent killer of enterprise AI strategies and argued that SyncEngine puts an end to that era.

“Legacy IT created silos, and we are tearing them down,” he added. “Whether your data is buried in on-prem systems or hidden in SaaS apps, SyncEngine makes it all accessible, visible, and valuable. We are giving customers a direct path from where their data lives today to where AI transformation begins, inside the VAST AI Operating System.”

SyncEngine is also part of a much bigger move for the company. What began as a data storage company is evolving into an operating system for AI. The goal is not just to store data, but to move it, prepare it, and make it instantly usable. VAST wants to control the path from raw input to intelligent output, connecting data at rest with the systems that need it in motion.

This is where SyncEngine fits in. It combines high-speed onboarding for unstructured data with a global catalog that makes content across the enterprise searchable and ready for action. Instead of relying on a tangle of migration tools and manual scripts, teams can feed their AI workflows directly from wherever the data lives.

SyncEngine runs on the same architecture as the rest of the VAST platform. It uses a disaggregated design that splits storage from compute, which means each layer can scale without depending on the other. That setup helps move data across environments at high speed and avoids the I/O slowdowns that typically creep in at scale. For organizations dealing with large amounts of unstructured content, whether in old systems or modern SaaS tools, it helps get that data moving without unnecessary friction.

(Shutterstock AI Image)

The platform works with a wide mix of storage types, including file, object, block, table, and even streaming data. It also includes features like vector search and serverless functions, which come into play once the data is onboarded.

The company says SyncEngine is built to shape the data and prepare it for whatever comes next. That might mean chunking it into smaller pieces, turning it into vector format, or feeding it straight into retrieval-based or agent-driven systems. The objective is to bridge the gap between fragmented data sources and production-ready AI pipelines, without adding complexity.

VAST says SyncEngine can index hundreds of trillions of files and operate across data estates spanning petabytes to exabytes. It includes features such as bi-directional syncing, automatic job recovery, and data integrity verification, which are intended to reduce manual intervention and ensure reliability at scale.

The system also connects with other components of the VAST AI OS, including InsightEngine and AgentEngine, enabling data to flow directly into analytical and agentic workflows. These capabilities are part of the company’s broader effort to collapse traditional toolchains and streamline how organizations move and prepare data for AI use.

VAST rolled out InsightEngine in October 2024 as part of its push to make enterprise data easier to use with large language models (LLMs). It takes in unstructured content and turns it into a vector format as the data arrives. That makes it instantly searchable and ready for things like retrieval augmented generation (RAG). Since it is built into the platform, teams do not need to set up a separate data pipeline.

(Blue Planet Studio/Shutterstock)

AgentEngine, which was released at the same time, is designed to help AI agents do more than just look things up. While InsightEngine focuses on finding the right information, AgentEngine adds decision-making and task execution on top of that. VAST sees both tools as key parts of its larger vision to bring storage, data prep, and AI logic together in one system that can support real-world applications.

With SyncEngine, VAST is moving closer to its goal of owning the full path from raw data to AI output. It is meant to handle the hard part up front, pulling scattered data into one place so it can actually be used. Instead of layering on another tool, VAST is folding this step into the same system that already stores and processes the data, keeping everything under one roof and aiming to make the pipeline less fragmented.

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