In the fast-paced world of AI innovation and mission-critical HPC workloads, storage infrastructure must deliver trusted, consistent performance when it matters most. Western Digital a key pillar of the AI-driven data economy is unveiling next-generation solutions and strategic partnerships at Supercomputing 2025, designed to redefine performance, capacity, flexibility, and scalability for AI and HPC customers.
Western Digital is expanding access to high-capacity storage through strategic partnerships, extending its advanced UltraSMR technology to customers beyond traditional hyperscalers. Its democratized SMR strategy delivers exceptional economics at scale with Ultrastar SMR-enabled JBOD platforms, while the OpenFlex Data24 disaggregated storage system and RapidFlex NVMe-oF controllers remove performance bottlenecks in AI and HPC environments. With a growing Open Composable Compatibility Lab (OCCL) ecosystem that now includes new industry participants, Western Digital empowers organizations of all sizes to accelerate innovation. This end-to-end approach enhances flexibility, lowers total cost of ownership, and helps customers unlock new revenue opportunities through reliable, scalable storage infrastructure.
WHEN: November 16–21, 2025
WHERE: Supercomputing 2025, America’s Center Convention Complex, St. Louis, Missouri
Exhibit & Live Demonstrations: Powering the Next Wave of AI Innovation
Western Digital will showcase how its advanced storage platforms seamlessly integrate with leading AI infrastructure providers to eliminate bottlenecks and accelerate breakthrough discoveries. In collaboration with PEAK:AIO’s high-performance software-defined storage solution, the company will demonstrate how modern NVMe-oF architectures remove traditional storage constraints that slow AI model development and deployment. The demo highlights real-world performance scenarios where storage scales independently from compute, giving organizations greater flexibility, improved GPU utilization, and faster time-to-insight across intensive AI and HPC workloads.
Unlocking SMR Innovation for AI and HPC at Every Scale
Western Digital will showcase how advanced file system optimizations can unleash the full potential of SMR technology beyond traditional hyperscalers making high-capacity, energy-efficient storage accessible to organizations of all sizes. Industry partners Leil Storage and Swiss Vault are playing a key role by developing software that maximizes SMR’s sequential write advantages while seamlessly handling its unique host-level requirements. Through these collaborations, Western Digital’s Ultrastar Data60 and Data102 JBODs equipped with Ultrastar SMR drives achieve dramatically higher storage density compared to conventional HDDs. Powered by Western Digital’s latest 32TB¹ UltraSMR HDDs, the Data102 offers up to 3.26 PB of capacity in a single enclosure, delivering sustainable, exabyte-scale performance ideal for research institutions, universities, and mid-market enterprises operating AI, HPC, and data-intensive research workloads.
Strengthening the Open Composable Compatibility Lab (OCCL) Ecosystem
Western Digital will highlight major growth within its OCCL ecosystem, now expanded to include new participants such as ASUS, Leil Storage, Open-E, Solidigm, and Swiss Vault. This broadened ecosystem helps eliminate vendor lock-in and accelerates deployment by delivering pre-validated, interoperable solutions that customers can adopt with confidence. Newly validated SSDs now include offerings from existing partners like DapuStor, Phison, and SanDisk, along with new entrant Solidigm—giving organizations more choice to fine-tune performance, manage costs, and enhance supply chain resilience as they build modern disaggregated storage architectures. As a vendor-neutral proving ground designed to simulate real-world environments, OCCL reduces integration risks and empowers customers to scale compute and storage independently without relying on proprietary systems.
Exhibit Hours
Tuesday, November 18: 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
Wednesday, November 19: 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
Thursday, November 20: 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM
At Supercomputing 2025, we’re showcasing how Western Digital is enabling AI and HPC workloads to scale more efficiently across every environment,” said Kurt Chan, vice president and general manager of Western Digital’s Platforms Business. “Our platforms act as a true force multiplier from democratizing SMR technology to make exabyte-scale analysis accessible beyond hyperscalers, to expanding our OCCL ecosystem to empower greater choice and interoperability. We’re not just meeting today’s AI infrastructure demands; we’re building the foundation for tomorrow’s most advanced computational workloads.
