SYDNEY, NOVA SCOTIA and WILMINGTON, NC - January 21, 2026 (NEWMEDIAWIRE) - 45Drives, the enterprise infrastructure division of the Protocase Companies, today announced expanded market availability of the Proxinator VM2, a compact, high-performance hyperconverged virtual compute and storage platform originally engineered to meet the bespoke requirements of a Fortune 500 enterprise - and subsequently refined through open, real-world feedback from the broader technical community.
The Proxinator VM2 was developed in response to a complex infrastructure challenge from a global Fortune 500 e-commerce organization seeking open-source-based virtual compute, GPU support, and high-throughput NVMe storage in a platform capable of operating outside traditional data center environments. The customer required a system that could be deployed consistently across distributed global offices, many of which lacked dedicated data centers or full-sized IT rooms.
To meet these constraints, the solution needed to deliver enterprise-grade performance within a 1U, short-depth chassis - specifically designed to mount in network switch racks, not standard server racks - without sacrificing compute density, storage bandwidth, or virtualization performance. In addition, the customer required a single point of accountability, asking 45Drives to deliver the complete solution across hardware design, system performance, and long-term support, despite the fact that no existing off-the-shelf platform met these requirements.
Using its High-Velocity Mass Customization (HVMC) engineering and manufacturing methodology, 45Drives rapidly adapted its existing 2U Proxinator hyperconverged platforms into a new 1U architecture purpose-built for constrained environments. The resulting Proxinator VM2 preserves the core performance characteristics of larger systems - high-speed NVMe storage, virtualization-ready compute, and optional GPU support - while dramatically reducing physical footprint and deployment complexity.
Following successful production deployment within the enterprise environment, 45Drives elected to bring the Proxinator VM2 to the broader market. The system was introduced through a detailed performance and design walkthrough video, which generated more than 40,000 views and significant engagement from system administrators, infrastructure engineers, and open-source practitioners.
Consistent with 45Drives’ open and iterative development model, community feedback on the initial hardware design and feature set was actively reviewed and incorporated into subsequent iterations of the platform. This process further optimized the system for real-world virtualization workloads, deployment flexibility, and long-term maintainability before expanding availability to enterprise organizations and SMBs.
“The Proxinator VM2 reflects how we solve infrastructure problems that don’t fit neatly into existing product categories,” said Dr. Doug Milburn, President of 45Drives. “We started with a demanding enterprise workload - distributed virtualization, NVMe performance, GPU support, and severe physical constraints - and engineered a solution from first principles. By combining HVMC with direct feedback from both customers and the wider technical community, we were able to turn a one-off enterprise system into a production-ready platform that others can now deploy with confidence.”
Within the 45Drives Enterprise portfolio, the Proxinator VM2 is positioned for organizations that require high-performance NVMe-backed virtual compute but face limitations around rack depth, rack availability, or deployment environments. Offering approximately 33% of the storage capacity of the 2U Proxinator VM8, the VM2 is optimized for use cases where throughput, latency, and compute performance are critical, but total storage capacity requirements are lower.
The Proxinator VM2 is particularly well-suited for edge deployments, branch offices, global enterprise rollouts, and space-constrained infrastructure environments where traditional hyperconverged systems are impractical.
The Proxinator VM2 is available now as part of the 45Drives Enterprise product lineup.
To see the system’s design and performance in action, watch the video:
“The Ultimate, Compact Hyperconverged Virtual Compute & Storage Solution? The Proxinator VM2!”
About 45Drives
45Drives, a subsidiary of the Protocase Companies, designs and manufactures enterprise-grade data storage and virtual compute solutions built on open technologies. Headquartered in Sydney, Nova Scotia, with additional production and corporate facilities in Wilmington, North Carolina, 45Drives serves customers worldwide across enterprise, government, research, and high-performance computing environments.
Contact:
Jonathan Phillips
45Drives@PhillComm.Global
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