The enterprise infrastructure division of the Protocase Companies, 45Drives, announced expanded market availability of the Proxinator VM2, a compact hyperconverged virtual compute and storage platform. The system was originally engineered to meet specific requirements of a Fortune 500 e-commerce organization before being refined through community feedback and made available to broader enterprise and SMB markets.
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. The customer also required a single point of accountability, asking 45Drives to deliver the complete solution across hardware design, system performance, and long-term support.
Using its High-Velocity Mass Customization 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 including 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 introduced the system to the broader market through a detailed performance and design walkthrough video that generated more than 40,000 views and significant engagement from system administrators, infrastructure engineers, and open-source practitioners. Community feedback on the initial hardware design and feature set was actively reviewed and incorporated into subsequent iterations of the platform, further optimizing the system for real-world virtualization workloads, deployment flexibility, and long-term maintainability.
Dr. Doug Milburn, President of 45Drives, stated that the Proxinator VM2 reflects how the company solves infrastructure problems that don't fit neatly into existing product categories. The platform was engineered from first principles to address demanding enterprise workloads including distributed virtualization, NVMe performance, GPU support, and severe physical constraints. By combining HVMC with direct feedback from both customers and the wider technical community, 45Drives turned 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 system 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. The platform represents a significant development for organizations facing infrastructure constraints in distributed environments, offering enterprise-grade performance in compact form factors previously unavailable in the market. This expansion of availability makes specialized hyperconverged infrastructure accessible to a wider range of organizations facing similar space and deployment challenges.
