We’re excited to share that Starburst has been named a finalist in SiliconANGLE’s 2026 TechForward Awards in the AI-Optimized Data Platforms category.
The recognition comes as enterprises confront one of the hardest challenges in putting AI into production: giving models, applications, and teams secure access to trusted data spread across clouds, data lakes, warehouses, databases, and other systems.
Enterprise AI depends on access to distributed data
AI initiatives depend on relevant, accessible data. But for most enterprises, that data does not live in one place. Moving and centralizing everything before it can be used can add cost, complexity, governance challenges, and delays.
Starburst gives organizations a way to access and use distributed data without requiring them to first move everything into a single environment. By providing consistent access across heterogeneous data environments while maintaining governance and control, Starburst helps enterprises put more of their data to work for AI, analytics, and data-driven applications.
As AI moves from experimentation into production, access to governed data across the business becomes a critical part of the underlying AI infrastructure.
Recognition grounded in customer impact
The TechForward Awards recognize enterprise and emerging technologies driving meaningful business results. Starburst was selected from a competitive field of nominees by a panel of industry experts and technology leaders.
“Congratulations to this year’s finalists,” said Dave Vellante, co-founder and co-CEO of SiliconANGLE Media. “Every company on this list earned its place through customer results including renewal rates, expansion revenue and direct feedback from the individuals using these products daily. Our judges evaluate that evidence when deciding who deserves this recognition.”
That emphasis on customer results makes the recognition especially meaningful to us.
Across industries, organizations use Starburst to make distributed data more accessible, reduce unnecessary data movement, support governed self-service analytics, and build a stronger data foundation for AI.
Those outcomes can take different forms. Lockheed Martin is using Starburst Enterprise as part of its intelligent factory initiative, integrating machine data to help improve operational efficiency and accelerate responses to production issues. Talkdesk used Starburst Galaxy to modernize its Iceberg lakehouse, achieving 85% faster P99 query times and a 150x reduction in query failure rates.
As enterprises put more AI models and applications into production, the ability to connect them with governed data across the business becomes increasingly important. That requires a data architecture that can support access across systems without sacrificing security, control, or flexibility.
“Each year, the TechForward Awards recognize the technology decisions that pay off for the businesses making them,” said John Furrier, co-founder and co-CEO of SiliconANGLE Media. “This year’s finalists span AI, security, cloud and data platforms, and each one solved a true problem for the customers who adopted it.”
We’re honored to be recognized among this year’s finalists in the AI-Optimized Data Platforms category, and grateful to the customers, partners, and Starburst team members whose work made it possible.
Learn more about the SiliconANGLE TechForward Awards.
About SiliconANGLE Media | theCUBE
SiliconANGLE Media operates at the intersection of media, technology, and AI through SiliconANGLE, theCUBE Network, theCUBE Research, CUBE365, theCUBE AI, and theCUBE SuperStudios. Founded by John Furrier and Dave Vellante, theCUBE broadcasts from its studio on the NYSE trading floor and from Silicon Valley, delivering leading live coverage at major tech events worldwide. SiliconANGLE reaches more than 15 million technology professionals and has interviewed over 11,000 C-suite and technical leaders.
