45Drives, a leading provider of open source data storage solutions, has announced the full program for its 2025 Creators Summit scheduled for September 10-12 in Wilmington, North Carolina. The three-day event will feature parallel enterprise and studio tracks, bringing together technology professionals, filmmakers, digital creators, and open-source leaders for collaborative discussions and innovation sharing.
The summit's importance lies in its unique approach to bridging traditionally separate industries—enterprise technology and creative media—demonstrating how storage infrastructure serves as the foundation for both business operations and artistic expression. Dr. Doug Milburn, President of 45Drives, emphasized that "creativity and technology are inseparable forces driving the future," highlighting the event's mission to foster cross-industry collaboration.
Day one will take place at the Skyline Center's Magnolia Room, featuring enterprise sessions with Allan Jude of Klara Inc. and OpenZFS, Wendell Wilson of Level1Techs, and 45Drives' Mitch Hall discussing high-performance storage cluster design. The studio track will include YouTube video editing workflows with Jeff from Craft Computing and sessions with Joseph DiGiovanna on the NYC Timescape Project and Musora Media representing Drumeo, Guitareo, Pianote, and Singeo.
Day two moves to the University of North Carolina Wilmington's Burney Center, with enterprise presentations from Tom Lawrence of Lawrence Systems on cloud versus local storage economics and Devin Vance of DRBD discussing storage technology evolution. The studio track features Chris Walldorf, Dan Brawley of the Cucalorus Film Festival, and Nick from NGW Post discussing post-production workflows. Attendees can view the live schedule at https://www.45drives.com/creators-summit-2025-schedule/.
The event culminates on day three at Cape Fear Community College with a landmark product launch for the new 45Studio division featuring globally renowned electronic artist deadmau5. This launch signifies the growing importance of specialized storage solutions for creative professionals working with large media files and complex production workflows. The summit's impact extends beyond immediate attendees, as the wrap-up will be livestreamed on the 45Drives YouTube channel, making insights accessible to a global audience.
Supported by sponsors including Michael Best Law and Seagate, with community partners Skyline Center, UNCW, and Cape Fear Community College, the event reflects Wilmington's emergence as a hub for technology and creative industries. The convergence of these fields at the summit demonstrates how storage infrastructure requirements are becoming increasingly similar across enterprise and creative applications, driving innovation in data management solutions that serve diverse professional needs.
