Thank You for Building With Us
The ZimaCube 2 Pioneer Program results are now live. We’re grateful for every idea shared, and excited to announce the 10 selected pioneers.
ZimaCube 2 Pioneer Program: Results Are In
Selected Pioneers
What would you build with ZimaCube 2?
ZimaCube 2 is designed for people who want more than basic storage. Whether you're building a private cloud, a self-hosted server, a media hub, or an experimental homelab project, it gives you the power and flexibility to turn ideas into something real.
Zima has always grown with its community, and we want ZimaCube 2 to do the same - shaped by real builders, real workflows, and real needs.
Private Cloud Freedom
Keep your files and media in a space you control.
Built for Real Workloads
Run apps, containers, and creative workflows on one system.
Ready to Expand
Grow storage, speed, and capability as your needs evolve.
Open and Upgradeable
More flexibility, less lock-in.
Real Feedback from the Community
"The ZimaCube 2.0 is a masterclass in refinement. IceWhale has polished a design we already loved to a professional standard - optimized cabling, a redesigned backplane, and whisper-quiet fan control finally deliver the 'grown-up' personal server the community has been waiting for."
"It's exactly what my homelab needs and nothing it doesn't. It further elaborate on that, it's small, discrete, holds a decent amount of drives (especially for its size), and lets me use a GPU for transcoding. My previous homelab was a rackmount chassis that weighed a ton and was power hungry and the ZimaCube does what I need in a smaller footprint and consumes less power."
"The cooling upgrade looks like a huge step forward. It stays really quiet even under load, and the performance bump is definitely noticeable. I've been running local AI workloads on it, and honestly it handles them surprisingly well."
"I've run it on ubuntu the entire time - Its a fairly flexible bit of kit, Its open to experimentation and some degree of modification. Its nice that its not locked down."
"IceWhale have done something that most enterprise NAS vendors have never bothered with: they made the object feel worth owning before you have turned it on."
"The standard new CPU help much, the thunderbolt 4 ports are new on the base model (and the DDR5)."
Program Timeline
Here's what to expect as the ZimaCube 2 Pioneer Program takes shape.
Idea Submission
Mar 16 – Apr 16: Share your idea for how you'd build with ZimaCube 2.
Pioneer Selection
Pioneers announced on Apr 18: Our team reviews submissions and invites a small group of pioneers to join the program.
Units Ship
Starting Apr 25: Selected pioneers receive their ZimaCube 2 units.
Builds Begin
Pioneers start building, testing, and sharing their projects with the community.
Ready to start with your own ZimaCube 2?
If you already have a setup in mind, you can order ZimaCube 2 directly and get ready to build on your own terms.
- Get your ZimaCube 2 today
- Choose the edition that fits your workflow
- Ships in 72 hours
Stay Updated on ZimaCube 2
Get the latest updates about ZimaCube 2 and community projects.
Frequently Asked Questions
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The program is open globally to anyone with an interest in NAS, Homelab, self-hosting, local AI, or home data management who subscribed our official website. Prior experience with Zima products is not required. What matters most is your enthusiasm for Homelab/self-hosting and the quality of your project idea. Participants must provide a valid email address and agree to these terms.
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Visit the official program page, enter your email address, and complete the questionnaire. You'll be asked about your background, current NAS/Homelab setup, and most importantly, your creative vision for what you'd build with a ZimaCube 2. Please submit one valid entry per person to keep things fair.
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We're selecting 10 pioneers for this program.
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We review every application thoroughly. Preference is given to applicants who present a creative and passion-driven project idea and show a willingness to share with the community.
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Selected pioneers will be publicly announced on April 18, 2026. If you're selected,you'll also receive a notification via the email address you provided, so make sure it's valid and check your inbox.
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Once selected, we'll send you an email to confirm your shipping details. Your ZimaCube 2 will be shipped via DHL/FedEx/UPS express air freight. The shipping fee is fully covered by IceWhale.
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As a ZimaCube 2 pioneer, we ask you:
- Walk us through your complete build journey and share the full process directly with the IceWhale team
- Document and share any testing, bugs, or hands-on experiences you encounter along the way, the good, the bad, and the unexpected
- Stay responsive, we may reach out during the program for feedback. Pioneers who go silent may forfeit their participation status and be asked to return the device.
By participating, you grant IceWhale Technology (Zima) a non-exclusive, royalty-free right to feature, repost, and use your submitted content for promotional purposes, your creator credit will always be retained and attributed.
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You can
- Join our Discord community channels.
- Reach our team at: community@icewhale.org. We're here to help.
