Charlie Giancarlo (Pure Storage)
Pure Storage is declaring death to the spinning disk and legacy data systems as it launches expanded all-flash solutions aimed at improving data resiliency and driving flash deeper into the data centre.
Announced at Pure Accelerate 2023 in Las Vegas, new solutions include an expanded disk replacement-focused Pure//E family of products, the next generation of FlashArray//X and FlashArray//C, a new ransomware service level agreement (SLA) guarantee for Evergreen//One and enhanced AIOps capabilities.
It claims to be the only technology provider that can now offer a solution for a customer’s entire storage needs with all-flash, due to its native flash management, Purity architecture, Evergreen subscription and cloud operating model.
With Pure Storage previously known for its coverage of high-performance workloads where speed was important, the new announcements mean that mid-range workloads, which would be traditionally fulfilled by spinning disk, are now capable of being serviced by flash at the same price point as higher workloads.
The all-flash solution fully removes any need for spinning disk across a customer’s entire workload for the first time and represents the “biggest performance and efficiency gains in Pure Storage history,” chief marketing officer Matt Burr said.
“The next decade [of Pure Storage] represents the actual attainment of what we set out to do when we started the company, and that is to eradicate spinning disk," Burr added.
For the 100 per cent channel vendor, the opportunity in the market is reached through its partners, said Wendy Strusrud, vice president of global partner sales.
“There’s a lot of opportunity in the market and we want to make sure that we capture that with our partners. We’re going to do it with them every step of the way,” she said.
“We want to continue to invest in our partners; we will continue to grow our rewards and incentives, tweak our marketing campaigns to uncover new pipeline together. That investment is key to our success.”
With the vision of creating an all-flash data centre, chairman and CEO Charles Giancarlo said he believes this will become a reality in the “next couple of years".
“We are now delivering the industry’s most consistent, modern, and reliable portfolio that can address all enterprises’ storage needs,” he said.
“As we enter a new age of AI, the superior economics, and operational and environmental efficiencies of Pure’s product portfolio over both hard disk and SSD-based, all-flash competitive offerings will be more critical to our customers than ever.”
Globally, Pure Storage is winning market share. At the beginning of March it announced revenue of US$2.75 billion, up 26 per cent during its financial year to 5 February. Annual recurring subscriptions of US$1.1 billion were up 30 per cent.
Pure//E expansion
The disk-replacement focused Pure//E family of products has been expanded with the introduction of FlashArray//E, supporting unified block and file and aiming to allow customers to move away from the constraints of disk.
In March, scale-out unstructured data repository FlashBlade//E was launched, built to support unified file and object loads.
Pure Storage claims that the Pure//E family is the first all-flash storage system that can meet the needs of the secondary storage market with an 80 per cent reduction in power and space, 60 per cent lower operational costs, and 85 per cent less e-waste compared to disk.
“Legacy disk solutions, marked by high costs, massive data center space requirements, and inefficient energy usage, are ill-equipped to support the evolving needs of today’s modern enterprises,” said Ajay Singh, Pure Storage chief product officer.
“Founded on the vision of replacing mechanical storage in favor of an all-flash data center, Pure Storage – with the expansion of the Pure//E family of products – is eliminating the last remnants of disk in the enterprise.”
Next generation FlashArray//X and FlashArray//C
The introduction of the fourth generation FlashArray//X and FlashArray//C R4 models aims to deliver increased performance, data agility, efficiency and security advancements to customers.
Pure Storage claims these next generation products will deliver up to 40 per cent higher performance, 30 per cent more inline compression to stretch storage capacity, and new ransomware protection capabilities delivered via continuous non-disruptive upgrade, at no extra cost.
This represents the biggest performance gain for FlashArray since its inception.
“We’re driving the revolution of an all-flash data center at the cost of disk—which unlocks the incredible density, OPEX, and power efficiency savings needed for next-generation data centers,” said Shawn Hansen, Pure Storage vice president and general manager, FlashArray.
Ransomware recovery SLA and AIOps
The new ransomware recovery SLA guarantee for Evergreen//One, and enhanced AIOps (artificial intelligence for IT operations) capabilities, aim to advance data resilience and provide a comprehensive data protection strategy by guaranteeing a clean storage environment following an attack.
Existing and new Pure Storage Evergreen//One customers can now purchase an add-on service guarantee for a clean storage environment to speed recovery after an attack.
“The demand to achieve business outcomes faster is only becoming more critical amid the uptick in malicious cyber attacks,” said Prakash Darji, Pure Storage vice president and general manager, digital experience business unit.
“The latest expansion of Evergreen//One delivers data storage infrastructure with built-in resilience, empowering customers with peace of mind in addition to the flexibility, efficiency and continuous innovation Pure has guaranteed for years," Darji added.
For Pure Storage, the product announcements, alongside existing AI solutions FlashBlade and AIRI (AI-Ready Infrastructure), hope to position it as the “go-to” storage partner for AI projects.
Pure Storage currently supports various AI projects such as autonomous vehicle development companies and Meta’s AI Research Super Cluster (AL RSC).
Claudia Muldrew attended Pure Accelerate 2023 in Las Vegas as a guest of Pure Storage.
