Pure Storage delivers “Flash for All”

The new FlashArray has double the capacity and performance of the previous model, while its new Purity Operating Environment 3.0 software improves the end user experience to suit all budgets, workloads and administrators. Employing proprietary data compression and deduplication technologies, and with patented flash-optimised software enabling the reliable use of consumer-grade MLC flash, the Pure Storage FlashArray enables all customers to achieve 10x performance, 10x efficiency (space and power), and 10x simplicity compared to disk-based storage architectures. Pure’s FlashArray enables businesses to analyse more data, process more transactions and bring the flash revolution to all applications at a price that’s less to buy, operate and maintain than disk.

“End user investments in flash storage are accelerating as organisations seek to satisfy performance requirements and reduce latency for critical workloads. IDC forecasts the all-flash storage array market to reach £800million in revenue by 2015, with a forecasted 58.5% CAGR over the forecast period. As more vendors, such as Pure Storage, deliver enterprise features, the market will continue to gain traction with end-users,” said Dan Iacono, Research Director for IDC Storage Systems. “The FlashArray 400-Series includes enterprise features such as non-disruptive upgrades, enhanced data security, broader third-party application support and a cloud-based support model, which should position Pure Storage well.”

New features include:
· CloudAssist support technology - Calling home every 30 seconds, Pure Storage FlashArrays are constantly cloud-connected offering problem identification, analysis and instant alerts, providing 24/7/365 global technical support.
· ZeroSnap accelerated VM cloning - In a VMware vSphere environment, in conjunction with the VMware VAAI xCopy command, a typical virtual machine clone operation can be offloaded to the FlashArray, enabling 1,000 VMs to be cloned in less than 30 minutes (~2 seconds each).
· Always-on data-at-rest encryption - 256-bit AES encryption helps protect customers against loss or theft of data during operations, transit or drive maintenance with secure administration.
· Tighter integration with third-party applications - The FlashArray now supports OpenStack, IBM AIX ACA (native multi-pathing), VMware vSphere VAAI xCopy, and the vSphere Web Client management plugin now supports iSCSI.

These features enable businesses to operate a more proficient storage architecture by accelerating applications and enabling BYOD and cloud models to increase staff productivity. Capacity can easily be expanded and routine software upgrades performed with zero downtime or disruption, ensuring they can seamlessly take advantage of future performance and capacity improvements for the life of the array. In addition, existing customers can non-disruptively expand their deployed FlashArray investment for higher performance, scalability and additional functionality, with zero downtime. Customers also benefit from Pure Storage’s risk-free “Love Your Storage” Guarantee.

“Now in its third year of production deployments, with hundreds of units shipped, our third generation FlashArray is the industry’s most mature, stable and production-hardened all-flash enterprise storage array available on the market today. This release supports and extends our broader vision of creating an altogether better storage company that delivers an exceptional experience for everyone – regardless of size, industry, application, or budget,” said Scott Dietzen CEO at Pure Storage. “We recognise that the market we are competing in has become hotly contested, but we wholeheartedly believe that ours is the winning recipe that is serving up what the market is actually hungry for. We continue to advance our market leadership through precision execution of our vision to deliver ‘Flash for All’ with product and support innovation for an unrivaled customer experience.”

“We are pleased to be partnering with Pure Storage to bring the FlashArray to our hosted customers in France, which will enable us to open new market opportunities and differentiate ourselves from our competitors by offering a very high performance, all-flash storage tier to our customers that is still affordable,” said Bertrand Morin, of AntemetA Business Continuity. “We were impressed with the ease of deployment: the FA-420 was integrated in a matter of a few hours in our existing environment and did not require any change in the way we provision storage.”

While many competitive solutions are still languishing in development or extended beta programmes, the new FA-400 Series and Purity 3.0 software is now generally available globally.