Pure Storage delivers first and only native, unified block, file experience purpose-built for Flash Storage

Pure Storage (NYSE: PSTG), which positions itself as the IT pioneer that delivers the world’s most advanced data storage technology and services, today announced the general availability of File Services for FlashArray, a storage service enabling organisations to access native block and file services from a single, global pool of storage resources. Designed from the ground up to be unified, Pure delivers the flexibility and efficiency long promised by unified block and file storage arrays.

Legacy multi-protocol block and file storage solutions have been around for decades. However, these products failed to deliver the flexibility and efficiency that unified arrays promised. Initially built for either a block or file use case, new protocols were simply bolted on, significantly increasing management complexity with scale. Pure Storage set out to rethink the unified storage experience and deliver a modern architecture where block and file are both native, first-class services and not subject to the shortcomings of bolt-on legacy platforms.

Pure Storage says it delivers the first truly unified block and file platform built from the ground up with unified as its goal. A flexible global pool of storage resources eliminates the need for pre-planning storage growth, and a unified policy management system dramatically cuts administration time. Pure’s unified storage architecture enables customers to benefit from native block and file services where file, block and VMs are supported directly. Leveraging this type of platform provides up to an estimated 62% reduction in management time and up to 58% total cost of ownership improvement over three years, according to leading analyst firm Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG).

With the FlashArray Unified Block and File Platform, customers get:

• Global storage pools: With today’s release, Pure Storage delivers a flexible global storage pool that eliminates the complexity associated with data growth on legacy unified arrays. Before, administrators needed to pre-plan every storage update and request. Now, they can simply use what they need, across block and file, with non-disruptive expansion on the fly and unlimited file system sizes.
• Unified policy management: Pure Storage now eliminates the multi-layered management required by legacy storage platforms, giving administrators precise management of the specific storage service they want to deploy and control. By unifying policy management, all operations can be learned quickly and applied to everything, both block and file.

• VM-Aware Storage capabilities: Pure Storage has introduced VM-Aware Storage, the industry’s first way to give deeper visibility at the granularity of the virtual machine. The granular visibility and management Pure now brings to file is also available to VMs with VM-Aware Storage. Administrators can natively manage VMs on FlashArray, including VM-level statistics, snapshots, quotas and policies.
• Broad support for common use cases: Pure Storage supports all common use cases, including VMware and NFS data stores, user directories and profiles, content repositories, data protection and backup.

• "With data growing at a rapid pace, we recognised the importance of modernising and unifying our storage infrastructure to make better use of our IT resources. Pure Storage FlashArray File Services has enabled us to reduce storage complexity by eliminating data silos and waste, without compromising overall performance or efficiency. In fact, we've been able to reduce the number of units in our data centre by more than 75% with Pure. Ultimately, we've been empowered to remove technology barriers and spend more time on new innovations for customers, while achieving significant cost savings and new levels of investment protection," said Francesco Corba, IT Infrastructure Manager at Ospedale Pederzoli.

Analyst insight:

• “As data grows, organisations that rely on that data to conduct operations are constantly innovating to get more from that data while reducing cost of management. Reducing management points simplifies storage operations while increasing the value of the investment. But the true value comes when block and file storage resources are unified on a native platform without compromising one service for the other. Through customer interviews, product walkthroughs and based on our broad view of the storage industry, we have found that unified all-flash block and file storage from Pure Storage reduces complexity to manage block and file workloads by 62%, with a 58% lower total cost of ownership,” said Aviv Kaufmann, Practice Director and Principal Economic Validation Analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group.

• “The legacy unified storage market has been held back by the inflexibility and cost of decades-old architectures. It’s time for a new way: we’re excited to introduce the first truly unified block and file storage platform, built from the ground up for modern simplicity and the ability to evolve with customers,” said Shawn Hansen, Vice-President and General Manager, FlashArray, Pure Storage.

• The Economic Benefits of Pure Storage FlashArray Unified Block and File Platform (ESG Economic Validation)
• FlashArray File Services Product Page
• Blog: Why the old NAS market needs a shake up