Pure Storage's new file service looks to clean up legacy mess
Pure Storage's Real-Time Enterprise file service gives a simplified look into file data across the enterprise. It's also offering a VM assessment tool and universal credits program.
Pure Storage unveiled new products and services designed to ease management and better allocate capital in storage environments. The most notable offering is a new real-time file system with a new service that enables admins a way to look across and manage all file systems at once.
Real-time Enterprise File enables customers to manage and access stored data dynamically in real-time. The new service, which won't come at an extra charge to customers, is part of the Pure Storage Platform for unified storage. It includes workload placement automation, fleet management and reduced migration for file data.
File systems are often used to organize files and directories. However, the long history and legacy nature of file systems has led to data sprawl that can extend from unified storage systems to old NAS systems, according to Henry Baltazar, an analyst at 451 Research, which is part of S&P Global Market Intelligence.
"It's messy," he said.
Fleet management could be especially useful to Pure customers as data continues to grow, he said. Pure is now expanding the feature, which it first introduced at Pure//Accelerate in June, to file data. It will allow all file systems and arrays to act as one, and it can store, manage and enable access to data when needed.
Along with its new file service, the vendor is launching a new edge array, a VM assessment and a universal credit program that allows customers to use purchased Pure credits on features of their choosing.
Cleaning up the file mess
Real-time Enterprise File creates global storage pools to help reduce the complexity around reserving, planning or allocating resources from individual arrays or individual file systems, according to Pure. Zero-Move Tiering, which allows user to access data from different tiers without having to move it first, and fleet-wide automation of operations through Pure Fusion, it's storage-as-a-code offering, are included in the new file service.
"If I have fleet management, then I have the ability to 'virtualize' multiple systems to look and act like one big system," Baltazar said.
The systems can share capacity and management capabilities, potentially making the entire environment more resilient as there is less opportunity for human error, he said.
The new file service plus the AI copilot for data management that Pure unveiled in June adds to the vendor's push to make it easier for customers to use its file storage offering, according to Matt Kimball, an analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy.
"This is a cloud operating model, and [with the copilot, in] human terms, tell me what you need, when you need it, where you need it and what the requirements are," he said.
While real-time file services aren't new to the storage industry, major storage vendors such as Dell or HPE have a version. Pure's Real-Time Enterprise File adds to that lineup, Kimball said.
New hardware
Pure also added a new edge array with the introduction of the FlashBlade S100. This entry-point array comes with GPUDirect support, where GPUs can access storage directly for use cases such as AI inferencing at the edge, according to the vendor.
FlashBlade is a higher-end enterprise product. But there are use cases that don't require high-end capacity or performance, according to Baltazar.
"That's where you're going to need to have smaller, lower cost form factors to be able to put in a remote office or edge," Baltazar said.
Pure also stated that its new 150 TB DirectFlash module, its version of SSDs, will be available at the end of the year and that it still plans to develop a 300 TB version by the end of 2026.
"Density is king," Kimball said. "Density matters in the data center because the more I can squeeze into every form factor, the better return on investment I'm going to have."
Increasing the density of its storage while introducing the new Real-Time Enterprise File service and copilot maximizes what it can fit into a single footprint in a way that's usable for customers, Kimball said.
VM assessment and universal credits
Pure is also introducing a VM assessment that gives customers recommendations on how best to optimize savings within VMware environments. This follows licensing changes through the Broadcom acquisition.
Pure's VM assessment is oriented around cost and operational efficiencies as well as "driving the best utilization and best fit for a workload," Kimball said.
If I have fleet management, then I have the ability to 'virtualize' multiple systems to look and act like one big system.
Henry BaltazarAnalyst, 451 Research
The assessment provides an understanding of resources and helps with capacity planning, he said. This might be especially useful for customers looking into VMware alternatives, he added.
VMware and storage vendors have had a strong partnership through the years, and that's unlikely to change, Baltazar said. But they can provide VM services such as assessments and remind customers that they can ensure VM infrastructure runs as needed, he said.
"[The vendors] can say, 'We can help you make sure that your deployment is better on the storage side," he said.
Similar to hyperscalers, Pure is offering a universal credits program that enable a business to buy credits and use them across different services offered by Pure. The vendor will also offer volume discounts for purchasing credits.
This allows businesses to transfer money allocated for one service to another, Baltazar said.
"Let's say I had a system that's not using all of its capacity," he said. "I want to go cloud. [The universal credits give] the ability to transfer that money over."
Adam Armstrong is a TechTarget Editorial news writer covering file and block storage hardware and private clouds. He previously worked at StorageReview.
