Everpure FlashArray Reviews

My main use case for Everpure FlashArray is primarily for Oracle databases and VMware, most of the time.

With Everpure FlashArray, I have an automation of cloning all the Oracle databases to use them for QA and dev test, making nine copies every day automatically, and we don't have extra space occupied.

In my experience, the best features Everpure FlashArray offers are volume cloning, safe mode, and performance.

With volume cloning, I use it for cloning environments to use them for QA and dev test, and safe mode helps in case of a ransomware attack because we recover fast.

Everpure FlashArray has positively impacted my organization, particularly in performance and reliability, as we've had good improvements, making our applications run faster and giving us more confidence that they will not crash.

The performance improvements I noticed include user satisfaction being the biggest takeaway because the users are happy, and IT is happy.

The importance of Everpure FlashArray's single management pane to my organization is significant because it reduces the overhead and the time that the IT department needs to learn a tool, making it easier for us.

Everpure FlashArray has helped decrease my organization's storage footprint significantly because it has a lot of density capacity, which is higher than most storage, so what used to be a full rack of disks is now probably three to six U.

Everpure FlashArray has helped my operations reduce downtime because the upgrade and management processes are much better, so I don't have to make many maintenance windows or keep my engineers working late nights.

We use the Evergreen architecture for our applications, which is very important for maintaining continuous uptime because it allows us to do upgrades online, avoiding downtime that other vendors would require for migrations.

I do not have any suggestions on how Everpure FlashArray can be improved; I like how it is.

I do not have anything in mind right now for one area where it could be even better.

I have been using Everpure FlashArray for eight years.

Everpure FlashArray is stable.

The scalability of Everpure FlashArray is good.

The customer support for Everpure FlashArray is extremely good, especially since many tasks are automated in Pure1, which improves the support experience.

I would rate the customer support a nine on a scale of one to ten.

Before Everpure FlashArray, I previously used 3PAR, and I switched because Everpure FlashArray is more reliable.

I did not evaluate other options before choosing Everpure FlashArray.

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Everpure FlashArray is good.

I don't have the data on how the solution has helped decrease the total cost of ownership right away, but I will have to check it.

I don't have any metrics for return on investment at this time.

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Everpure FlashArray is good.

I would compare Everpure FlashArray versus other disk and flash storage solutions in terms of performance and say it's better than most of them by far.

When comparing Everpure FlashArray with other disk and flash storage solutions regarding power consumption, it is again better by far.

In terms of cost, Everpure FlashArray can sometimes be more expensive, but when you look at the total cost of ownership and everything associated with it, even if the initial purchase is probably more expensive, in the long term, it is less.

My advice to others looking into using Everpure FlashArray is to do it, and do it really fast. I would rate this solution a ten on a scale of one to ten.

Everpure FlashArray is used for storage, and it is very easy to maintain and very reliable. Everpure FlashArray does require maintenance on my end, as all servers and their storage arrays do.

Everpure FlashArray has reduced downtime in some situations. It reduces downtime considerably and can help perform upgrades or replacements of certain hardware without shutting the machine down, or perform upgrades of its firmware without shutting it down.

What I like the most about Everpure FlashArray is that it is easy to repair and based on Dell technology. The initial deployment of Everpure FlashArray when I first started was easy to deploy using standard Dell rails since it is based on Dell hardware.

I find the interface of Everpure FlashArray, the single management pane of glass they call it, to be very intuitive.

I wish they could add more of a monitor on the machine itself so you don't have to rely on a KVM or something to look at the display, such as an onboard diagnostic display.

I have been using Everpure FlashArray for about 15 years in my career.

I have not experienced any lagging, crashing, or downtime with Everpure FlashArray; it is stable.

Everpure FlashArray scales fairly well.

I have not had to contact technical support about anything, so no technical support has been needed.

I have used alternatives to Everpure FlashArray, including Violin Memory and Hitachi, which are all fairly similar. In my opinion, Everpure FlashArray is the easiest of the bunch.

The initial deployment of Everpure FlashArray when I first started was easy to deploy using standard Dell rails since it is based on Dell hardware.

Everpure FlashArray has reduced downtime in some situations. It reduces downtime considerably and can help perform upgrades or replacements of certain hardware without shutting the machine down, or perform upgrades of its firmware without shutting it down.

I think the pricing for Everpure FlashArray is fairly reasonable.

I have used alternatives to Everpure FlashArray, including Violin Memory and Hitachi, which are all fairly similar.

My advice for new users is to work with Everpure FlashArray a little before deploying it and learn the interface; once you do that and master it, then everything should go smoothly. I gave this review a rating of 8 out of 10.

Initially, there were a few use cases we started with when looking at alternative storage platforms. Once upon a time, we were ran a different platform that was physically huge, power hungry, low on capacity and mediocre on performance. Use was complex and did not scale very well. It was also very cost prohibitive to maintain. We quickly outgrew it, especially when we started to adopt VMware vSphere virtualization.  We knew we had to replace this beast with something that made more sense for us.  We needed to reduce the footprint down to something a lot more reasonable.  We wanted to contain costs, especially when it comes to hardware investments and maintenance renewals. We also needed more intelligence, visibility and flexibility in our data storage platform.

We were introduced to Pure Storage through one of our long-term partners in the Chicagoland area who brought them in for a meet and greet. Their presentation was compelling. It was exciting to see what they were doing with technology, especially with the concept of data deduplication, so we decided to give it a go. The results were simply unbelievable. We deployed Pure into multiple datacenters effectively consolidating down entire row's of storage to a single rack. It ran circles around our legacy platform and what it did for VMWare was really something to see.  Boot times were drastically reduce, latency went from 30-40ms down to sub millisecond...consistently. 

As we continued to use Pure and their products evolved to add in additional features/technologies, we were able to solve other issues we never knew we had.  Our BC/DR playbooks were effectively rewritten to take advantage of array to array replication for disaster recovery.  Snapshots cut our product upgrade times in half because we no longer needed to rely on taking full backups of our environment before deploying new code.  Snaps were immediate and rolling back was almost just as fast. It was a true game changer.  Pure had single handedly improved our business strategies and making us more agile in provisioning storage and overall, running our datacenters. 

Over the years, we have witnessed Pure continuing to deliver new feature sets and technical enhancements in it's Purity code base.  Did I mention that all of these features and enhancements are part of cost of support?  Yep...no nickle and diming people to death. 

As alluded to above, our environment is far more performant, reliable and feature rich since going on their platform. 

Pure has allowed us to minimize the storage footprint with their products. Their Evergreen support model effectively eliminates forklift upgrades and takes it one step further by rewarding customs who stay current on support by giving them free in family controller upgrades to the latest revision.  Did I mention it was free??   

The Pure1 portal gives me a unified single pane of glass to view my fleet of arrays globally. In addition, it integrates with our VMware vSphere platform, has it's own analytics engine and allows me the ability to self-upgrade the arrays.  It is also an invaluable tool for annual budgeting with their built in 'what if' planning tool.

As we needed to grow in capacity, we were able to do so without increasing footprint.  This is done by replacing smaller devices with larger ones. The array handles all the internal data migration seamlessly in the background without needing to be taken offline.

The snapshot and replication capabilities of the arrays improved disaster recovery and data protection in events like ransomware attacks by enabling us to revert to good datasets without complete loss of our (and our customers) data. 

Lastly, I have to say that their hardware architecture and Purity operating system has been nothing but stellar.  In all the years we have been using Pure, we never had an availability event.  They are the only platform/technology we have that I can honestly say has had a 100% uptime relative to storage availability.

During their early years, I was a member of Pure's Customer Advisory Board. In addition, when we first adopted Pure, they did not have replication GA yet. We got into their beta testing program and help them work out certain issues with that technology. One weakness I can say the array has, still to this day, is limited control on scheduling snapshots.  

Depending on the type of replication schedule you are building, you may or may not have control on specifying the start time of a given replication schedule. This is not a very big problem in the grand scheme of things, but something nonetheless that has bothered me about the scheduler in general.  

Another area for improvement would be automatic host alias creation. Other platforms such as EMC Unity/PowerStore will automatically detect the host name, create a alias for it and associate the logged in HBA's to it. Pure does not do this for you and as a result, requires manual configuration.  This can be very time consuming especially when you are deploying a large number of new servers. 

I have used the solution since 2011.

Again, stability has never been an issue and we have enjoyed a 100% uptime experience on Pure. This doesn't mean nothing goes wrong.  Sure, there were instances of a controller failover event, a drive or cache module failure, GBIC burns out, etc. Sometimes Pure Support knows about an issue before I do and is already reaching out to me about it. 

Phenomenal.  I have never seen a platform go through as many generational changes as this one and have it all be done in place. It's truly amazing.

Pure's support is exceptional; no other vendor reaches out proactively to improve something on their array. They're interested in our success, which is also in their best interest. This experience isn't common with other OEM's that I use in my datacenters.

Pure's support organization is responsive with minimal bureaucracy, making support a key factor in customer retention. Their portal simplifies engagement, and they consistently offer friendly, prompt assistance, deserving a ten out of ten.

Positive

As discussed above, yes, we did use several different block storage arrays/vendors. All did their job, but for one reason or another, aged very quickly.  They were either limited on features, supportability or became too cost prohibitive to keep after the initial support contract expired.  There were not the only reason though.  Pure simply had a superior product that changed the game for us and frankly, no one else at that time has anything GA that came close.

When standing up a new array, it is as simple as it gets.  Pure does it for us.  There is a method of self deployment, but I have found it better to have them ensure the system is properly implemented and functioning to their standards.  After all, they know it better than I do.  Once the array has been deployed, it is very easy to setup.  In fact, the configuration of the SAN fabric will take longer (depending on how many hosts you need to zone up to the array).  But once that is done, I am in and out of the array in about 30 min. This includes all the administrative configurations, host and host group creations and volume provisioning.

Pure Storage handles our initial implementation of the array and we handle the rest in-house. We've had the same technician each time. He is familiar with our environment, and I trust him implicitly. This consistency is unusual and greatly valued.

This is hard to quantify, but all I can say is that they have been worth the money.  I have said this to many people in my 32 years in IT.  The technology you forget is running in your datacenter is the best one you own. The ones that constantly remind you that they are there....yeah, those are the ones you should consider replacing. 

Well...you know the old saying, you get what you pay for.  I wont lie...Pure is no cheap.  I could easily buy another vendors AFA (all flash array) and possible save some $$$, but I wouldn't get everything I love about Pure. Switching platforms would be very painful for me.  

Not really.  We were already using best in breed platforms.  Pure was the new kid on the block and seamlessly fit into our existing environment. Sure there were other options, but they all kind of looked the same.  Pure simply stood out in the crowd and they were committed to proving themselves.

I could spend all day talking about the platform, the portal, their support teams, or their account management. Suffice to say, Pure actually cares about me being successful and I have seen them do the same thing with other customer too.  I have been a customer reference for them on many occasions and I tell all of Pure's prospects the same thing.  Your not just investing in hardware, your investing in a company committed to your success.  

Everpure FlashArray serves as my main storage solution for LUNs in a Hyper-V cluster. A specific example of how I use Everpure FlashArray with my Hyper-V cluster is that it provides LUNs for the cluster to store virtual machines on.

In my opinion, the best features Everpure FlashArray offers are data resilience and redundancy.

The data resilience and redundancy features have helped me by providing peace of mind knowing that the data will always be available and the virtual machines will always be accessible.

Everpure FlashArray has positively impacted my organization, although it was already in use when I came on board.

I cannot think of anything that needs improvement for Everpure FlashArray. I am exceptionally happy with the product and the way it works.

I have been using Everpure FlashArray for three years.

Since I have been working with Everpure FlashArray, I have noticed less downtime as it does not go offline for updates. Updates happen seamlessly with no downtime at all.

My company has a business relationship with this vendor beyond being a customer, as we are a partner.

I would rate Everpure FlashArray a 10 out of 10. Regarding Everpure FlashArray's AI capabilities, I like them and I am exceptionally excited about the AI capabilities and what that will do for accessing and using the data in the future.

I have not noticed anything noteworthy about the accuracy and reliability of the output from Everpure FlashArray's AI capabilities yet.

My advice to others looking into using Everpure FlashArray would be to make the switch as soon as possible and never look back once you do. My overall rating for this product is 10.

I am an implementation engineer for Pure Storage FlashArray. We sell it through partners to different companies in Kazakhstan.

The single management interface is advantageous, enabling us to manage all arrays from a centralized location.

Pure Storage FlashArray provides immediate benefits to our customers with its easy setup process, allowing for instant use and rapid realization of advantages.

Pure Storage FlashArray is echo-friendly and helps reduce our carbon footprint.

FlashArray provides high stability and can help reduce downtime for customers. It was helpful when migrating data from one storage to another, achieving this without any downtime.

Remote Assist is a valuable feature that supports customers and engineers in troubleshooting and resolving issues, allowing for easy problem identification and repair. Furthermore, the cloud-based log collection enhances convenience and accessibility. FlashArray's integration with the Pure One instrument provides a centralized platform for efficient management of all arrays.

Organizations with security concerns that prevent cloud utilization would benefit from a wider range of instruments available for offline operation. Currently, the limited selection of on-premise instruments hinders Pure Storage FlashArray's ability to compete effectively with other vendors.

I have been using Pure Storage FlashArray for two years.

FlashArray is a highly stable and reliable enterprise storage solution that minimizes downtime.

One advantage of the Evergreen program Pure Storage offers is that it allows for easy upgrades, such as upgrading controllers for more power or increasing data flash memory for capacity.

The support from Pure Storage is excellent. Pure support team provides great maintenance of FlashArray, and their support consists of two parts: hardware support and software support.

Positive

The initial deployment is straightforward, taking approximately 40 minutes from unboxing to operation. Pure Storage systems, including FlashArray and FlashBlade, are equipped with comprehensive features that ensure easy installation and user-friendly operation.

Two people are required to place the FlashArray into the server rack due to its weight of approximately 45 kilograms.

For emerging markets like Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, pricing is not a problem. However, we lost a lot of customers because we couldn't compete on price with other vendors.

The biggest competitor we evaluated is Huawei.

I would rate Pure Storage FlashArray eight out of ten.

To fully utilize Pure Storage's capabilities, explore beyond its basic features. Many companies underutilize this robust platform, often employing only a fraction of its potential. Familiarizing yourself with the full range of features will maximize the benefits and value derived from this tool.

I recommend against attempting to understand Pure Storage FlashArray independently. If necessary, do not hesitate to open a support case.

I primarily work with small and medium-sized businesses, and Pure Storage FlashArray has consistently been our primary storage array. Initially, we dedicated it to SQL Storage, but after witnessing its exceptional performance, we expanded its use to encompass everything else in our environment. Previously, we used VNX from EMC, which was incredibly slow. The significant improvement from tens or hundreds of milliseconds to microsecond response times motivated us to upgrade and make FlashArray the core of our infrastructure.

I immediately recognized the benefits of Pure Storage FlashArray, including the instant improvement in response time and performance compared to my previous storage solutions. A decade ago, Flash storage wasn't ubiquitous; it was considered a high-end solution, primarily utilized for caching, while spinning disks remained the standard. Therefore, the speed of FlashArray was remarkable. Over time, as FlashArray became more commonplace with increased adoption and competition, its reliability and seamless integration with VMware and other products solidified my decision to continue using it over alternatives like Nimble or other Gartner Magic Quadrant recommendations.

The interface has always been one of my favorite features because it's fantastic from a usability standpoint.

FlashArray significantly reduced our storage footprint, shrinking it from 30 racks down to just six. This dramatically decreased our overall impact, not only in terms of space but also power consumption. We went from hundreds of power-hungry spinning disks to a mere 30 FlashArray disks, resulting in a substantial difference in energy usage.

I have not had any downtime due to storage failure since using Pure Storage FlashArray.

Pure Storage FlashArray reduced our total cost of ownership by decreasing the number of labor hours required.

The most important feature of any storage array is its reliability, measured by its uptime. This is the core selling point of Pure Storage FlashArray. In my five years selling and troubleshooting storage solutions, I experienced firsthand the frustration and consequences of downtime and issues. These problems were notably absent with Pure Storage FlashArrays, which is what initially sold me on the brand.

The interface lacks the same level of control as some other arrays I've used. So, while it's easy to use and simple, it offers different control. I dislike that if I need to fine-tune something, I usually have to engage Pure Support because the ability to manipulate settings isn't in the interface. I prefer to be able to do things myself rather than rely on external help.

When we started using Pure Storage, they were a smaller company focused on expanding their user and customer base. However, as they grew, their customer service declined. A few years ago, I was using a four- or five-year-old Pure Storage FlashArray, and after three years, they informed me that I needed to upgrade my disk to continue receiving support. This forced me to spend an unreasonable amount of money on an upgrade, especially for a small business. Unlike other storage providers like EMC or NetApp, third-party support wasn't an option. I feel that Pure Storage's growth has led them to lose touch with their customers and the excellent support that once set them apart. Their support philosophy has changed, and this negatively impacts the overall experience, particularly for critical data center components.

I have been using Pure Storage FlashArray for ten years.

There was one instance about ten years ago when I had some high latency in certain situations, and Pure Storage patched that quickly. So, I'd say the Pure Storage FlashArray is extremely stable.

Scaling up the Pure Storage FlashArray can be expensive if you don't initially size it correctly. If your first array reaches its capacity, you'll need to purchase a whole new array to upgrade. While it is scalable, planning and sizing it correctly during your initial purchase is crucial to avoid unnecessary costs.

I've used many storage arrays over the years, but I have yet to use or personally manage an all-flash array. I have extensive experience with spinning disk arrays, including EMC, VNX, NetApp, and a few Dell EqualLogic.

The initial deployment is straightforward. I have done five of them so far. Usually, someone from Pure Storage is on-site for each deployment. I even deployed one during COVID-19, which was a bit challenging, but they allowed me to proceed and guided me through it because I had prior experience. Overall, the process is straightforward.

The deployment takes a couple of hours, and one person with experience is enough to complete it.

I need to get updated pricing information because it's been a while since I last checked. When I last looked, the prices were reasonable, and we could get an excellent array for about $60,000. So, overall, their pricing is reasonable. However, I haven't looked at their newest pricing, and I know they just released something impressive, like a six-terabyte NVMe or something like that. I'm curious about the pricing for those ultra-dense, high-density storage options, but I still need to check them out.

I rate Pure Storage FlashArray eight out of ten.

If you're considering a Pure Storage FlashArray, it's a solid choice for performance and value. However, be aware that they may pressure you to upgrade after a few years if your model becomes outdated, potentially costing you an additional $50,000 to maintain support. So, while it's a top-tier option from a technology perspective, factor in the possibility of future upgrade costs when making your decision.

Maintenance is not required. From a support perspective, if something breaks, it automatically notifies Pure Storage. They will inform us of the issue and send a replacement part. If we are under maintenance, they will send the part or dispatch someone to fix it. Generally, it's a very hands-off system. They proactively notify us if we're running low on capacity or if there are performance issues, which I've only encountered once due to a bug they quickly patched. Overall, it's a hands-off experience.

Ensure you receive a written guarantee that the discs will remain in service for at least the next three years and won't require replacement at your expense. Also, confirm you have conducted thorough research to avoid unforeseen costs arising in the next three to five years.

Virtualization with ESXi, Hyper-V, XenServer, KVM is the primary use case. VDI, containerization, AI, HPC are some other use cases seen in my day-to-day consulting with customers.

Being an all-flash storage, it has helped improve performance of business apps reducing latency and increasing IOPS.

One valuable feature of the Pure Storage FlashArray is its flash-based architecture, which provides a significant advantage. 

Another noteworthy aspect is their platform, Pure1, a cloud-based management and analytics platform that automatically creates an SR (case) on issue detection and proactively provides resolution.

Evergreen subscription model is also remarkable, allowing clients to receive the next hardware generation at no additional cost.

A noticeable area for improvement is the support for object storage. FlashArray does not natively support object storage like S3 or Swift, which pushes customers needing these features towards the more expensive FlashBlade. Integrating object storage into the FlashArray would benefit entry-level and SMB customers by offering a more unified solution.

7+ years

The stability of the product is excellent. I have not encountered any significant issues, such as applying firmware that introduces bugs. The overall stability of the product is commendable.

The solution is highly scalable, particularly when there is a need to expand capacity. An expansion shelf can be purchased and connected when needed.

Opening a case with Pure is a smooth process, and they prove to be reliable, even in severe cases where infrastructure issues arise. Their support is top-notch, and their NPS scores reflect this.

Positive

Over a five-year cycle, compared to other vendors, cost savings of at least 10% can be achieved if configured optimally.

Pure Storage FlashArray is a premium product, but the introduction of the C-series has been a strategic move to make it more accessible to budget-conscious customers.

We mainly use FlashArray to provide flash storage for SQL and Oracle databases in production.

FlashArray has improved the stability of our servers and critical databases stability and server stability. We began seeing benefits two to three weeks after we deployed. The platform is more flexible and has lower latency.

The Direct FlashArray stands out as one of the best features in the market. The Pure1 storage management lets us see the details about utilization and everything else for all 40 storage boxes in one place. This is a crucial feature if you're using FlashArray for critical databases. 

I would like FlashArray to add reports that help us forecast our predicted resource needs based on current usage. 

We have been using Pure Storage FlashArray for three years.

I would rate the stability of FlashArray as nine out of 10.

I rate FlashArray's scalability nine out of 10.

I rate Pure Storage customer service nine out of 10.

Positive

We previously used Dell EMC. Creating storage groups and mapping was more complex. Pure FlashArray is simpler and easier to use, and our storage staff doesn't struggle as much with it.

The initial setup is easy and does not require much expertise. Even individuals with five or six years of experience can handle it.

We have seen a return on investment as the solution has reduced resource requirements, allowing less experienced personnel to manage the storage. You don't need 15 years of experience to work on this. It can be easily handled by someone with five years.

I would rate Pure Storage FlashArray a nine out of ten.

The cost of Pure FlashArray is a bit high compared to peers, but its sustainability and features justify the price.

I rate Pure Storage FlashArray nine out of 10. I recommend FlashArray. It protects your data and has low downtime. 

My main use case for Everpure FlashArray is that it's used as storage for VMs that are running on, or that used to run on IBM Flex nodes. The nodes don't have storage, so Everpure FlashArray is used as the storage back end for the VMs and running production workloads.

Everpure FlashArray offers the ability to upgrade with non-disruptive updates. I can update or upgrade the controllers without any downtime or replace any hardware without downtime, which is a very good thing. The remote monitoring support provided by Pure Storage is very helpful in an enterprise environment.

The remote monitoring specifically helps my team in daily operations when there are upgrades to Purity, which are pushed remotely from Pure Storage. There is no downtime on our side, and business continues to run. Remote upgrades are a very critical feature of Pure Storage.

Everpure FlashArray has positively impacted my organization by increasing our agility and the ability to run our environment at high speeds due to the flash storage. This is unlike disk-based systems which have low access times and consume a whole lot more power and are noisy compared to Everpure FlashArray.

Everpure FlashArray can be improved by also being available in the public clouds, which I have been researching. That is a big jump for companies that want to run their production or backup systems in the cloud since Everpure is already integrated with some cloud providers and some hyper-converged providers like Nutanix. That's a very good fit between Nutanix and Pure Storage.

For the future, currently the features that are available are really fit for purpose. The product is very mature and well implemented.

I have been using Everpure FlashArray since 2017.

I have noticed significant outcomes or improvements since moving to Everpure FlashArray, as boot-up times for VMs and backups run very fast compared to the disk-based systems that I was using previously.

I am currently researching how Everpure FlashArray can be used with AI systems. I haven't implemented anything yet, but I am researching at the moment.

Regarding Everpure FlashArray's AI capabilities, I think that they have the ability to bake in whatever tools or resources are required to make sure that the AI capabilities and governance will be up to the required standards for most enterprises.

I haven't played with Everpure FlashArray in a demo or production environment, so I'm not familiar with the figures, though I'm going to be researching it from now on.

The single management pane of glass is very important to my organization because it allows me to see what's happening with my complete environment from one window without moving between different tools. That simplifies management or monitoring of alerts or anything that I might need. The single pane of glass is essential to our operations.

I have nothing to add at the moment about the features. My overall rating for this product is ten out of ten.

I had four or five Flash Arrays. I used it primarily for virtualization and video media, depending on the workload. 

It's simple to use. Upgrading is easy, as is the user interface. The connectivity is simple. 

The performance of the product is phenomenal. 

Pure was open to be checked out by any observability platform. It integrates well with Splunk, for example. 

Its single management pane of glass and dashboard are excellent. At first, it was hard to get used to since I was used to other types of dashboards. However, once I figured it out, it was great. It was very easy to work with. 

The benefits were realized right away. Between the flash array and the compression, you can really see how good it is. Our databases run a lot better now.

Pure hasn't helped us decrease our storage footprint. However, I was at a company that demanded storage when I was using it. We had different solutions for different storage needs. We always needed more storage for video, for example. The capacity was great in that sense. 

When I used Pure, I worked in an environment that was 24/7. Everything we ever built was designed to be damn near bulletproof. I wasn't dependent on a single unit at any point. Everything we did had to be doubled, tripled, quadrupled up. Sometimes, multiple sites with multiple doubles based on the requirements. We've never had downtime.

The evergreen architecture is great. You can interchange things and move up. That never happens with other storage solutions. 

Sometimes you don't realize that the capacity on offer is actually because of compression and all those things. It's just not as visible as it is on a NetApp or some other platform. You don't get the full view. You get the view that they give you, which is fine, but you don't get the full view. You don't get the nuts and bolts. Once you dig in and you learn how to read it, then it makes sense. However, when I first started, it didn't make sense to me.

For large storage needs, it is expensive. When we got too big, we didn't go for more Pure, we went with Isilon, since we were working into the petabytes range.

I've used the solution for three to four years.

I've contacted technical support to run upgrades. They are professional, easygoing, and answer me on time. They know their stuff. I've never had issues. I can contact the right people directly; I never had to roam around looking for someone. Sometimes it will take some time for someone to get back to me once I put in a ticket. 

Positive

We used HP Nimble. That was a full all-flash array. The difference between Nimble and Pure was that with Pure, the upgrade process had to be done by tech support, which I didn't mind at all. In the Nimble, it was just a file, and I could upgrade it. Upgrade-wise, Nimble was better. Beyond that, they were pretty on par with each other. 

I have a lot of experience with Pure and find the solution easy to deploy. 

The only real maintenance is upgrading. There isn't a whole lot we need to worry about. It's one of the easier solutions to deploy with the least amount of failures. Things seldom went wrong. 

Pure is not cheap. Of course, cost isn't everything. If you can buy a really cheap piece of hardware, however, when it comes to being able to get data, doing upgrades, navigation, and all kinds of stuff, you spend more time and effort trying to do that than just doing the work and letting Pure handle a lot of this stuff. So, you can pay it upfront or later. One way or another, you're going to pay for it.

Now, everything is coming down in price since there's more need and competition. I don't see a huge difference in the market. Everything is comparable, size-wise, and everything else is comparable in cost. Storage is storage. It's going to cost you no matter what. That said, those features, those extra things that they put out there, those extra parts are really where the expenditure really comes from. 

I'm a customer and end-user. 

If a company has the money and they want to do it, I don't understand why they wouldn't. From an administrator's perspective, not from a business point of view, it's great. However, users need to check the numbers. 

From an administrator perspective, they handle the upgrades, they do all these things - you don't have to do it. That's a whole lot of time you don't have to spend. For the performance, you get better monitoring. You don't have to spend extra time, money, and effort getting an extra monitoring solution. You can get that from them. Observability and monitoring are extremely important when it comes to this. Pure gives you a great way of connecting it to anything and getting information. The API works great. 

I'd rate the solution nine out of ten. The only issue is it is really expensive.