FlashBlade/S, more powerful and efficient storage from Pure Storage

Live from Los Angeles. After two editions forced by the health crisis to switch to remote mode, the annual Accelerate event of the specialist in flash storage solutions, Pure Storage, is returning to face-to-face mode. Renamed TechFest for the occasion, this conference in the heart of the Downtown district plans to attract more than 1,000 participants, a stone’s throw from the Staples Center (aka Crypto.com Arena) and the Convention Center where US President Joe Biden takes the speak at the Summit of the Americas this Wednesday.

Alongside the launch of a subscription-based storage resource consumption offer, Evergreen/Flex, which we will come back to in a future article, Pure announces FlashBlade/S (S200 and S500). Five years after its first file and object storage offer, Pure is therefore bringing it a successor. “We have created a chassis for the next 10 years,” said Charlie Giancarlo, CEO of Pure Storage. So what’s new for this iteration? Almost everything: “There is a new network interconnect, more bandwidth and performance, and a modernization of the platform to support future evolutions”, explained Fred Lherault, field CTO EMEA of Pure Storage. Among its main embedded technologies, we find DirectFlash, already present in the supplier’s FlashArray full flash storage arrays, for better flexibility and to improve storage density.

Built for high-performance workload processing

As with Vast Data, the FlashBlade/S also introduces a modular architecture that separates processing capacities from storage capacities with the possibility of upgrading without service interruption. According to IDC, the “disaggregation” of storage platforms provides more flexibility to create more efficient IT infrastructures. In terms of raw data access performance, the technology (quad level cell) introduced two years ago on the C model of FlashArray is still being used. These cards, with a capacity ranging from 24 to 48 TB, are designed for use cases where workload processing requires high performance, and no longer requires the use of dedicated caching solutions and often expensive.

The latest generation of Pure’s scale-out NAS storage platform evolves in every respect, both in terms of performance and energy efficiency, in a completely redesigned chassis. 25% higher, this chassis (5U) allows for example to accommodate 10 blades instead of 15 previously for a maximum storage volume of 2 Po. explained Rob Lee, CTO of Pure Storage. “There are a lot of movements in the market to adapt to the search for agility”. According to the supplier, this generation of solutions requires 48% less energy and 28% less cooling. Note that the S500 model has, compared to the S200 model, computing capacities and performance per TB multiplied by two with a compression level divided by two. No price has yet been specified. General availability of FlashBlade/S products will begin from the second half of 2022.