VMware Partner Exchange 2014 has come to a close. Has there ever been a more exciting time to be in the storage industry? The market is overflowing with innovation to tackle the struggles inherent in disk storage arrays. As one PEX attendee said, “The incumbent storage vendors simply failed to innovate at the pace of VMware.“
We are Witnessing a Flash-Powered Storage Revolution
Historically speaking EMC & NetApp comprise roughly two-thirds of the storage deployed with VMware. While they attempt to fend off a slew of competitors, neither has been able to provide an All-Flash Array that’s priced for the tier-1 market.
Legacy storage vendors face a conundrum; how to respond to Pure Storage and our ability to provide an all flash array that has 10X more performance than a high-end array (think EMC VMAX, HDS HUS, HP 3Par) for the price associated with a mid-tier array (think EMC VNX5000 or NetApp FAS3200 series).
So what’s an incumbent vendor to do? Simple. Deny that an All-Flash Array tier-1 market exists.
Innovation Ushers in Disruption but Economics Drive Adoption
The Big Storage vendors are unified in their positioning of the All-Flash Arrays as a ideal when performance is paramount and price is not an option. Many PEX attendees were informed that the AFA market is $1B USD annually.
The tier-1 storage market has always been the target of Pure Storage. Delivering an all-flash array at the price of disk allows Pure to uniquely compete in a total addressable market that ranges between $15B and $20B USD annually.
If you can all flash at the price of disk, why would you consider disk with any form of flash as a cache? Pure Storage is 10X faster, requires 10X less power and rack space and is 100X simpler.
Partners Get It!
Channel partners are the link between vendors and customers. They earn the status of trusted advisor by successfully introducing and deploying new technology to their customers. They are called upon to validate vendor claims and ensure the success of their customers.
Partners introducing Pure Storage are ensuring they remain a trusted advisor. They recognize the economics of our value proposition and how our technology advances VMware, cloud and data center initiatives. They also recognize that if they delay in participating in this market revolution, then they run the risk of losing their thought leadership.
Pure Storage enjoyed a fantastic VMware PEX. Our booth was filled with traffic from channel and technology partners, industry comrades seeking a new chapter in their career and prospects, lots of prospects.
I have more to share on PEX 2014, which I’m saving for follow on posts.
