US VC backed all flash storage firm Pure Storage announced its latest flash array named the 400 series with a claim that while others remain languishing in beta it is already on its third generation of product.

As an all flash enterprise storage company the firm is targeting the data center with claims that its Purity Operating Environment 3.0 software and proprietary data compression and deduplication technologies enable the reliable use of consumer-grade MLC flash

The FA-400 system is based on Intel’s 8-core “Sandy Bridge” processor delivering up to 400,000 8K IOPs, effectively doubling the performance and capacity over FA-300 systems with up to 100TB of usable all-flash capacity.

“Unlike most competitors who quote 4K IOP vanity benchmarks, the FlashArray has been optimised to perform well across all IO sizes (512byte to 128K and beyond) to meet the performance needs of a variety of workloads,” the company said.

“End user investments in flash storage are accelerating as organisations seek to satisfy performance requirements and reduce latency for critical workloads. IDC forecasts the all-flash storage array market to reach £800million in revenue by 2015, with a forecasted 58.5% CAGR over the forecast period. As more vendors, such as Pure Storage, deliver enterprise features, the market will continue to gain traction with end-users,” said Dan Iacono, Research Director for IDC Storage Systems. “The FlashArray 400-Series includes enterprise features such as non-disruptive upgrades, enhanced data security, broader third-party application support and a cloud-based support model, which should position Pure Storage well.”
The FlashArray supports OpenStack, IBM AIX ACA (native multi-pathing), VMware vSphere VAAI xCopy, and the vSphere Web Client management plugin now supports iSCSI.

Scott Dietzen CEO at Pure Storage, said: “We recognise that the market we are competing in has become hotly contested, but we wholeheartedly believe that ours is the winning recipe that is serving up what the market is actually hungry for. We continue to advance our market leadership through precision execution of our vision to deliver ‘Flash for All’ with product and support innovation for an unrivaled customer experience.”

“We are pleased to be partnering with Pure Storage to bring the FlashArray to our hosted customers in France, which will enable us to open new market opportunities and differentiate ourselves from our competitors,” said Bertrand Morin, of AntemetA Business Continuity.

“While many competitive solutions are still languishing in development or extended beta programmes, the FA-400 Series and Purity 3.0 software is now generally available globally,” the company said.

Pure Storage was formed in 2009 and is backed with $95m investment from various venture capitalists including Greylock Partners, Index Ventures, and Samsung Ventures.