Pure Storage Enhances FlashStack Converged Infrastructure

Pure Storage, Inc. enhanced its FlashStack Converged Infrastructure (CI) offering with the addition of the FlashStack CI Accreditation partner tier under the P3 Partner Program as well as the availability of new solutions.

FlashStack CI is a flexible, all-flash converged infrastructure solution that combines the latest in compute, network, storage hardware and virtualization software, into a single, integrated architecture that speeds time to deployment, lowers overall IT costs and reduces deployment risk.

It streamlines the implementation of all-flash infrastructure for enterprises and service providers.

It now offers the Pure Storage FlashArray product family with SQL Server and Citrix XenDesktop adding to previously published configurations for Cisco UCS Blade Servers, Cisco Nexus switches, vSphere 5 and VMware Horizon 6.

“Since the launch of FlashStack CI in December 2014, the response from our channel and customer base about our CI solutions has been resoundingly positive. By bringing new converged infrastructure offerings to market based on all-flash, partners are equipped to support their customers’ transition to an all-flash future,” said Michael Sotnick, VP of global channels and alliance, Pure Storage. “We’ve attracted new global partners through the proven-success of our solution. By introducing SQL Server and Citrix XenDesktop configurations, FlashStack CI equips our customers and partners with the performance, simplicity, HA and reliability they need to increase revenue opportunities and lead their perspective markets.“

IT departments are increasingly turning to converged infrastructure solutions to simplify the design and repeatability of their data center infrastructure investments flashStack CI streamlines the selection, planning, design, implementation and support of a complete data center infrastructure stack powered by virtualization and flash. In addition, FlashStack CI eliminates performance bottlenecks, increases infrastructure reliability and provides dramatic savings in power, cooling and rack space.

New FlashStack CI for Citrix XenDesktop and SQL Server
The FlashStack CI for Citrix XenDesktop 7.6 delivers virtual applications and desktops to allow enterprises to securely mobilize business at the speed of flash memory. The configurations can scale with ease up to 7,500 production-ready VMs in a single rack. This allows for the virtualization of mobile workspaces and applications with high performance, low latency and a quality user experience to drive employee productivity without interruption or downtime. XenDesktop is optimized for each customer device in order to meet the performance, security and mobility requirements of each user while simplifying deployment and management of virtual desktop environments.

“Pure Storage’s FlashStack Converged Infrastructure is designed to be a reliable, cost-effective, high-performance platform for XenDesktop,” said Calvin Hsu, VP of product marketing, Windows app delivery, Citrix Systems, Inc. “Together, Citrix and Pure Storage provide powerful new ways to drive employee productivity and satisfaction.“

The FlashStack CI for SQL Server 2014 delivers mission critical performance across all workloads and insights from their data at a faster rate. Deployments that require high performance are perfectly suited for FlashStack CI integration as it implements simple, repeatable SQL infrastructures that provide predictable performance at a lower total cost. A simple deployment leads to faster reports and queries to be able to make better decisions based on the data, reliable performance without costly downtime or outages, DR capabilities and native storage-based data replication.

New FlashStack Partner Accreditation Allows Partners
to Resell FlashStack and Expand Opportunities
The new FlashStack CI Partner Accreditation makes FlashStack sales opportunities available to an expanded group of Pure Storage P3 partners and provides new potential revenue growth opportunities to a wider group of partners. FlashStack CI customers now have a choice to receive support either from a FlashStack Authorized Support Partner or directly from the infrastructure vendors at the core of FlashStack CI: Pure Storage, VMware and Cisco. This option augments the previously announced program, which includes the FlashStack Authorized Support Partner Accreditation for partners who offer single-call support across the entire solution stack. For customers, this means more solutions choices, design guidance and a wider range of services available.

“Our customers are looking to converged infrastructures to alleviate the time, complexity and cost associated with managing a data center. As FlashStack is built on a flexible, scalable, high performance infrastructure, our customers can achieve consistent deployments at rapid speed. We developed FlashStack-as-a-Service to provide even more simplicity to our clients, giving them an enterprise-grade private cloud service, ensuring complete agility and scalability to meet changes in their business,” said Mark Butcher, commercial director, Proact Group.

“Stordata is pleased to announce our status as a Pure Storage FlashStack CI Partner. We believe FlashStack CI provides a simple, efficient and high-powered data center architecture that enables data center capabilities previously unachievable. Our FlashStack status is a confirmation of our superior IT service capabilities and our commitment to customers and their continued success,” said Patrick Dufour, director of strategy and services, Stordata SA.

“FlashStack converged infrastructure will provide our customers a powerful foundation for their cloud – and are a great complement to support and cloud services from Venture Technologies flashStack provides performance and power in a standardized and repeatable package that takes the guesswork out of cloud IT for our customers. Venture is proud to partner with Pure Storage to take our customers to the next level of IT innovation,” said Win Farnsworth, president, Venture Technologies.