Pure//Accelerate™ Digital 2021 has been an awesome event with still more to come. But first, let’s take a quick look back at the modern data experienced we showcased. .
We Learned Agility Will Be Key to Future Success
Pure CEO Charlie Giancarlo kicked off the event by reflecting on the past year and sharing his thoughts on what’s ahead as we enter the next normal. He noted that we’re in a place, as individuals and organizations, where we can really rise to the occasion—but it won’t always be easy, and the right support will be critical.
“The truly difficult part is not predicting the future,” he noted, “but actually getting there from here.” Agility was key to surviving the last year, and it’s what will determine success as we move forward.
This message resurfaced throughout many of the sessions over the past five weeks. In a session with Pure’s Matt “Kix” Kixmoeller and Gartner analyst, Julia Palmer, we heard how infrastructure strategies will evolve for remote work and hybrid work environments. The takeaway: that reliability is table stakes and what’s more important today is agility. Palmer stressed that what executives want now is an infrastructure that can support change—not just change, but also innovation, and every scenario along the way, from remote work challenges to Roblox-style growth.
Another panel discussion, “The Agility Imperative: Developing a Digital Infrastructure That’s Ready for Anything,” really brought this point home. And with the sessions that followed, we learned how the latest technologies and strategies set us up for success—the whole goal of the Modern Data Experience™.
We Tackled Five Key Themes in Five Weeks
- Cloud Week. We got things fired up with great sessions on Kubernetes, hybrid cloud, and Pure Cloud Block Store™. One of the most popular sessions from the entire event was Cody Hosterman’s “Pure Cloud Block Store Architecture: AWS vs. Azure, Making the Most of Each Cloud.”
- Data Protection Week. We went deep into what’s in the headlines and on everyone’s minds—ransomware— and demonstrated how storage is such an important defense against ransomware challenges. If you missed it, check out Andrew Miller’s session, “Ransomware Jail: Is There Any Way Out?,” and watch the panel discussion, “Restore Is the New Backup,” hosted by CTO-Americas Andy Stone.
- Analytics Week. Pure experts and analytics alliance partners shared how to use data to drive better experiences not only for our customers but also for our employees. We also took a deep dive into the exciting and complex world of unstructured data, focusing on how our unified fast file and object (UFFO) platform delivers the scale, performance, and agility you need for modern analytics. Check out this panel to hear how we manage data at Pure and how we use Pure1® for workload planning and more.
- Apps Week. This week addressed modern challenges for modern apps, focusing on how to break bottlenecks that limit apps’ performance when companies need it the most. From SAP and Oracle to Microsoft and MySQL, Tech Bytes sessions dug into practical solutions to the challenges organizations face today.
- Basecamp Week. This week was all about the Pure portfolio and going in-depth to discuss Portworx®, a deep-dive into FlashBlade®, FlashArray™, Pure1, Pure Cloud Block Store, and more.
Other highlights:
- We heard directly from Pure product engineers, who joined a keynote to discuss the complex, technical problems they overcome every day. It was a peek behind the curtain at how our engineers design and deliver our incredibly intuitive and easy-to-use products.
- Containers are taking center stage. Numerous sessions touched on how container technology compares with virtualization for modern apps and how companies can be ready. Two of the most popular sessions were related to Kubernetes: “How Kubernetes Changes the Storage Landscape and What You Need to Do About It” and “Protecting Stateful Kubernetes Applications with Pure Storage.”
- Businesses must be ready to meet ransomware threats head-on. SafeMode™ snapshots were the star this week, popping up in sessions covering how to prevent and recover from ransomware threats. We heard how this intuitive, set-and-forget feature adds a layer of confidence to ransomware defense strategies. Check out “Data Protection: A CISO’s View” to hear how a customer hit by ransomware was able to restore quickly and the fascinating approach they took.
- The subscription economy is still gaining momentum. Many organizations realize that purchasing IT infrastructure as a service is a strategic play to gain agility. Watch “Exploring The Service Economy & Pure” and “A Conversation with AWS: The Subscription Economy for Enterprise Infrastructure” to learn more.
We Gave Out Some Awesome Awards
This year was all about celebrating breakthroughs. It was incredible to hear about all the cool things our customers are achieving with Pure. And we gave out some special awards along the way to ServiceNow, Options Technology, Smart Digital, Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, and Roblox, who shared an inspiring look at what it’s like to get an entire year’s worth of growth in demand in one week.
In case you missed any of the action, watch the videos to learn how these Pure customers are making valuable breakthroughs that support their missions, like the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The organization leverages Pure to analyze millions of files — helping investigate tips that protect our country’s kids.
We Made Some Announcements and Updates
This year’s announcements focused on reinforcing what we’re doing as an organization to drive outcomes for our customers. We shared updates to existing products and strategies, including how we’ve been building out the ecosystems around these products. In case you missed it, we shared:
- Pure1 Digital Marketplace: Pure1’s new Digital Services catalog provides a self-service storefront to manage and upgrade storage infrastructure, add services, and more.
- Portworx Enterprise 2.8: The latest release includes making first-class citizens of underlying volumes, and PX-Backup, which addresses data protection for modern, containerized applications.
Don’t Miss Pure//Accelerate After Hours
Pure//Accelerate is a gift that keeps on giving! Join us as the event continues with After Hours sessions. The agenda focuses on delivering industry-specific insights. We’ll have guest sessions with alliance partners across a range of verticals, from financial services and healthcare to the public sector, gaming, and retail. Hear how Pure helps address the unique challenges organizations in these industries face.
For professionals who want to accelerate career advancement and get more hands-on knowledge of Pure products, come back for PEAK Week, June 22 and 24. This is a Pure//Accelerate Afterburner Event where you can get technical training and certifications, watch community and knowledge panels, and get hands-on lab experience.
Stay Tuned for Next Year’s Modern Data Experience!
Again, thank you for being a part of Pure//Accelerate Digital 2021! We hope you gained some valuable insights and are inspired to be a superhero and make breakthroughs in your organization. There’s no limit to what you can achieve with the right foundation—and we’re already excited to see how far we’ve all come at next year’s event.
