Storage and procurement teams face the challenge of trimming IT budgets. ESG Tech Spending Intentions cites cost reduction as a top business driver for tech spending in 2020. That means IT departments are scavenging ways to save money. Smart IT professionals recognize that long-term savings have a significant impact on budgets. These pros spend on the right tools and technology today to increase their savings now and in the future.
But the legacy data center storage struggle is real. And it’s expensive.
- Storing data on legacy infrastructure is complex and, as a result, expensive.
- Buying and re-buying legacy storage over and over is wasteful – and expensive.
- Keeping legacy data storage up to date is also complex and – you guessed it – expensive.
- Disruptive forklift upgrades cause downtime, loss of IT productivity – and are very expensive!
As a result, many organizations put up with outdated, underperforming data storage. They forgo new features and advancements and continue to pay more each year in maintenance charges. Additionally, they find themselves stuck in the endless cycle of re-buys. Maintenance extortion and disruptive upgrades are a part of it as well.
So, How Do Your Peers Solve These Problems? With Pure’s Evergreen Storage Program
Evergreen Storage revolutionized the storage industry by delivering cost predictability and investment protection. The program provides a simple and predictable path for storage upgrades and improvements. Highlights of the Evergreen Gold subscription include:
- All array hardware and software (including future enhancements).
- Flat and Fair maintenance charges.
- Non-disruptive, data-in-place controller upgrades:
- included at three-year subscription renewal (Free Every Three)
- or anytime with 100% trade-in credit for existing controllers (Upgrade Flex)
Evergreen is a self-funded subscription to a storage experience. One of the key traits being that it continues to improve with age. You buy your storage once, then upgrade and modernize it as needed – all without any disruption.
ESG Crunched the Numbers – and Evergreen Delivers Savings
Pure commissioned ESG to assess potential savings with the Evergreen Storage program. ESG validated the huge value that customers realize. It includes a myriad of features: Cost predictability, investment protection, and cost avoidance of downtime to name a few. Migrations and improved operational efficiency are also key callouts. For this report, they focused on two scenarios of the Evergreen Gold subscription:
- Free Every Three – includes upgraded controllers with each 3-year Evergreen subscription renewal1
- Upgrade Flex – offers the flexibility of any time upgrades with full trade-in credits1
The alternative legacy storage solutions need a new system every three years. This costly rip and replace cycle ends in a disruptive forklift upgrade.
Scenario 1: Evergreen Storage Free Every Three
The first scenario focuses on organizations that experience a predictable storage growth rate. The Evergreen Gold includes an upgrade every three years which continues to keep storage fresh and modern.
Figure 1: Free Every Three Scenario
ESG’s analysis revealed organizations realize a 45% lower TCO over six years (Figure 2). This analysis considered similar initial costs and a slightly higher Evergreen subscription cost.
Figure 2: Summary of Pure Evergreen Storage Savings Provided by Free Every Three
ESG’s analysis demonstrates significant savings at the end of year three. These savings come with the included, data-in-place controller upgrade. Evergreen also puts an end to re-purchase, data migration, and downtime cycles.
Scenario 2: Evergreen Storage Upgrade Flex
But what about those unforeseen changes and unplanned events that IT needs to respond to? Such projects may include acquisitions, new workloads, workload consolidation from other systems and more.
Legacy storage solutions with their inflexible infrastructure limit your ability to respond. Evergreen Upgrade Flex, the only program of its type in the industry, meets this need for IT agility. Upgrade Flex, allows you to non-disruptively upgrade controllers at any time. This includes upgrades across generations. Additionally, it takes advantage of increased performance and capacity limits. Investment protection is certain. Organizations only pay for the difference in price between the controllers being traded-in and the new ones, along with bundled capacity.
Figure 3: Upgrade Flex Scenario
Even with the extra cost of the Upgrade Flex, ESG reported a 37% lower TCO. This is in addition to the benefit of getting the upgraded capabilities sooner than an alternative legacy system (Figure 4).
Time to Start Saving
Pure’s Evergreen Storage program revolutionized the storage industry. The program has been delivering real value to thousands of users for almost five years. Predictable OPEX costs2, easier technology upgrades, and architectural compatibility give you the ability and assurance to future-proof your investment.
ESG also interviewed Pure customers who spoke about their Evergreen experiences and savings. Here’s a favorite quote:
“We replaced our spinning disk vendor with Pure and saved roughly $2.5 million over five years, plus the costs of storage refreshes and the associated migration consulting. And those are conservative numbers. Those savings are being used to fund other business projects to make our products better.”
-Senior Manager, Enterprise Systems, Storage, and Operations, global food products manufacturer
Download the ESG report to get started on your cost reduction initiative.
1. For more information on the Evergreen Storage Program, please visit the Evergreen Storage page.
2. OPEX treatment is subject to customer’s auditor review
