Don’t Wait, Innovate: Long‑Life Release 6.9.0 Is Your Gateway to Continuous Innovation
If you’ve already invested in Pure Storage, congratulations—you’re on a platform designed to grow with you. But if you’re still running Purity 6.4.x or even the 6.5 Long‑Life Release, you’re missing out on over two years of improvements that could make your day‑to‑day operations smoother and more secure. The newly released LLR 6.9.0 rolls in every enhancement from the 6.8.x line and beyond, giving you a big leap forward in one shot.
How Pure Releases Work (and Why You Should Care)
Pure Storage doesn’t make you choose between stability and innovation:
- Feature Releases arrive monthly and are supported for 9 months. They’re production‑ready and ideal if you like to live on the cutting edge.
- Long‑Life Releases (LLRs) bundle those feature releases into a thoroughly tested version which is supported for three years. LLR 6.9.0 is essentially all the innovation of those Feature releases, rolled into one update.
This dual approach means you can adopt new features as soon as they’re ready or wait for the next stable release—either way, you keep moving forward.
Not sure what features you’re missing? Not a problem—we have a tool for that.
A coworker reminded me: Pure1’s AI Copilot can tell you exactly what you’ve been missing. Here’s how easy it is to find out:
Log into Pure1, click on the AI Copilot tab, and type your question. My coworker reminded me of this last week, so I tried: “Please provide all features for FlashArray since version 6.4 of Purity OS.” Copilot returned a detailed rundown of new capabilities across each release.
In just a couple of minutes, I saw everything I’d overlooked—no digging through release notes or calling support required.
A Taste of What You’ve Been Missing
Here’s a snapshot of the goodies you may have missed across the last few year releases:
- Platform enhancements:
- FlashArray//E platform (6.6.0) extends Pure’s simplicity to tier‑3 workloads.
- Gen 2 chassis support (6.8.0) delivers more performance and density with better efficiency.
- 150 TB DirectFlash modules (6.8.2) boost capacity without compromising speed.
- File services advancements:
- FlashArray File (GA in 6.8.2) lets you manage block and file workloads from the same array.
- SMB Continuous Availability shares (6.8.6) keep file services online through failures.
- Multi‑server/domain support (6.8.7) scales file services across larger environments.
- Security and protection:
- Enhanced SafeMode protection (6.4.3) quadruples local snapshot capacity and adds hardware tokens for instant data locking—vital in a ransomware era.
- Over‑the‑wire encryption (6.6.7) secures asynchronous replication.
- Pure Fusion: We can't talk about this enough
- Think of this as fleet intelligence. Fusion applies your policies across every array and optimizes placement automatically, cutting operational overhead .
- Think of this as fleet intelligence. Fusion applies your policies across every array and optimizes placement automatically, cutting operational overhead .
Purity OS: It’s Not Just Firmware
Every Purity OS update adds value to your existing hardware. Recent improvements include support for new NAND sources, “titanium” efficiency power supplies, and advanced diagnostics. These aren’t minor tweaks; they’re part of Pure’s Evergreen promise that your hardware investment keeps getting better over time.
Why Waiting Doesn’t Pay Off
It’s tempting to delay updates, but with Pure, waiting often means you’re missing out on:
- Security upgrades that counter new threats.
- Performance gains like NVMe/TCP support and ActiveCluster improvements.
- Operational efficiencies such as open metrics and better diagnostics.
- Future‑proofing features that prepare you for upcoming innovations.
Your Roadmap to Capture These Benefits
- Assess your current state: Use AI Copilot to see exactly what you’d gain by moving to LLR 6.9.0.
- Plan your update: Pure’s non‑disruptive upgrades let you modernize without downtime.
- Explore new features: Dive into Fusion, enhanced file services, and expanded security capabilities.
- Connect with the community: Share experiences with other users to accelerate your learning curve.
The Bottom Line
Pure’s Evergreen model means your hardware doesn’t just retain value—it gains it. Long‑Life Release 6.9.0 is a gateway to innovation. In a world where data is your competitive edge, standing still is equivalent to moving backward.
Ready to see what you’ve been missing? Log into Pure1, fire up Copilot, and let it show you the difference between where you are and where you could be.
