Pure Fusion Expert Demo: From Fleet Creation to Policy‑Driven Provisioning
December 16 | Register Now! Manual provisioning and reactive management can slow innovation and drain valuable IT time. What if you could manage your enterprise data intelligently? Join us for a Pure Fusion™ Expert-led Demos Webinar: Walk through Pure Fusion configuration and fleet creation to securely federate arrays and gain one, consistent data management experience across your environment. See remote provisioning in action—manage any array from any array and provision storage anywhere via GUI, CLI, or API. Learn how policy‑driven presets standardize protection, QoS, and naming for repeatable, error‑free deployments—and get AI‑driven placement recommendations. Register Now!OT: The Architecture of Interoperability
In previous post, we explored the fundamental divide between Information Technology (IT) and Operational Technology (OT). We established that while IT manages data and applications, OT controls the physical heartbeat of our world from factory floors to water treatment plants. In this post we are diving deeper into the bridge that connects them: Interoperability. As Industry 4.0 and the Internet of Things (IoT) accelerate, the "air gap" that once separated these domains is evolving. For modern enterprises, the goal isn't just to have IT and OT coexist, but to have them communicate seamlessly. Whether the use-cases are security, real time quality control, or predictive maintenance, to name a few, this is why interoperability becomes the critical engine for operational excellence. The Interoperability Architecture Interoperability is more than just connecting cables; it’s about creating a unified architecture where data flows securely between the shop floor and the “top floor”. In legacy environments, OT systems (like SCADA and PLCs) often run on isolated, proprietary networks that don’t speak the same language as IT’s cloud-based analytics platforms. To bridge this, a robust interoperability architecture is required. This architecture must support: Industrial Data Lake: A single storage platform that can handle block, file, and object data is essential for bridging the gap between IT and OT. This unified approach prevents data silos by allowing proprietary OT sensor data to coexist on the same high-performance storage as IT applications (such as ERP and CRM). The benefit is the creation of a high-performance Industrial Data Lake, where OT and IT data from various sources can be streamed directly, minimizing the need for data movement, a critical efficiency gain. Real Time Analytics: OT sensors continuously monitor machine conditions including: vibration, temperature, and other critical parameters, generating real-time telemetry data. An interoperable architecture built on high performance flash storage enables instant processing of this data stream. By integrating IT analytics platforms with predictive algorithms, the system identifies anomalies before they escalate, accelerating maintenance response, optimizing operations, and streamlining exception handling. This approach reduces downtime, lowers maintenance costs, and extends overall asset life. Standards Based Design: As outlined in recent cybersecurity research, modern OT environments require datasets that correlate physical process data with network traffic logs to detect anomalies effectively. An interoperable architecture facilitates this by centralizing data for analysis without compromising the security posture. Also, IT/OT convergence requires a platform capable of securely managing OT data, often through IT standards. An API-First Design allows the entire platform to be built on robust APIs, enabling IT to easily integrate storage provisioning, monitoring, and data protection into standard, policy-driven IT automation tools (e.g., Kubernetes, orchestration software). Pure Storage addresses these interoperability requirements with the Purity operating environment, which abstracts the complexity of underlying hardware and provides a seamless, multiprotocol experience (NFS, SMB, S3, FC, iSCSI). This ensures that whether data originates from a robotic arm or a CRM application, it is stored, protected, and accessible through a single, unified data plane. Real-World Application: A Large Regional Water District Consider a large regional water district, a major provider serving millions of residents. In an environment like this, maintaining water quality and service reliability is a 24/7 mission-critical OT function. Its infrastructure relies on complex SCADA systems to monitor variables like flow rates, tank levels, and chemical compositions across hundreds of miles of pipelines and treatment facilities. By adopting an interoperable architecture, an organization like this can break down the silos between its operational data and its IT capabilities. Instead of SCADA data remaining locked in a control room, it can be securely replicated to IT environments for long-term trending and capacity planning. For instance, historical flow data combined with predictive analytics can help forecast demand spikes or identify aging infrastructure before a leak occurs. This convergence transforms raw operational data into actionable business intelligence, ensuring reliability for the communities they serve. Why We Champion Compliance and Governance Opening up OT systems to IT networks can introduce new risks. In the world of OT, "move fast and break things" is not an option; reliability and safety are paramount. This is why Pure Storage wraps interoperability in a framework of compliance and governance, not limited to: FIPS 140-2 Certification & Common Criteria: We utilize FIPS 140-2 certified encryption modules and have achieved Common Criteria certification. Data Sovereignty: Our architecture includes built-in governance features like Always-On Encryption and rapid data locking to ensure compliance with domestic and international regulations, protecting sensitive data regardless of where it resides. Compliance: Pure Fusion delivers policy defined storage provisioning, automating the deployment with specified requirements for tags, protection, and replication. By embedding these standards directly into the storage array, Pure Storage allows organizations to innovate with interoperability while maintaining the security posture that critical OT infrastructure demands. Next in the series: We will explore further into IT/OT interoperability and processing of data at the edge. Stay tuned!👤 Addressing the "Shadow AI" Threat in Healthcare Security
Driven by clinician burnout and the desperate need for efficiency, healthcare providers are increasingly turning to unsanctioned, public-facing AI tools (like general-purpose chatbots) to assist with tasks. This practice, often referred to as Shadow AI, creates a major security risk because the data entered into these tools can leave Protected Health Information (PHI) exposed and compromise compliance with regulations like HIPAA. In the article, "In Healthcare, Threat of Shadow AI Outpaces Security as Clinician Adoption Accelerates", according to Nate Moore, Founder of Enlite IT Solutions Inc., the problem is that the pace of AI adoption is quickly outpacing security governance. The goal isn't to ban innovation, but to enable it safely. In lieu, Moore recommends a shift: instead of banning AI, organizations must create secure "AI sandboxes." These governed environments enable staff to test pre-vetted models safely, balancing innovation with data protection. 📣 Community Question: Given the balance between enhancing clinician efficiency and maintaining strict patient data security, what is the most vital step healthcare IT leadership should take right now to effectively manage the risks of Shadow AI? Let's discuss! Click through to read the entire article above and let us know your thoughts around it in the comments below!From Raw Data to Real AI: Building the AI Factory
November 20 | Register Now! AI has become a competitive imperative. The challenge is how to operationalize it quickly, reliably, and at scale. That’s where the NVIDIA AI Factory framework comes in, transforming raw data and compute power into intelligence that drives business outcomes. Join experts from Cisco and Pure Storage to explore how organizations can bring this framework to life with the new FlashStack® Cisco Validated Design (CVD) for AI. Built on proven infrastructure and optimized for retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), semantic search, and other enterprise AI workloads, this architecture unifies compute, storage, and networking into one production-grade platform. In this session, you’ll learn how to: Operationalize data pipelines for AI Simplify AI infrastructure management Move from pilot to production faster Deploy FlashStack to bring your AI factory to life Register Now!AI & Fintech: Can We Put Our Trust Into Autonomous Payments?
There are two distinct areas defining the transformation of the financial industry today and one of them is embracing AI, but not without risk. As Agentic AI automates payments and lending, algorithms can amplify bias, threatening the entire credibility banking is built upon. To tackle these widespread challenges, the industry is taking on a more collaborative approach by joining banks, fintechs and policymakers alike. Expert Amanda Estiverne-Colas, Director and Head of Payments Practice at Perficient, says human oversight and empathy are non-negotiables in our financial responsibility to keep banking human amidst the changes. Read the entire article: To Build Fintech for Everybody, Combine the Speed of a Startup with the Soul of a Community Bank Our community question is: What technical measures (like data cleansing) should IT/Storage teams prioritize to ensure AI models remain trustworthy and fair? Click through to read the entire article above and let us know your thoughts around it in the comments below!
Pure's Intelligent Control Plane: Powered by AI Copilot, MCP Connectivity and Workflow Orchestration
At Accelerate 2025, we announced two capabilities that change how you manage Pure Storage in your broader infrastructure: AI Copilot with Model Context Protocol (MCP) and Workflow Orchestration with production-ready templates. Here's what they do and why they matter. AI Copilot with MCP: Your Infrastructure, One Conversation The Problem Your infrastructure spans multiple platforms. Pure Storage managing your data, VMware running VMs, OpenShift handling containers, security tools monitoring threats, application platforms tracking performance - each with its own console, APIs, and workflows. When you need to migrate a VM or respond to a security incident, you're manually pulling information from each system, correlating it yourself, then executing actions across platforms. You become the integration layer. The Solution Pure1 now supports Model Context Protocol (MCP), taking Copilot from a suggestive assistant to an active operator. With MCP enabled, Copilot doesn’t just recommend - it acts. It serves as a secure bridge between natural language and your infrastructure, capable of fetching data, executing APIs, and orchestrating workflows across diverse systems. Here’s what makes this powerful: You deploy MCP servers within your environment—one for VMware, another for OpenShift, and others for the systems you use. Each server exposes your environment’s capabilities through a standard, interoperable protocol. Pure Storage AI Copilot connects seamlessly to these MCP servers, as well as to Pure services such as Data Intelligence, Workflow Orchestration, and Portworx Monitoring, enabling unified and secure automation across your hybrid ecosystem. What You Can Connect You can deploy an MCP server on any system whether it’s your VMware environment, Kubernetes clusters, security platforms like CrowdStrike, databases, monitoring tools, or custom applications. Pure Storage AI Copilot connects to these servers under your control, securely combining their data with Pure Storage services to deliver richer insights and automation. Getting Started: If you have a use-case around MCP, please contact your Pure Storage account team. Workflow Orchestration: Deploy in Minutes, Not Months The Problem Building production-grade automation takes months. You need error handling, integration with multiple systems, testing for edge cases, documentation, ongoing maintenance. Most teams end up with half-finished scripts that only one person understands. The Solution We built workflow templates for common operations, tested them at scale, and made them available in Pure1. Install them, customize to your needs, and run them in minutes. Key Templates VMware to OpenShift Migration with Portworx Handles complete migration: extracts VM metadata, identifies backing Pure volumes, checks OpenShift capacity, configures vVols Datastore and DirectAccess, uses array-based replication, converts to Portworx format. Traditional migration takes hours for TB-scale VMs. This takes 20 to 30 minutes. SQL / Oracle Database Clone and Copy Automates cloning and copying of SQL Server and Oracle databases for dev/test or refresh needs. Instantly creates storage-efficient clones from snapshots, mounts them to target environments, and applies Pure-optimized settings. The hours-long manual process becomes a quick, consistent workflow completed in minutes Daily Fleet Health Check Scans all arrays for capacity trends, performance issues, protection gaps, hardware health.Posts summary to Slack. Proactive visibility without manually checking each array. Rubrik Threat Detection Response When Rubrik detects a threat, automatically tags affected Pure volumes, creates isolated immutable snapshots, and notifies the security team. Security events propagate to your storage layer automatically. How It Works Workflow Orchestration is a SaaS feature in Pure1. Deploy lightweight agents (Windows, Linux, or Docker) in your data center to execute workflows locally. Group agents together for high availability and governance controls. Integrations Native Pure Storage: Pure1 Connector for full API access, Fusion Connector for storage provisioning (works for Fusion and non-Fusion FlashArray/FlashBlade customers) Third-Party: ServiceNow, Slack, Google, Microsoft,CrowdStrike, HTTP/Webhooks, Pagerduty, Salesforce and more. The connector library continues expanding. Getting Started: Opt-in now in Pure1 - Workflow. Introductory offer available at this time. Check with your Pure account team if you have questions. How They Work Together At Accelerate 2025 in New York, we showcased this capability in action. Here's the scenario: an organization wants to migrate VMs to Kubernetes. Action-enabled Copilot orchestrates communication with Pure Storage appliances and services as well as third-party MCP servers to collect the required information for addressing a problem across a heterogeneous environment. With Pure1 MCP, AI Copilot, and Workflows, there's now a programmatic way to collect information from OpenShift MCP, VMware MCP, and Pure1 storage insights- then recommend an approach on what VMs to migrate based on your selection criteria. You prompt Copilot: "How can I move my VMs to OpenShift in an efficient way?" Copilot communicates across: Your VMware MCP server - to get VM specifications, current configurations, resource usage Your OpenShift MCP server - to check available cluster capacity, validate compatibility Portworx monitoring - to understand current storage performance Copilot reasons across all this information, identifies ideal VM candidates based on your criteria, and recommends the migration approach- which VMs to move, target configurations, and how to preserve policies. Then it can trigger the migration workflow, keeping you updated throughout the process. Why This Matters Storage Admins: Stop being the bottleneck. Enable self-service while maintaining governance. DevOps Teams: Deploy production-tested automation without writing code. Security Teams: Build automated response workflows spanning detection, isolation, and recovery. Infrastructure Leaders: Reduce operational overhead. Teams focus on strategy, not repetitive tasks. Get Started MCP Integration:If you have a use-case around MCP, please contact your Pure Storage account team.. Workflow Orchestration:Opt-in at Pure1 → Workflows. Learn More: Documentation in Pure1 or contact your Pure Storage account team. Pure1 evolved from a monitoring platform to an Intelligent Control Plane. AI Copilot reasons across your infrastructure. Workflow Orchestration executes. Together, they change how you manage data with Pure Storage.Introducing Pure Storage Data Stream for AI Data Readiness
Cool news to share from Pure's presence at NVIDIA GTC this week - the announcement of a new solution - Pure Storage Data Stream - that accelerates data readiness by automating and speeding up the ingestion, transformation, and optimization of data for enterprise AI pipelines. "Data Stream is a GPU-centric AI-powered, integrated hardware and software stack built for data readiness to automate and accelerate the ingestion, transformation, and optimization of data for enterprise AI pipelines. It is a core component of Pure Storage Data Platform built for enterprise inference use cases, using the NVIDIA AI Data Platform reference design, a comprehensive, single-appliance, jointly engineered infrastructure stack tailored for AI inference via generative AI applications." Register for a preview here: https://www.pure.ai/data-stream.html Blog announcement: https://blog.purestorage.com/products/driving-the-future-of-ai-data-readiness-pure-storage-data-stream/Flashcrew Manchester
🤝 Flashcrew Pure Usergroup | Manchester | For our amazing customers! Connect with fellow Pure users and dive deep into the //Accelerate announcements. Learn how to extract even more value from the Pure ecosystem and get your technical questions answered by the experts. Register here: https://info.purestorage.com/2025-Q2EMEA-UKREPLHCOFY26Q3-FlashCrew-Manchester-LP_01---Registration-Page.html We also open these up to non-customers interested in Pure, helping you learn from those already benefitting from the Pure Enterprise Data Platform. Please DM me if you would like an invite.Configuring Apache Spark on FlashBlade, Part 3: Tuning for True Parallelism
This post will explore how to diagnose and resolve performance bottlenecks that are not related to storage I/O, ensuring you can take full advantage of the high-performance, disaggregated architecture of FlashBlade. We'll use a real-world scenario to illustrate how specific tuning can unlock massive parallelism.
