Ask Us Everything: Evergreen//One™ Edition — What the Community Learned
A recent Ask Us Everything (AUE) session on Pure Storage Evergreen//One™ was a lively, deeply technical conversation—and exactly the kind of dialogue that makes the Pure Community special. Here are some of the biggest takeaways, organized around the questions asked and the insights that followed.Migrating and Managing Nutanix Workloads on Pure Storage FlashArray
January 27 | Register Now! Let’s move past the slide deck and get into the Nutanix and Pure Storage solution. Join two of our senior technical experts for a live, end-to-end demonstration of this new integrated solution. We will simulate a real-world deployment scenario, showing you exactly how to leverage the performance of Pure Storage FlashArray™ within your Nutanix environment. This is a technical "how-to" designed for architects and admins who want to see the plumbing behind the partnership. Here’s what we’ll demo live: Connectivity and setup: A step-by-step connection of the FlashArray to the Nutanix cluster, ensuring optimal configuration for low-latency workloads. Seamless migration: The workflow for migrating active workloads onto the joint solution without breaking a sweat. Provisioning in action: Create a Virtual Machine and track the corresponding volume directly on the FlashArray management console. Advanced data protection: How to execute and manage high-performance snapshots for instant recovery and data mobility. Register now!
We are just one week away PUG#3
January 28th, the Cincinnati Pure User Group will be convening at Ace's Pickleball to discuss Enterprise file. We will be joined by Matt Niederhelman Unstructured Data Field Solutions Architect to help guide conversation and answer questions about what he is experiencing amongst other customers. Click the link below to register and come join us. Help us guide the conversation with your ideas for future topics. https://info.purestorage.com/2025-Q4AMS-COMREPLTFSCincinnatiPUG-LP_01---Registration-Page.htmlCincinnati Pure User Group: Real-time Enterprise File
Register Now => Join us for an exclusive Pure User Group (PUG) session dedicated to the future of file services. This isn't just a technical briefing; it’s a community gathering designed for peer-to-peer learning and strategic roadmap building. We’re diving deep into the Real-time Enterprise File vision—exploring how to unify your environment across FlashArray and FlashBlade to eliminate silos and escape the "forklift upgrade" trap forever. Whether you’re managing simple departmental shares or complex AI/ML pipelines, this is your chance to connect with local experts, share battle-tested insights, and see how to make your data plane as agile as your business demands. What You’ll Learn The Power of Choice: Understand how Pure’s file capabilities span the entire portfolio. We’ll clarify exactly when to leverage FlashArray vs. FlashBlade for workloads ranging from VDI and VMware over NFS to massive AI/ML repositories. Production-Ready Excellence: Go beyond the basics with a look at the capabilities that matter in the real world: multi-protocol support (SMB/NFS), directory integration, Kerberos security, and multi-tenancy for segmented environments. The "Last Refresh" Strategy: Get practical, no-nonsense guidance on sizing and migration tooling. Learn how to consolidate legacy filers and execute a migration that ensures you never have to do a forklift upgrade again. Peer-to-Peer Wisdom: This is a user group first. You’ll hear directly from local customers about their real-world journeys—what worked, what didn't, and the lessons they learned that you can apply to your own data center tomorrow. Event Agenda 2:00 PM | Welcome & Round-the-Room: We start with quick intros. We want to know who you are and exactly what technical hurdles you’re looking to clear. 2:15 PM | The Real-time Enterprise File Vision: An overview of the vision and where the portfolio is headed. See what’s new and what’s next for FlashArray and FlashBlade. 2:40 PM | Deep Dive: Design Patterns & Use Cases: We’ll walk through common architectural designs for home directories, content repositories, and NFS datastores, including proven protection and recovery patterns. 3:10 PM | Customer Spotlight & Panel: A 25-minute interactive session with local peers. Hear their architecture stories and get your toughest questions answered in an open Q&A. 3:35 PM | Whiteboard Session: Your File Roadmap: An open, interactive conversation about your specific challenges—from unstructured data growth to migration blockers. Let’s map out where Pure can help. 3:55 PM | Wrap-up & Next Steps: Key takeaways, resources for your team, and a preview of our next PUG event. 4:00 PM | Networking & Happy Hour Date & Time January 28, 2026 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM EST Location Aces Pickleball 2730 Maverick Dr Norwood, OH 45212 (Factory 52)
Stop Prompting, Start Context Engineering
This blog post argues that Context Engineering is the critical new discipline for building autonomous, goal-driven AI agents. Since Large Language Models (LLMs) are stateless and forget information outside their immediate context window, Context Engineering focuses on assembling and managing the necessary information—such as session history, long-term memory (embeddings, RAG indexes), and tool outputs—for the agent every single turn. The post asserts that storage, not the LLM or the prompt, is the primary performance bottleneck for AI at scale. The speed of the underlying storage architecture dictates the agent's responsiveness because it must quickly retrieve and persist context data repeatedly.Who's using Pure Protect?
Hey everyone, Just wondering if anyone else is using Pure Protect yet. We have gone through the quick start guide and have a VMWare to VMWare configuration setup. We have configured our first policy and group utilizing a test VM but it seems to be stuck in the protection phase. I would be very interested to hear what others have seen or experienced. -CharlesCincinnati PUG 3
Well, it's the start of the year and time to start planning our next Cincinnati User Group. In our last meeting we discussed Cyber Resiliency with Shawn Snider, Chief Information Security Officer at SEHP. This session we look to tackle topics around Enterprise File. We have targeted January 28th, again at Ace's Pickleball. I or Nick Fritsch will post the verified details soon. Looking forward to more great discussion and collaboration!Pittsburgh PUG - Launch Party @ River's Casino Drum Bar
You’re Invited! PUG - Time to Launch REGISTER NOW --> Celebrating Pure Storage + Nutanix + Expedient Join us for a special Pure User Group event as we celebrate the launch of two of the industry’s most loved technologies: Pure Storage and Nutanix are coming together in a powerful new way. Even better: Expedient becomes the FIRST Cloud Service Provider to bring this combined solution to market. This event is all about bringing our Pittsburgh-area community together to learn, connect, and celebrate a major milestone in the hybrid cloud and on-prem cloud ecosystem. What You’ll Experience A deep dive into the new Pure Storage + Nutanix integration How Expedient is delivering it as a fully managed cloud service Real-world use cases for cloud-smart modernization Customer-driven conversation, not vendor slides Networking with peers, experts, and the local PUG community Food, drinks, and launch-party fun Why This Matters This three-way partnership brings customers NVMe-fast, always-on performance Effortless scalability and hybrid cloud freedom A cloud service built for simplicity and resiliency Lower operational overhead no firefighting, no forklift upgrades It’s the stack that “just works,” so your teams can focus on innovation instead of maintenance. REGISTER NOW -->
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!
