Purpose built all-flash storage is already proven to be an asset that can save companies over time, more than that it is a technology that can be used to as a catalyst for the business itself. Purchasing decisions for All Flash Arrays (AFA) require special attention not only from IT directors and CIO’s but from line of business executives also.

The new enterprise-ready storage arrays are purpose-built and have begun to dominate the market as a result of unique characteristics that enable storage to meet the needs of an always on fast paced data driven world.  Companies like Pure Storage have taken flash and built new revolutionary storage architectures to maximise the benefits from the solid-state technology itself. In doing so they have created a storage platform that transforms operational efficiencies in the datacentre, and by providing blistering performance supports applications that meet the needs of ever demanding consumers of data.

Boasting a tenth of the consumption power used by traditional storage arrays and generating 10 times the performance, flash media however doesn’t come exorbitantly priced as one might think. AFA’s are relatively inexpensive compared to the storage competitors it replaces.

In fact, costs are expected to lower dramatically by as much as 40 times by 2021 and therefore predictably making data centres comprise predominantly of flash, if not total domination.

IDC Marketscape announced All-Flash Array had generated revenue upward of $2.53 billion worldwide, in their 2015-2016 vendor assessment report. It is expected to exceed 5.5 billion by 2019 and will be accountable for 60 to 70% of all primary storage. The IDC praised Pure Storage all-flash as a cost-effective and non-disruptive upgrade option across technology generations that also set a customer satisfaction high Net Promoter Score of 83.5.

AFA’s platforms’ ability to serve as an all-round primary storage and ability to host a variety of different types of workloads, its ease of use, and excellent performance rating, give some idea as to why those revenue numbers are on the rise.

Pure’s AFAs also do an excellent job of simplifying operational strategies and improving productivity through eliminating the repetitive activities required in administrative and maintenance that would normally be the predominant workload. Whilst Pure’s AFA does this, it can’t be assumed that all all-flash arrays do. With that out of the way, IT directors are able to reassign work towards higher level tasks or projects, opening up areas on the map that weren’t there before. Focusing on more value-adding technology, platform programs, and other components that will make a real difference.

The cost savings and efficiencies are clear and compelling but they need to be understood by the lines of business, because they are not obvious at the point of purchase, they are delivered by way of return on investment (ROI), but often over a surprisingly quick period (potentially within a year). Companies like Pure Storage have built arrays that are architected to deliver this ROI.

The sheer performance of Flash cannot be overlooked. Efficiencies and proving its worth as a business asset is important, but the real “golden bullet” for AFA is that business needs to move fast. As applications and the data they consume scale performance must scale at the same time. Business offerings must be simple and deliver results fast, people no longer are prepared to wait for hours or even minutes for processing time. Business itself needs to build offerings that meet the demands of instant results that are typically expected from consumers. AFA is a technology that allows businesses to complete and evolve its own offering.

Pure Storage are the leading All Flash Array vendor and part of their success is that the understand that a storage decision involving Flash is no longer an operational IT matter. The proposition has elevated. Whilst it is still firmly planted in IT – what Pure have been successful in doing is educating people at an executive level, that the decision to invest in Pure is far from operational alone. Meeting technical requirements is at the core, but the real value is in the savings and business enablement the technology delivers. This resonates at an executive level and is why as IT professionals it is important to explain to line of business why Flash storage is more than just a replacement for legacy disk.