John Colgrove, who everyone calls Coz, founded Pure Storage in 2009, after a long experience in the data storage industry. Three years later, Pure – as it is known – presented its first product and in 2015 it went public. Its particularity is that, unlike the classics in the sector, which are versatile by necessity, it specializes exclusively in systems based on flash technology, so called because it uses flash memories, patented by Toshiba in 1984.
John Colgrove reserved the role of chief technology officer (CTO), leaving the executive function to externally hired CEOs. His position has been renamed, very expressively, chief visionary officer. The origin of this chronicle is a lengthy conversation whose starting point has been a statement by Charlie Giancarlo – CEO of the company – according to which hard drives (HDD, its acronym in English) have at most five years of existence left. .
Coz begins: “Flash storage systems are faster, have a minimal failure rate, consume less power and take up less space; The almost exclusive reason why hard drives continue to be sold is that they are cheaper, a difference that they are gradually losing. It is not difficult to assume that, when Flash matches them on price, no one will have a reason to buy a product destined to be more expensive.” The cost of ownership curves (the determining parameter for the adoption of one technology over others) are going to cross, and Flash will consolidate its advantage. It is not going to happen this year, but the need for a replacement is already evident.
With these attributes, they have replaced HDDs in consumer devices, but the enterprise market is largely dominated by hard drives. Ten years ago, the capacity of a flash system ranged around 512 gigabytes, far from the average four terabytes of an HDD; A decade later, the distance is getting closer: Pure has presented a 48 TB model and is preparing the launch of another 100 TB model this year, and Colgrove warns that in 2026 flash will double that capacity. The current HDD roadmap doesn't go that far.
The critical moment will come – he explains – “when the large cloud service providers begin to abandon hard drives. “That will be when Flash definitely accelerates.”
An interesting feature of Pure Storage is that it is a company that develops its software and manufactures (has manufactured) its hardware. Its DirectFlash modules represent a technological progression, coupled with the company's software, Purity. “Financially, we have plenty of room left to add value to this combination, but so far, we don't see any competitor achieving that status, either alone or with help.”
Installed power is decisive in the data center market. This is an advantage of this Californian company's technology: advanced countries – several US states and cities among them – rarely authorize the construction of data centers because in their jurisdiction they cannot produce as much energy as they would consume. “If data storage significantly reduces the electricity bill, the cost equation will make the advantages of flash technology visible and the demand for hard drives will decrease,” insists Coz. Is there an environmental barrier? Of course yes: according to estimates, up to 1.5% of the energy consumed on the planet corresponds to data centers, and storage represents approximately a quarter, mainly due to the primacy of hard drives.
