Everything you need to know about Pure Storage

A brief guide to Pure Storage, the data storage specialist known for its all-flash approach

Pure Storage logo and branding pictured on a sign outside the company's office in Mountain View, California.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Once a disruptive startup in a venture capital conference room, Pure Storage has grown into a global leader in data storage technology. Founded with the ambitious goal of transforming enterprise storage, the company introduced all-flash arrays that challenged conventional norms in the industry. Its pioneering efforts laid the foundation for a new era in data management, one where speed, scalability, and reliability are paramount. This early focus on innovation and performance has propelled Pure Storage into an indispensable role within the tech infrastructure of countless industries.

Over the years, the company's solutions have evolved to address complex demands across various sectors. Universities rely on their technology to support breakthroughs in research, while financial institutions depend on Pure Storage for robust systems that ensure secure and seamless transactions. Other prominent users include Sirius XM, which leverages the company's data platform to deliver uninterrupted streaming to millions of subscribers. Pure Storage is no longer just a storage solution; it has become a critical enabler of everyday operations in diverse fields.

As the world shifts toward artificial intelligence (AI) driven processes and sustainable technology, Pure Storage has positioned itself as a key player in this transformation. By aligning its offerings to support AI workloads, the company ensures that enterprises can harness the immense computational power required for machine learning applications. Sustainability also remains a cornerstone of its strategy, with initiatives to reduce energy consumption and environmental impact. Pure Storage is making strides not only in advancing technology but also in fostering a greener future.

This journey of growth and innovation has also brought financial success. With a market cap fluctuating between $16 and $22 billion in 2025, and annual revenue reaching $3.2 billion in the 2025, an impressive increase from $2.8 billion the previous year Pure Storage exemplifies the resilience and potential of modern tech companies. From its humble beginnings to its current status as an industry leader, the company's story is a testament to the power of vision and dedication in reshaping the technological landscape.

Here is a broad overview of the path the company has taken to become one of the most prominent names in storage, with a market cap of $21.75 billion to match.

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Pure Storage at a glance

Founded

2009 under the temporary name ‘Os76’, unveiled as Pure Storage in 2011

Current CEO

Charles Giancarlo

HQ

Santa Clara, California

Annual revenue

$3.2 billion for fiscal year 2025, showing growth from $2.8 billion in 2024

A quick history of Pure Storage

Pure Storage was founded with venture capital funding from Sutter Hill and an ambitious goal: to define the "Modern Data Experience." Its introduction of flash storage solutions, such as FlashArray and FlashBlade, revolutionized enterprise environments, particularly data centers. By addressing the inefficiencies of traditional hard disk drives (HDDs) with modern solid-state drives (SSDs), Pure Storage established itself as a pioneer in data storage innovation.

The company entered the market at a time when businesses were transitioning to more advanced storage technologies but lacked the infrastructure to support significant change. John 'Coz' Colgrove, a founding engineer from Veritas, and John Hayes, a former Yahoo CTO, identified this technological gap, termed the "Flash Chasm," and built solutions to bridge it. Their vision enabled Pure Storage to become a significant player in the enterprise storage market.

Pure Storage went public in 2015, further cementing its influence in the industry. That same year, the company settled a patent dispute with EMC for $30 million, which demonstrated its willingness to protect its intellectual property and market position.

The annual Pure//Accelerate conference, launched in 2016, became a signature event to showcase its latest advancements, including its focus on AI and cloud integration. These conferences continue to highlight Pure's strategy to align with emerging technological trends.

As the importance of generative AI has grown, Pure Storage has positioned itself as a critical infrastructure provider for these demanding workloads. Its flash storage systems are designed to scale to the petabyte levels required for AI applications, supporting businesses in their digital transformation journeys. CEO Charles Giancarlo has frequently emphasized how Pure's solutions cater to the unique storage needs of AI, which demand speed, scalability, and sustainability.

To reinforce this position, the company has made strategic investments in AI infrastructure, such as its partnership with CoreWeave, an AI cloud provider. By combining cutting-edge technology with a focus on sustainability, Pure Storage continues to meet the evolving needs of enterprises while maintaining its leadership in the competitive storage market.

What does Pure Storage sell?

Pure Storage provides a wide range of flash storage solutions designed for data centres, complemented by software and platform tools that optimize data storage and usage. Its product lineup includes the FlashArray series, ideal for block storage, and FlashBlade, which caters to file and object data.

The company has placed significant emphasis on delivering its offerings as a service. Customers can choose cloud storage options tailored to private cloud, public cloud, and hybrid cloud. environments, including integration with AWS and Azure. A standout offering, the Evergreen subscription model, ensures seamless upgrades to both hardware and software, fostering sustainability and prolonged hardware lifespans. This service model competes with the likes of HPE GreenLake and Dell Apex.

Recent developments have introduced features aimed at making storage systems more intelligent and automated. During its annual conference, the company unveiled Evergreen//One for AI, a pioneering storage-as-a-service product for AI applications, and an AI-driven assistant for storage management that leverages insights from customer systems to streamline operations.

Pure Storage works at the enterprise level across the private and public sectors, having worked with ScotGov to overhaul its storage approach and embrace containers, and with Mississippi’s tax authority to support critical apps.

Beyond physical arrays, Pure Storage offers storage and disaster recovery as a service products, data security solutions, AI-focused offerings, and its ‘Storage-as-Code’ options. Its tagline is “uncomplicate data storage, forever”.

Its consumption-based storage subscription service Evergreen competes with the likes of HPE GreenLake and Dell Apex.

Pure Storage's mergers and acquisitions

Before its initial public offering in 2015, Pure Storage had already secured substantial funding, including one of the largest investment rounds in its sector at the time. The company now trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker PSTG.

Over the years, Pure Storage has strategically acquired several companies to strengthen its portfolio. These include:

  • StorReduce, a software company, for an unannounced amount in 2018
  • Compuverde, a Swedish software company, for an undisclosed amount in 2019
  • Portworx, a Kubernetes data services platform, for $370 million in 2020

Doing Business with Pure Storage

Based in Silicon Valley, Pure Storage serves prominent clients such as Ford, Meta, JP Morgan Chase, and NASA. Its operations extend globally, with offices across Europe, Latin America, and the Asia-Pacific regions.

In 2025, the company revamped its partner program to enhance profitability and provide partners with tools to drive customer adoption of its platforms, particularly for artificial intelligence and cyber resilience. The updated program includes an automated system for managing service agreements and new incentives to encourage the replacement of outdated disk storage systems.

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From an internal policy perspective, Pure Storage remains committed to its goal of achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions for its direct operations by 2040. A key selling point for the company is the sustainability of its products; it claims its all-flash solutions can significantly reduce data center energy consumption by up to 85% compared to competitor systems.

The company's 2024 ESG report highlights its commitment to helping customers lessen their environmental impact through reduced energy and space usage, as well as minimizing e-waste. Pure Storage plans to submit its science-based emissions reduction targets for approval in July 2024.

John Loeppky
Freelance writer

John Loeppky is a British-Canadian disabled freelance writer based in Regina, Saskatchewan. He has more than a decade of experience as a professional writer with a focus on societal and cultural impact, particularly when it comes to inclusion in its various forms.

In addition to his work for ITPro, he regularly works with outlets such as CBC, Healthline, VeryWell, Defector, and a host of others. He also serves as a member of the National Center on Disability and Journalism's advisory board. John's goal in life is to have an entertaining obituary to read.

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