{"id":660718,"date":"2013-05-29T07:00:36","date_gmt":"2013-05-29T11:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gigaom.com\/?p=649929"},"modified":"2013-05-29T07:00:36","modified_gmt":"2013-05-29T11:00:36","slug":"pure-storage-nets-new-cash-from-in-q-tel-to-push-its-flash-for-all-effort","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/660718","title":{"rendered":"Pure Storage nets new cash from In-Q-Tel to push its \u201cflash for all\u201d effort"},"content":{"rendered":"

Flash storage dynamo Pure Storage<\/a> has snagged new funding \u2014 the amount is undisclosed \u2014 from In-Q-Tel<\/a>, the VC affiliate of the CIA and other security agencies. The fresh cash comes atop a $40 million D round closed last August<\/a>,\u00a0which brought the total tally at the time to a robust $95 million.<\/p>\n

\"Matt<\/a><\/p>\n

Matt Kixmoeller, VP of products for Pure Storage.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

In-Q-Tel backing should make it easier to get traction in defense and security-related venues which view In-Q-Tel backing as a sort of seal of approval, said Pure Storage \u00a0co-founder and CEO Scott Dietzen. \u201cThe immediate value \u00a0[of the In-Q-Tel relationship] is in the procurement and sourcing agreements with these \u00a0agencies,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The Mountain View, Calif.-based company also unveiled the third major release of its core storage product that adds data-at-rest, 256-bit AES encryption that ensures that customer data is encrypted all the time \u2014 even if an array has to be taken out of service for transport or repair,<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are software guys who focus on value-add deduplication, and encryption \u2014 we bake them right in and don\u2019t even let them be turned off,\u201d said Matt Kixmoeller, VP of product marketing and management. \u201cOur hardware-oriented competitors add these things after the fact and then see massive performance degradation as a result.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pure\u2019s flash-for-all motto is ambitious \u2014 solid-state flash memory is seen as much pricier than traditional disk drives and tape. But Pure executives said they\u2019re serious about bringing the cost of flash storage down at least to spinning disk levels.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you take traditional tier 1 drives, you generally pay $3 to $5 per gig, but as you provision it and do things to make it useful, the end price is more like $5 to $10 per gig. We can sell flash\u00a0at about $5 per useable gig,\u201d Dietzen said.<\/p>\n

Dan Iacano, IDC\u2019s research director of storage systems, said Pure\u2019s pitch has some merit.\u201dYou can probably still get tier 1 disks for a little it lower, but if you look at the all-in baked in price \u00a0[of the disk and all the software that makes it truly useful] Pure Storage close,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n

Pure Storage definitely generates \u00a0buzz but it also faces some talented competitors ranging from Violin Memory<\/a> and Whiptail to \u00a0Texas Memory, which IBM bought last year<\/a>\u00a0to boost its stake in the super-heated flash memory market. The race to flash-enable the world is going to be fun to watch.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t miss Dietzen and Paula Long,<\/a> who cofounded EqualLogic and now\u00a0DataGravity<\/a>, talk at GigaOM\u2019s Structure event<\/a>\u00a0about the role storage plays in our highly distributed world.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

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