Jumpin' AppFlash! Actifio's devops gear rolls onto Pure kit

Copy data virtualisation gets a flash boost

+Comment Actifio's AppFlash DevOps Platform will run on Pure Storage's FlashArray.

The AppFlash DevOps Platform has been jointly developed by Pure and Actifio. It marries Actifio's copy data virtualisation with Pure's hardware, and there are three pre-tested configurations to accelerate the provisioning and refresh of databases for faster application development and testing.

The setup enables "secure self-service to hundreds of concurrent dev/QA/test hosts, managing multi-TB-sized workloads, instantly."

The three configurations are:

• Devops Platform 10 – to 10TB for small/departmental workloads
• Devops Platform 20 – to 20TB for larger-capacity workloads
• Devops Platform 40 – to 40TB for enterprise workloads

Actifio bangs away at its original need-for-copy-data-virtualisation message, citing Actifio-sponsored IDC research and claiming the average organization holds as many as 375 data copies, including backups of backups and multiple versions of files. Copy data comprises as much as 60 per cent of what is stored in data centers, costing companies as much as $44 billion to manage worldwide.

Reg Comment

What with Actifio's copy data reduction through virtualisation and Pure's dedupe and compression, customers moving simultaneously to Actifio and Pure could see a vast reduction in their data center rack estate. The obvious speed of a flash array combined with Actifio's own speed, compared to a trad drive array creating a copy data set, should be quite attractive.

We think that combining Actifio and Pure on FlashArray is necessary now but possibly not optimal, since Actifio has a secondary data focus and the FlashArray a primary data focus. Possibly Pure's coming FlashBlade [PDF], which has a secondary data focus, will be a good hardware platform for the Actifio software.

For all that, having Actifio software enjoying FlashArray speed when primary data performance isn't compromised should be fun for developers wanting instant data copy fixes.

You can grab an AppFlash brochure here [PDF]. The AppFlash DevOps Platform is generally available through an Actifio authorized channel partner. We have no word on pricing. ®