Pure Storage Inc.

07/14/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 07/14/2025 15:28

Enterprise Data Cloud vs. Traditional Storage: What’s the Real Difference

The debate between enterprise data clouds (EDCs) and traditional storage goes beyond technical details. Storage isn't just about where data lives-it determines how data is organized, accessed, protected, and used.

In short, your storage strategy directly affects your ability to manage data well. And for organizations looking to scale AI, modernize operations, and stay adaptable, effective data management can shape the entire direction of the business.

Both EDCs and traditional storage aim to support growing data needs, but they take very different approaches. Understanding those differences is key to choosing the right foundation for your infrastructure.

What Traditional Storage Does Well-and Where It Falls Short

Traditional storage was built for a different time. It worked well when workloads were predictable, infrastructure was static, and each application had its own dedicated system. But that model doesn't hold up in today's fast-moving, data-driven world.

Here's where traditional storage falls short:

  • Data fragmentation and silos: Data often lives in different systems-on-prem, in the cloud, or across departments. This makes it hard to manage or see the full picture. As a result, teams take longer to make decisions and miss opportunities to get value from their data.
  • Manual operations: IT teams spend too much time on tasks like moving, copying, and preparing data. This keeps them from higher-value work and increases the chance of mistakes. In fast-changing markets, small errors can lead to big issues like downtime, lost data, or compliance problems.
  • Uncontrolled data sprawl: As data grows, so do the number of copies made to support different systems and teams. This adds cost, complexity, and risk, especially when it comes to security and governance.
  • Reactive management: Traditional systems often leave IT in a constant state of catch-up-responding to capacity problems, performance issues, and outages. That makes it hard to plan ahead or support innovation.

Legacy storage is like an old car that still runs but struggles to keep up on the highway. It functions, but it can't meet today's demands like AI, hybrid cloud, and data-first strategies.

The good news is that cloud computing has already solved many of the challenges enterprises face with storage.

How Enterprise Data Clouds Offer a Solution-to a Point

With self-service, APIs, and global access, cloud computing set the standard for what modern IT should look like. These ideas became the foundation for the enterprise data cloud (EDC).

An EDC brings cloud-like flexibility to on-prem systems by:

  • Providing secure access across environments, making it easier to meet compliance through centralized policies and clear visibility.
  • Automating manual, time-consuming tasks like provisioning, backups, and capacity planning-reducing risk and freeing teams to focus on more important work.
  • Reducing data silos by creating one consistent layer of access and control, so teams can use data without copying or isolating it, which speeds up decisions and simplifies governance.

When it's working as it should, an EDC makes data available where and when it's needed. And it easily supports faster decisions, even for complex workloads like AI.

Where EDCs Still Struggle

EDCs were created to bring cloud benefits to on-prem environments, with a unified data plane, smart automation, and a service-like experience. But many early versions didn't go far enough.

Instead of building new systems, most vendors added EDC features on top of older ones. This made it harder to scale and perform when demand increased. Bottlenecks continued, systems stayed complicated, and many organizations still couldn't get a clear view of all their data.

So what happens when you run modern workloads on systems never built to support them? Data gets stuck.

A SnapLogic survey found that 22% of IT leaders have data trapped in systems they can't move. Another 79% rely on undocumented data pipelines they're afraid to touch.

Solving the Infrastructure Gap

To create a truly integrated data environment, you need to start at the foundation. This means building from the hardware up. Few vendors take this approach. Even fewer get it right.

At Pure Storage, we built our enterprise data cloud model from the silicon to the software. By building from the ground up, our model delivers on the promises of EDCs, including a unified data layer, built-in automation, and seamless scalability. So that your data infrastructure evolves with your changing business needs.

Evergreen//One ™ is one way we deliver on that model. It offers storage as a service (STaaS) for organizations that need speed, scale, and efficiency. For instance, our all-flash infrastructure uses up to 85% less power and 77% less space than traditional systems.

This means you can finally have the data storage and management you require to remain competitive. No need to rip and replace. No disruption. Just a modern storage solution built on a foundation that's ready for whatever comes next.

Because in the end, the real advantage of data isn't having more of it; it's being able to fully use it.

Pure Storage Inc. published this content on July 14, 2025, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via Public Technologies (PUBT), unedited and unaltered, on July 14, 2025 at 21:28 UTC. If you believe the information included in the content is inaccurate or outdated and requires editing or removal, please contact us at support@pubt.io