Dell PowerStore stands apart in enterprise storage by delivering consistent, reliable outcomes at scale—proven, adaptable, and designed for the real-world challenges IT leaders face every day. While Pure Storage markets simplicity, true success in IT strategy demands more: comprehensive, scalable solutions that adapt to your needs without trade-offs. The numbers tell the story. Dell PowerStore’s customer count surpassed that of Pure Storage by 25% in roughly a third of the time.[i] This momentum is no accident. Dell has been the world’s #1 provider of external enterprise storage for 22 consecutive years (IDC),[ii] with deployments across 90% of Fortune 500 sectors.[iii]
PowerStore customers benefit not just from an array, but from Dell’s global supply chain, proven support, and end-to-end IT ecosystem—advantages Pure simply cannot match. When your business depends on data, you don’t gamble on bold claims—you choose a partner with a proven track record.
A better, smarter architecture
In a recent lightboard video, we highlight a fundamental advantage that sets PowerStore apart: its Autonomous Active/Active Architecture. Pure’s architecture, rooted in design approaches that are decades old, still relies on active/passive limitations. In contrast, PowerStore is built on a modern, container-based software architecture designed for automation, agility, and continuous innovation. This forward-looking foundation not only drives automated efficiency today, but also ensures PowerStore is ready to evolve with future IT demands—making life simple for its users for the long haul.[ii]
The architectural advantage:
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- True Active/Active Design – PowerStore is active/active all the way from hosts to drives. Both controllers manage host requests, and both controllers are active to every drive. This lets users get the full power of their hardware to support production applications. With Pure, only the front-end is active/active.[i] Only one controller accesses the media, and the other is mostly idle until a fault occurs. This leads to significant performance bottlenecks. The primary controller does most of the work for replication, file services, etc., leading to significant bottlenecks on busy, full arrays.
- Dynamic Node Affinity (DNA) – PowerStore assigns data paths dynamically across multiple nodes, continuously optimizing performance in the background by rebalancing workloads as applications grow. Resources are never “pinned,” to a single controller. Pure, by contrast, requires forced controller upgrades or volume migration when volumes outgrow the supported capacity of the current controller model, which can lead IT teams into time-consuming rebalancing as the environment evolves.[i]
- Dynamic Resiliency Engine (DRE) – DRE is a patented technology innovation designed for handling enterprise-level resiliency, fault tolerance, and optimized performance. It provides the ability to scale in single-drive increments, even mixing drive sizes. No RAID groups, no forced drive packs, no lock-ins. Pure customers face rigid tiers, models tied to capacity limits, and costly forced controller upgrades when you need to grow beyond those limits.
- Always-On Data Reduction – All models are enabled with hardware-assisted compression with Intel® QuickAssist and global deduplication to ensure predictable efficiency—up to 2x better data efficiency and 54% lower energy use than another leading competitor.[i] Pure’s DirectCompress Accelerator (DCA) offloads compression, but it’s only included with high-end models.[ii] Models without DCA will deprioritize data reduction when the array is full and busy, leading to unpredictable performance under heavy load.[iii]
- 5:1 Data Reduction Guaranteed – Dell backs their data reduction claims with a firm, legally binding guarantee on reducible data for up to six years – without requiring an assessment.[i] Pure claims 5:1 data reduction, they won’t guarantee anything unless the customer demands a separate, optional, RightSize Guarantee. This only applies to FlashArray//X and //XL, typically requires an assessment, and is good for only one year.[ii]
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A smarter long-term choice
Enterprise storage decisions have long-term consequences. Pure’s architecture may look simple on a slide, but in practice their architecture is limited. Their per-model capacity limits result in unexpected, costly upgrades, and their active/passive architecture results in hidden inefficiencies. PowerStore was engineered for what IT leaders need most.
For organizations that need storage to grow with them—not box them in—PowerStore delivers:
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- Proven scalability for mission-critical, enterprise workloads
- Guaranteed data efficiency that pays for itself
- Resilience and automation that free teams from manual tuning
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Final thought
When storage defines your ability to innovate, don’t settle for hype. Dell PowerStore combines an autonomous architecture with the backing of the world’s #1 external enterprise storage provider. That’s why over 18,000 customers worldwide trust PowerStore to run their business-critical workloads.
Stay tuned for our next discussion where we’ll dive into more advantages that Dell PowerStore can bring to its customers.
[1] Pure Storage reported having over 13,500 customers at the end of fiscal year 2025: https://www.purestorage.com/content/dam/pdf/en/legal/2025-form-10-k.pdf
[2] Based on IDC Quarterly Enterprise Storage Systems Tracker, 2025Q1 Final Historical Release, June 12, 2025 – Vendor Revenue.
[3] As of January 2023, based on internal analysis of vertical industry categories from 2022 Fortune 500 rankings.
[4] With Pure, only the front-end is active/active: https://blog.purestorage.com/perspectives/the-storage-architecture-spectrum-why-shared-nothing-means-nothing/#:~:text=So%20you%20may%20be%20asking,through%20our%20Evergreen%C2%AE%20architecture.
[5] FlashArray capacity limits are listed in the FlashArray Data Sheet: https://www.purestorage.com/content/dam/pdf/en/datasheets/ds-flasharray-x.pdf.
[6] Based on Prowess Consulting Report, commissioned by Dell, May 2024, comparing Dell PowerStore 1200T to similarly configured storage platform from a major competitor, using Vdbench. Actual results may vary.
[7] The DirectCompress Accelerator is on the C/X 70 and 90 models, and on the XL: https://blog.purestorage.com/purely-technical/xcr4-technical/.
[8] https://blog.purestorage.com/purely-technical/directcompress-accelerator-packs-more-data-into-flasharray-xl/.
[9] 5:1 data reduction on reducible data guaranteed across customer applications. Rates for individual applications may vary. See Future-Proof Program terms and conditions for details: https://www.delltechnologies.com/asset/en-us/products/storage/legal-pricing/future-proof-dr-guarantee-tc.pdf.
[10] According to the Evergreen program description: https://www.purestorage.com/legal/evergreen-program-description.html.
