By 2016, the city of St. Petersburg’s virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) was experiencing performance problems caused by storage demands from 1,200 virtual desktop users. By migrating systems to Pure Storage NextGen data solutions, the city is delivering real time data that powers mission-critical initiatives, like a crime-fighting system that integrates business-intelligence (BI) analytics.
Launch times for widely-used applications were cut in half, according to the company’s announcement, improving productivity and the experience for residents. But Pure’s high performance was also a significant benefit during preparations for Hurricane Irma in September 2017.
As the city prepared for the storm, it faced the possibility of having to shut down its secondary data center and move all production systems to its primary data center. The team wanted to keep as many virtual desktop machines and servers running as possible, so it fully loaded FlashArray hours before the storm arrived to optimize availability of vital applications during the anticipated emergency.
“Pure Storage means more productivity, more satisfied end-users, better disaster recovery and less downtime,” said Rock Mitich, Senior Server Analyst for the city of St. Petersburg. “And, we’re prepared for continued growth with data reduction rates between 5.5:1 and 6:1. We now have adequate capacity to handle long-term growth in data volumes, without costly purchases of new equipment.”
NextGen Data Saves Time & Money
The solution also supports police Public Safety Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD), automated Records Management Systems and a new geographic information system (GIS) that feeds data to the newer BI application. Previously, the department could not upgrade its BI and GIS applications because of storage latency. The Police Department also saw performance gains on day-to-day applications, such as cutting the time for a large SQL report that it runs every Monday from more than 30 minutes to less than one minute.
In addition, St. Petersburg’s IT department is saving hundreds of person-hours a year previously devoted to storage management.
St. Petersburg also uses Pure’s Evergreen™ Storage program, which guarantees customers ongoing upgrades to the latest technology.
“With the Evergreen business model, you have non-disruptive refresh cycles built right in. That’s future-proofing with real value,” said David McLean, Computer Operations Manager for the city.
About Pure Storage
Pure Storage (NYSE: PSTG) helps innovators build a better world with data. Pure’s data solutions enable SaaS companies, cloud service providers, and enterprise and public sector customers to deliver realtime, secure data to power their mission-critical production, DevOps, and modern analytics environments in a multi-cloud environment. One of the fastest growing enterprise IT companies in history, Pure Storage enables customers to quickly adopt next-generation technologies, including artificial intelligence and machine learning, to help maximize the value of their data for competitive advantage. And with a Satmetrix-certified NPS customer satisfaction score in the top one percent of B2B companies, Pure’s ever-expanding list of customers are among the happiest in the world.