“Why Would You Want to Do That?”

Reframing Risk, Resilience, and the Real-World Benefits of Non-Disruptive Architecture

I recently had a conversation with a colleague in the industry that gave me pause. During a discussion about non-disruptive upgrades—one of the most appreciated features our customers enjoy with Pure Storage—he asked bluntly:

“Why would you want to do that?”

That question, ironically, reveals everything you need to know about the difference between legacy thinking and customer-centric innovation.

Let’s unpack it.

The context was simple: a customer told me how much they valued the ability to perform upgrades at any time—without scheduling outages, without waking engineers up in the middle of the night, and without taking a leap of faith every time a maintenance window opened. From their perspective, Pure’s architecture meant less disruption, less risk, and less stress.

But from the colleague’s perspective? The idea of frequent, flexible upgrades felt like an unnecessary risk. His architecture assumes complexity, downtime, and human error are inevitable—so your only option is to contain the risk through carefully orchestrated upgrade windows. It’s a “just deal with it” mindset.

At ATS, we don’t believe IT teams should have to “just deal with it.”

Not Just a Feature—An Architectural Philosophy

Now, to be clear: non-disruptive upgrades are not unique to Pure Storage. Many enterprise storage vendors claim to offer them, especially at the higher end of their product lines.

But in practice, non-disruptive upgrades from legacy platforms often come with asterisks:

• Only specific software or firmware updates are covered

• Upgrades may still require narrow maintenance windows with low utilization

• There’s often a performance hit or a heavy burden on internal staff

• Hardware upgrades might still mean forklift replacements

  
  

Pure Storage takes a different approach

From day one, their platform was designed to eliminate those constraints—through a truly modular architecture, robust software-defined capabilities, and their Evergreen™ subscription model. That means:

• All upgrades—hardware and software—can be performed without downtime

• No maintenance windows required

• No performance impact during upgrades

• No disruptive lifecycle refreshes

  
  

In other words: non-disruptive upgrades that actually live up to the name.

The Real Risk? Rigid Infrastructure.

When a system isn’t designed for change, it becomes fragile. And the more rigid your infrastructure, the more work you push onto your people. Whether it’s extra procedures, late-night rollouts, or troubleshooting unexpected issues, the cost adds up—in time, in staff morale, and in business risk.

By contrast, when you build for flexibility and resilience, your team gets time back. You reduce human error. And you reduce the operational drag that slows down innovation.

That’s the difference Pure Storage offers. And it’s why our customers across government, education, and commercial markets increasingly expect this level of simplicity. They’re not looking for heroics. They’re looking for smart architecture that respects their time—and reduces their risk.

So, the next time someone asks, “Why would you want to do that?”—when "that" means making life easier for your IT team, reducing upgrade-related downtime, and embracing a more resilient platform—you’ll know exactly what to say:

“Why wouldn’t we?”

Pure Controller NDU: One Part of the Puzzle

Want to dive deeper?

Check out Pure’s excellent Fifteen Architectural Decisions podcast series, where their platform experts break down the decisions that make this simplicity possible.

The Pure Report: Fifteen Architectural Decisions Series

And if you’re curious how non-disruptive architecture can reduce risk and costs in your environment, let’s talk. We’re helping organizations across the East Coast modernize their infrastructure with smarter, more customer-friendly solutions.

Written by Chris Shewbridge (“Shewby”)

September 10, 2025