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Pure Storage

Pure Storage – Company Simplifying Data Storage.

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Pure Storage supports innovators by permanently simplifying data storage. The company is revolutionizing the storage process and empowering innovators by making it easier for users to consume and engage with data. With cutting-edge, cloud-ready storage solutions and the highest technological expertise, the company simplifies storage and turns data into effective results.

About The Company

Pure Storage is an American company that offers hardware and software for all-flash data storage. The company is headquartered in California, USA. Pure Storage was established in 2009 and worked stealthily on its products until 2011. After that, the company saw a 50 percent increase in quarterly revenues and raised over $470 million in venture financing. In 2015, the company went public and debuted on the New York Stock Exchange. In the starting, Pure Storage used generic flash storage hardware and built the software for storage controllers. In 2015, Pure Storage completed the development of its exclusive flash storage hardware.

Pure Storage
Image source: techherald.in

History

In 2009, John Colgrove and John Hayes launched Pure Storage under the code name Os76 Inc. The business was initially founded inside the offices of the venture capital firm Sutter Hill Ventures, and it was supported with $5 million in seed money. The company raised an additional $20 million in venture money in a series B fundraising round. In August 2011, the company emerged from stealth mode as Pure Storage. EMC filed a lawsuit against the company and 44 former employees in 2013, alleging intellectual property theft.

Additionally, EMC asserted that the company had violated a few of its patents. In a countersuit, It claimed that EMC had illegally acquired a Pure Storage device to perform reverse engineering. In 2016, a jury court decided in favor of EMC and Pure Storage was ordered to pay $14 million to EMC. A judge overturned the verdict and mandated a further trial to determine the legality EMC patent at issue. Following that, a $30 million settlement was reached between Pure Storage and EMC. In August 2015, Pure Storage informed the Securities Exchange Commission of its intention to go public. In 2016, the organization held its first yearly user conference. In 2017, The company achieved its first year of profitability and surpassed $1 billion in revenue.

Acquisitions

In 2018 with the $25 million purchase of StorReduce, a provider of data deduplication software, the company completed its first acquisition. The same year, the company announced a binding deal to buy software-based file storage business Compuverde for an undisclosed sum. In 2020, Pure Storage paid $370 million to acquire Portworx, a Kubernetes-based cloud-native data, and storage management platform, supplier.

Products

Employing consumer-grade solid state drives, Pure Storage creates flash-based storage for data centres. Although more expensive, flash storage is speedier than conventional disc storage. The company creates unique deduplication and compression algorithms to increase the data volume that can be kept on each device. Along with that, it makes its own flash storage technology. FlashBlade, for unstructured data, FlashArray/C, which employs QLC flash, and the more expensive NVMe FlashArray/X are it’s three main product lines. Most of the company’s income comes from IT vendors that sell its solutions to operators of data centres.

Founder – John Colgrove, John Hayes

Pure Storage, which was founded in 2009, entered a market that had been dominated for over 30 years by competitors like EMC and HP. John Colgrove and John Hayes, the company’s co-founders, understood that they would need to construct and operate their storage business differently if they wanted to successfully compete with the established market leaders. Their ideas eventually led to the foundation of Pure Storage.

CEO – Charles Giancarlo

American businessman and investor Charles Giancarlo serves as the CEO and Chairman of Pure Storage. He formerly held top management positions at Silver Lake Partners and Cisco Systems. Charles Giancarlo is the company’s CEO since 2017. Giancarlo has an MBA from Harvard University, a master’s degree from the University of California, and a bachelor’s degree from Brown University.

Apple Halts

Apple Halts Sales In Russia Amid Ukraine Invasion.

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In Russia, Apple halts sales of iPhones, iPads, Macs, and other hardware products. The latest move is a retaliation for the country’s invasion of Ukraine, which began late last month. Apple blocked Apple Pay in Russia, pulled Russian apps such as Sputnik and RT News from the App Store outside Russia, and disabled live traffic in Ukraine on Apple Maps as part of its support for Ukraine.

Apple has “paused all product sales in Russia,” according to a statement. We were able to access Apple’s Russian website, but the company’s online store is currently unavailable in the country.

Apple stopped all exports to Russia last week, and some software restrictions were among the few steps it took to support Ukraine and “stand with all of the people who are suffering as a result of the violence,” according to Apple. Other tech companies, including Google, Meta (formerly Facebook), and Netflix, have imposed various restrictions on their products in Russia, in addition to Apple.

Apple Halts
Image source: pragnews.com

According to a company spokesman, in addition to Apple halts the sale of all Apple products in Russia, the company’s popular payment service, Apple Pay, is being restricted in the country.

Because Apple does not have any physical stores in Russia, where iPhones are the third most popular smartphone, the move has an impact on online sales. In Russia, Apple’s phones trail Xiaomi and Samsung in national sales.

It follows similar moves by Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok to combat Russian propaganda, including Apple’s removal of Russian government-backed media accounts from its App Store. Despite the Russian government’s pleas, Netflix says it will not stream state government channels.

Apple Maps users in Ukraine will notice the following alterations: Apple adds that two features, traffic, and live incidents, have been disabled as a safety measure for Ukrainian citizens.
While Apple has not said whether banning sales of iPhones and other physical products in Russia was a strategic decision, Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov published an open letter to the company last week urging it to cut Russia off from its global operations. He demanded that Apple “stop supplying Apple services and products to the Russian Federation” and that the App Store be blocked for Russia.

The disruption in flights and cargos could also be to blame for the halt in Apple’s physical product sales in Russia. Several countries have imposed restrictions on flights and cargo shipments to Russia. Apple relies on imports from other countries because it does not manufacture or assemble iPhones or other products in Russia. Apple’s ability to sell its products in Russia is nearly impossible due to the ban.

Apple stated that it will continue to “evaluate the situation” in Russia and that it is “in communication with relevant governments on the actions we are taking.” The statement did not name the governments, but Apple’s latest move would prevent Russian customers from purchasing new iPhones from Apple’s own stores. Despite the fact that Apple’s actions are broad, they do not completely prevent Russians from accessing the App Store.

verint systems

Verint Systems – Story of a New-York Based Analytics Company Founded in 2002.

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As businesses are growing rapidly in the digital era, the demand for software development, IT, and business consulting sectors is also booming. Verint Systems is one of those analytics companies that is known for software development and also for selling hardware products. The company’s headquarters is based in Melville, New York, US. Verint System wasn’t always an independently traded public company as it started off as a Comverse Infosys unit of Comverse Technology.

In 2002, Verint Systems was founded (became a public company) and is currently led by Dan Bodner, President, and CEO of Verint. The company has grown significantly after it became public and currently generates revenue in billions. Verint provides services to more than 150 countries and has over 10,000 clients. So, let’s have a look at the early years of the Company and how it spun off from Comverse Technology.

History of Company

Verint Systems, as a part of Comverse Technology, was founded in 1999. But, this business unit of Comverse Technology was originally incorporated in 1994 in Delaware. Back then it was a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company which later became the business unit of Comverse Infosys. Before the company established itself as Verint Systems, its main focus was on the call recording market. The call recording market, back then, grew popular as it was the era when technology from analog tape transformed into digital recorders. In 1999, the company rolled out a service for internet call waiting.

The same year when Verint became the business unit of Comverse Infosys, the company decided to merge another division of Comverse with it. So, Verint was merged with a Comverse unit which was focused on the security and communication interception market. Converse Technology acquired a company called Loronix Information Systems Inc which along with Verint expanded into the video security market in 2001. And next year, Converse Infosys finally renamed itself Verint Systems.

verint systems
Image source: haarets.co.il

Verint Systems as a Public Company

In 2002, Company filed its IPO and became a public company although the majority of its stakes were still owned by Comverse Technology. After starting off as a public company, Verint expanded the range of solutions, entered into various overseas markets, and acquired a bunch of companies.

Some of the companies acquired by Verint Systems are MultiVision Intelligent Surveillance Limited which was a business in the video security sector. It also acquired a UK-based customer management company called CM Insight followed by a company that specialized in interaction recording and performance evaluation. Verint acquired all these companies in a short time span and thus strengthened its existing market and opened up new possibilities. Verint also acquired a data mining company called ViewLinks Euclipse Ltd and a workforce optimization company called Witness Systems Inc. In July 2008, Verint Systems acquired a very young company called Focal Info. Amit Bohensky founded this software company which mainly focused on web data extraction and analytics. Verint Systems acquired the company with an undisclosed monetary amount and the founder was hired back after the acquisition.

An Independent Company

After Verint became a public company in 2002, it was delisted from the NASDAQ stock exchange in 2006 along with Comverse Technology due to a scandal. But, again in 2010, Company was back on the NASDAQ stock exchange list and struck a deal with Comverse Technology to sell its remaining interest in Verint. In 2012, Company became a completely independent company as it bought the remaining stakes from Comverse for $800 million. After the buyout, Company made some major acquisitions which include KANA Software Inc for $514.2 million, Next IT for $30 million upfront cash and $20 million future payments, and a software company called OpinionLab for an undisclosed amount.

Dan Bodner – CEO of Verint Systems

Dan Bodner is serving as the CEO of Verint Systems since the company became a different entity that separated from Comverse Technology. Dan is attached to Comverse Technology when Verint was just a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company. Currently, he is also the Chairman of the Board of Verint Systems. Dan Bodner completed his education at the Israel Institute of Technology.