In a wide-ranging conversation with CRN India, Jithesh Chembil, Head of Channels, Pure Storage India, outlines how a channel-first strategy has been critical to Pure’s rapid rise in India’s booming data centre ecosystem. From enabling partners with AI-driven tools to delivering sustainable, subscription-based infrastructure, Chembil shares how Pure is empowering its channel ecosystem to lead the transformation across BFSI, manufacturing, and AI/ML-driven enterprises. He also spotlights key alliances like the Nutanix partnership and Pure’s commitment to future-proofing partners with training aligned to next-gen trends like edge, 5G, and green data centres.
Pure Storage has consistently emphasised a strong channel-first approach in India, with you stating, “At Pure Storage, we are all about being a channel centric company,” and rolling out programs like Pure WaveMakers to empower partners through training and incentives. Could you share how this channel-centric model has shaped Pure Storage’s expansion in India’s booming data centre ecosystem—and what are the key milestones of this journey so far?
At Pure Storage, we’ve always believed that our success is deeply tied to the success of our partners. Our channel-first model has played a big role in scaling our presence in the country’s fast-growing data centre and enterprise IT ecosystem. From day one, we’ve focused on building deep, long-term partnerships — investing in enablement, providing predictable margins, and ensuring our partners have everything they need to deliver great outcomes for customers.
A big part of that effort is Pure WaveMakers, our global partner program that brings together training, incentives, and recognition to empower our partner ecosystem. In India, this has helped us build a highly engaged community of partners who are not just selling products, but co-innovating and growing with us.
We’ve also achieved some key milestones along the way — from expanding our partner footprint across metros and emerging cities, to driving complex wins in sectors like BFSI, IT/ITeS, and public sector. More recently, our focus on subscription and as-a-Service offerings like Evergreen//One has opened up new opportunities for partners to drive value in hybrid cloud and AI-ready infrastructure.
Given the rapid data centre expansion in India, especially for Tier 1 and hyperscaler deployments, how are you working with channel partners to address vertical-specific demands, especially in BFSI, manufacturing, and emerging sectors like public cloud and AI/ML?
At Pure Storage, we’ve always been a channel-first company, and a big part of our success in India, especially in fast-growing sectors like BFSI and manufacturing, comes down to the strong relationships we’ve built with our regional partners.
In BFSI, things like trust, data protection, performance, and compliance aren’t optional – they’re foundational. Our partners are helping banks meet these needs with secure, tailored solutions, while also tapping into the growing demand for AI and analytics. With banking spend on big data growing at 13% YoY, we’re seeing real momentum in this space.
On the manufacturing side, it’s all about real-time insights and operational resilience. Our all-flash infrastructure and layered security give customers the confidence to modernise without compromising on agility or performance.
We’re also seeing rising interest in public cloud and AI/ML. That’s where offerings like our Evergreen subscription come in. It gives customers financial flexibility, helps shift from CAPEX to OPEX, and cuts TCO by up to 59%, all while scaling seamlessly and avoiding costly upgrades.
At the end of the day, we don’t look at our partners as just resellers. They’re trusted advisors – co-innovating with us to help customers modernise, adopt AI, and stay ahead in a rapidly changing world.
Pure Storage has revamped its Partner Program to support subscription-led growth, adding features like programmatic pricing, AI-powered asset and subscription insights, and partner dashboards for pipeline visibility. How are these enhanced programmatic tools resonating with Indian partners, particularly in helping them manage customer subscriptions, upsells, renewals, and how has this improved outcomes in India’s dynamic data centre landscape?
Our enhanced Partner Program has been very well received in India, especially as businesses here rapidly adopt subscription and hybrid cloud models. With tools like programmatic pricing, AI-driven insights, and real-time dashboards, partners now have end-to-end visibility into customer lifecycles, making it easier to manage subscriptions, identify upsell opportunities, and drive timely renewals.
This has significantly improved partner efficiency and customer engagement, particularly in India’s fast-evolving data centre landscape. As enterprises embrace AI, modern workloads, and hybrid environments, our programmatic tools are helping partners deliver more value with less complexity—while positioning them for long-term, sustainable growth.
Pure positions flash-first storage as energy-efficient and sustainable, reducing power and cooling requirements in data centres, and CEO has commented on all-flash being the future of data centres. How are your partners leveraging Pure’s flash-first platforms to address India’s growing emphasis on sustainable data centre practices, both environmentally and operationally, and what customer success stories have emerged?
Sustainability is no longer optional, it’s a boardroom priority for many Indian enterprises. Our all-flash platforms use up to 85% less power and space than traditional spinning disk systems, helping businesses build greener, leaner infrastructure.
Partners are leveraging this as a key differentiator, especially in large-scale modernisation projects. For instance, a leading private bank in India transitioned to our flash-based architecture and cut its rack space by half, drastically reducing energy consumption while boosting performance.
We’re also seeing similar gains in manufacturing, with clients slashing cooling costs and simplifying operations. It’s a win for business, and a win for the planet.
Pure Storage recently announced a strategic integration with Nutanix for mission-critical workloads and is deepening alliances for AI/data scale. Can you talk about your go-to-market strategy with key partners like Nutanix, and how Indian channel partners are participating in these ecosystem plays to deliver integrated storage and infrastructure solutions for hyperscaler and enterprise-scale data centres?
The Nutanix and Pure Storage integration is a major milestone, especially for Indian enterprises looking for high-performance, future-ready infrastructure that’s simple to deploy and scale. As virtualisation strategies evolve and AI workloads grow, customers are rethinking their IT stack, and this partnership gives them a powerful alternative that’s built for flexibility, performance, and sustainability.
We’re seeing strong interest from Indian channel partners who are already leveraging this joint solution to deliver integrated infrastructure, combining the simplicity of Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure with the reliability and efficiency of Pure FlashArray. It’s resonating well in hyperscaler environments and large enterprises that want a full-stack virtual infrastructure without the complexity of legacy systems.
What’s exciting is how our partners are using this to support mission-critical deployments, from data-heavy applications to emerging AI/ML use cases, while offering customers better TCO, simpler management through Prism integration, and the long-term value of our Evergreen subscription model. It’s not just about attaching storage, it’s about delivering a smarter, scalable experience, and our Indian partner ecosystem is right at the forefront of making that happen.
India’s data centre capacity is forecast to double, driven by AI/ML, edge computing, and sustainability. Partners need to evolve rapidly across skills and service models. Looking ahead, how are you preparing your partner ecosystem in India, through skilling, certification, and enablement, to serve next-gen data centre trends like AI-first workloads, edge/5G infrastructure, and green data centre initiatives?
In today’s dynamic environment, partners aren’t just selling technology, they’re helping define the roadmap for business success. With AI reshaping enterprise priorities and buyers becoming increasingly outcome-focused, the channel’s role is evolving fast.
We’re investing deeply in our partner ecosystem in India through targeted skilling, certifications, and enablement aligned to next-gen needs, be it AI-first workloads, edge/5G, or green data centre initiatives. As-a-service models like our Evergreen subscription are also opening up new growth avenues, enabling partners to build long-term, strategic relationships based on outcomes and SLA, not just transactions.
Ultimately, channels will be at the heart of how IT is acquired, delivered, and scaled in this new era. Our focus is to equip them with the tools, expertise, and confidence to lead that shift.
