Court date set for EMC and Pure Storage showdown
Pure Storage reveals channel plans in first 10-Q filing
Pure Storage has provided an update on its channel strategy and its legal battle with EMC in its first-ever 10-Q filing.
The fledgling flash firm floated in October and last week revealed its results for the first time - showing soaring sales but widening losses. Now that it is public, it is obliged to file a number of reports, including today's 10-Q, with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
In the 67-page filing, Pure Storage published the dates it will meet EMC in court to thrash out a number of legal cases between them.
EMC filed a complaint in 2013 alleging Pure Storage hired some of its staff in a bid to obtain confidential information and trade secrets and to "unlawfully interfere" with its business relationships, Pure said in the document. In response, Pure denied the claims but alleged EMC obtained and tested Pure's products in order to pinch its trade secrets. This case will go to trial on 17 October 2016, Pure said in the filing.
A separate legal battle between Pure Storage and EMC is also going on - this time concerning patents. In November 2013, EMC filed a complaint claiming Pure Storage had infringed five of its patents. Pure denied the claims in response, and the filing says the court date for this trial will be 7 March 2016.
"We intend to defend these lawsuits vigorously," Pure said. "The outcome, including our liability, if any, with respect to this litigation, is uncertain. If an unfavourable outcome were to occur in this litigation, the impact could be material to our business, financial condition or results of operations."
Channelling success
Elsewhere in the document, Pure Storage talked up the importance of its channel on a number of occasions. It claims it will continue to invest in its channel programmes and boost its global channel network.
"By investing in sales and technical training, demand generation and partner programmes, we believe we can enable many of our partners to independently identify, qualify, sell and upgrade customers, with limited involvement from us," said Pure Storage.
"However, if we fail to effectively identify, train and manage our channel partners and to monitor their sales activity, as well as the customer support and services being provided to our customers in their local markets, our business, operating results, financial condition and cashflows could be harmed."
The firm recognised the risk that competitors pose to it as it looks to grow.
"We face competition from a number of other companies, one or more of which may become significant competitors in the future," it said. "New competitors could emerge and acquire significant market share. The spin-off of HP Enterprise and the pending acquisition of EMC by Dell will introduce new competitive dynamics.
"All our competitors may utilise a broad range of competitive strategies. For example, some of our competitors have offered bundled products and services in order to reduce the initial cost of their storage products. Our competitors may also choose to adopt more aggressive pricing policies than we choose to adopt. Some of our competitors have offered their products either at significant discounts or even for free in response to our efforts to market the overall benefits and technological merits of our products."