Case Study: Return Path achieves 40% faster website response and sub-1ms storage latency with Pure Storage

Return Path Makes a Special Delivery with Pure Storage

Return Path, a leading provider of email data solutions (Email Optimization, Email Fraud Protection, and Consumer Insight), processes multiple terabytes of email-derived data daily. Aging UNIX servers and a failing spinning-disk SAN were at end of life, causing outages, high I/O latency that impacted Oracle databases and VMware VMs, slowed customer-facing websites, and threatened service-level agreements.

Return Path deployed three Pure Storage all‑flash arrays after a successful proof-of-concept. Latencies dropped from 50–100 ms to under 1 ms, Oracle query times fell from about 900 ms to under 100 ms, and website response improved roughly 40%. Data reduction averaged ~3:1 (halving rack footprint), while non‑disruptive firmware updates eliminated storage-related downtime and freed IT to focus on other priorities.

Return Path

Jeorg Houck

Director of System Operations