DDN IntelliFlash vs. IBM Storage FlashSystem

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
DDN IntelliFlash
Score 6.2 out of 10
N/A
DDN offers the IntelliFlash flash array storage option based on technology developed by Tegile. The solution was owned and supported by Western Digital since August 2017, and later acquired by DDN (DataDirect Networks) in 2019.N/A
IBM Storage FlashSystem
Score 9.4 out of 10
N/A
IBM Storage FlashSystem, an all-flash storage array, delivers ~2 PB of effective capacity per single rack unit. Engineered with unique FlashCore Modules, it offloads data services including compression, encryption, deduplication, and ransomware threat detection ensuring optimum performance and resiliency.
$14,200
Pricing
DDN IntelliFlashIBM Storage FlashSystem
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
DDN IntelliFlashIBM Storage FlashSystem
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsEntry-Level IBM Storage FlashSystem: For any organization looking for an all-flash array with features that are both enterprise conducive and budget friendly, the small to entry level offering prices from IBM begin at $18,400. Mid-Range IBM Storage FlashSystem: For businesses wanting to take advantage of an enterprise-quality flash array for critical workloads (such as SQL databases, SAP, ERP, CRM, etc.), list prices start at $104,600. High-Performance IBM Storage FlashSystem: Organizations seeking a storage array with the ability to run multiple instances of critical applications that are both performance intensive and capacity sensitive, can find IBM prices starting at $368,500. Contact IBM for configuration and pricing details.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
DDN IntelliFlashIBM Storage FlashSystem
Features
DDN IntelliFlashIBM Storage FlashSystem
Enterprise Flash Array Storage
Comparison of Enterprise Flash Array Storage features of Product A and Product B
DDN IntelliFlash
-
Ratings
IBM Storage FlashSystem
8.8
152 Ratings
2% below category average
Flash Array Performance00 Ratings9.4148 Ratings
Flash Array Integration00 Ratings8.4144 Ratings
Data Compression00 Ratings8.5147 Ratings
Non-Intrusive Upgrades00 Ratings9.6140 Ratings
Simplicity00 Ratings8.3149 Ratings
Power Savings00 Ratings8.6142 Ratings
Best Alternatives
DDN IntelliFlashIBM Storage FlashSystem
Small Businesses

No answers on this topic

No answers on this topic

Medium-sized Companies
Pure Storage FlashArray
Pure Storage FlashArray
Score 8.3 out of 10
Pure Storage FlashArray
Pure Storage FlashArray
Score 8.3 out of 10
Enterprises
Dell VMAX
Dell VMAX
Score 9.7 out of 10
Dell VMAX
Dell VMAX
Score 9.7 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
DDN IntelliFlashIBM Storage FlashSystem
Likelihood to Recommend
10.0
(1 ratings)
9.5
(150 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(1 ratings)
7.6
(6 ratings)
Usability
10.0
(1 ratings)
8.9
(22 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
8.2
(1 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
9.4
(21 ratings)
Support Rating
10.0
(1 ratings)
9.1
(5 ratings)
Implementation Rating
10.0
(1 ratings)
8.1
(2 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
8.8
(3 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
5.0
(2 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
7.0
(1 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
DDN IntelliFlashIBM Storage FlashSystem
Likelihood to Recommend
DataDirect Networks (DDN)
SMB business Tegile pricing and performance is particularly well suited. BC/DR scenarios are also enhanced as they are extremely good at upgrading each side and failing over for upgrades. I don't know any situations where these would not be appropriate.
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IBM
Top choice for IBMi integration. In general, it's a very good solution for quite a lot of customers. If you need a 3 site replication solution (HA + DR) maybe it's not the best solution, unless you use SVC. FlashCore Modules have very powerful compression rate, while mantaining good performance: high IOPS rate and really low latency
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Pros
DataDirect Networks (DDN)
  • Fast writes to and retrieves from the disks.
  • Fast ethernet communication and full support for Vmware.
  • NFS storage means no LUN rebuilding or painful LUN migrations.
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IBM
  • Extremely fast storage
  • Scales up as needed. Add flash core modules easily and increase volumes very quickly.
  • Applying firmware updates to IBM Storage FlashSystem is very easy to do and can be done without any downtime.
  • Replication policies are very versatile and also easy to setup.
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Cons
DataDirect Networks (DDN)
  • I would like to see every update to be able to be reached via either partial or full updates. In the past we had progressed to one level of software and then found we could not get to a later version from that level, though they did address that.
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IBM
  • Definitely we need to be able to extend a volume that is part of a mirror pair or Policy-Based Replication(PBO) on the fly.
  • Expansion of mirrored volumes/volume groups should resynchronise only the changed data (Almost like making use of change-volumes) and not trigger a full resync.
  • Please allow us to select downloading drive microcode also from Fix Central directly onto the flashsystem like with updates.
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Likelihood to Renew
DataDirect Networks (DDN)
Because when something works this well you don't change it
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IBM
As flash technology evolves rapidly, vendors should [adapt] to the changes and onboard them in their products. IBM is a bit slow in adopting advanced technology in [its] portfolio. Even though the current product is good, my decision is purely based on how the transformation of the product [is] being produced and supplied to [the] end-user.
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Usability
DataDirect Networks (DDN)
It just works, and works very well. The GUI is clean and easy to understand, and the dashboard gives vital information at a glance. It also gives a very comprehensive view of what all the moving parts are doing. It is so clear and matches the view in real life that I can have a non-technical person looking at it and talking to me on the phone and we both see the same things, instantly.
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IBM
The integration into our SVC and the midrange systems are very well working. We do use cross site replication and global mirror which in turn is easy setup and the consistency groups are well maintained. The storage does global mirroring but also internal cross room replication as well. The integration of cloud object storage also helps in tiering the overall system.
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Reliability and Availability
DataDirect Networks (DDN)
No answers on this topic
IBM
IBM Flashsystems is always available for me, it is fiberchannel storage without the fuzz of what iscsi brings. It is a very reliable storage system, I have almost never issues with this system. The only things which go wrong are the updates because the old updates which have been staged on the disks are not properly cleaned in my opinion.
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Performance
DataDirect Networks (DDN)
No answers on this topic
IBM
Latency and throughput have been excellent. The compression is done natively on the NVME modules so we do not see an impact there. the distributed parity does not seem to impact write speeds at all. We have found database performace has increased quite a bit over our old hybrid storage solution.
Having a single tier of performance makes it easy to set up SLAs for workloads.
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Support Rating
DataDirect Networks (DDN)
WE always get an answer right away, and help is available 24/7/365.
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IBM
Sometimes the knowledge of the support agent is quite limited and the support always has to route through the level 1 agent to screen all the informtion provided. Then its esclated to the next level support with the all collected data . The logs are always uploaded along wiht the case but still its reviewed at the lower level and then escalated / handed over to the next level if its complex issue to solve.
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Online Training
DataDirect Networks (DDN)
No answers on this topic
IBM
THe training is often selfpaced and easy to follow if you have worked previously with other storage products. The content is clear and contains all the information needed for an admin to learn. However the troubleshooting part is not always included and this is dependent on forums or other sources where the information is not accessible very easily.
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Implementation Rating
DataDirect Networks (DDN)
Be sure you have your networking right and you are golden.
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IBM
I was amazed by the way IBM Flash storage provides a huge amount of storage within the limited footprint, it helped us to replace big fat storage arrays, which aided in the process of moving towards lower hardware, carbon, and energy consumption footprint. We can comfortably say that Flash helped us to host applications fast with a blazing speed and user transactions are quite quick.
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Alternatives Considered
DataDirect Networks (DDN)
We used to have both Nimble and Compellant in the past, and there is no comparison with the Tegile offerings. The Tegiles outperform them in every area and are easier to use.
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IBM
For the past six months, we have been utilizing this technology in our projects to manage a massive workload and produce swift business outcomes on a crucial production database. The IBM FlashSystem 7200, which offers high performance and compression, has so far been a great experience for us. The results and functionality of this product have delighted our consumers.
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Scalability
DataDirect Networks (DDN)
No answers on this topic
IBM
We have been able to scale this storage system whenever there has been requirement for additional capacity and performance. with the help of deduplication we have been able to build quite a robust environment.
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Return on Investment
DataDirect Networks (DDN)
  • It has increased our productivity in our database users by about 40%
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IBM
  • the compression in line means the IBM flashcore allow us to store much more information with less capacity, we can store much more with fewer disks
  • virtualization allows us to extend the useful life of old equipment that we already had separated, as I said, I use them as a repository for backups
  • With the implementation of the new functionality of immutable copies with SafeGuarded Copies, the information is much more secure for possible attacks
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ScreenShots

IBM Storage FlashSystem Screenshots

Screenshot of Flash Core Module 5th GenScreenshot of IBM FlashSystem 5600Screenshot of IBM FlashSystem 5600 (rear)Screenshot of IBM FlashSystem 7600 and 9600Screenshot of IBM FlashSystem 7600 and 9600 (rear)