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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Dell VMAX

    Score9.7 out of 10
    N/ADell VMAX All Flash is the latest iteration in the former Symmetrix series of enterprise flash array storage, available in the Dell VMAX 250F edition, or the Dell EMC VMAX 950F edition.N/A

    Dell VxRail

    Score9.4 out of 10
    N/AThe Dell VxRail is a VMWare-based hyper-converged infrastructure appliance.N/A

    IBM Storage FlashSystem

    Score8.9 out of 10
    N/AIBM 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.N/A
    Pricing
    Dell VMAXDell VxRailIBM Storage FlashSystem
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Dell VMAXDell VxRailIBM Storage FlashSystem
    Free Trial
    NoNoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Dell VMAXDell VxRailIBM Storage FlashSystem
    Considered Multiple Products
    Dell Technologies
    No answer on this topic
    Dell Technologies
    No answer on this topic
    IBM
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    89%
    Would buy again
    8 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Would buy again
    54 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    8 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    98%
    Delivers good value for the price
    51 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    9 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    54 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    8 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    45 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    7 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    96%
    Implementation went as expected
    46 Answers
    Features
    Dell VMAXDell VxRailIBM Storage FlashSystem
    Enterprise Flash Array Storage
    Comparison of Enterprise Flash Array Storage features of Dell VMAX and Dell VxRail and IBM Storage FlashSystem
    Feature
    Dell VMAX
    9.8
    9 Ratings
    10% above category average
    Dell VxRail
    -
    Ratings
    IBM Storage FlashSystem
    8.1
    157 Ratings
    9% below category average
    Flash Array Performance9.89 Ratings00 Ratings9.0152 Ratings
    Flash Array Integration9.69 Ratings00 Ratings8.1148 Ratings
    Data Compression9.89 Ratings00 Ratings7.7152 Ratings
    Non-Intrusive Upgrades9.98 Ratings00 Ratings9.1144 Ratings
    Simplicity9.98 Ratings00 Ratings8.4154 Ratings
    Power Savings9.98 Ratings00 Ratings6.2147 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Dell VMAXDell VxRailIBM Storage FlashSystem
    Small Businesses
    No answers on this topic
    StarWind HCA
    Score8.6 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    Medium-sized Companies
    Dell Compellent (discontinued)
    Score8 out of 10
    StarWind HCA
    Score8.6 out of 10
    Dell Compellent (discontinued)
    Score8 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Everpure FlashArray
    Score8.2 out of 10
    Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure
    Score9 out of 10
    Everpure FlashArray
    Score8.2 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Dell VMAXDell VxRailIBM Storage FlashSystem
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.7
    (9 ratings)
    10.0
    (3 ratings)
    8.5
    (157 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.6
    (6 ratings)
    Usability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.8
    (23 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    Performance
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.3
    (21 ratings)
    Support Rating
    7.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (6 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Online Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (3 ratings)
    Configurability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (3 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    5.1
    (2 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.8
    (2 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (2 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Dell VMAXDell VxRailIBM Storage FlashSystem
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Dell Technologies
    Dell EMC VMAX All-Flash Storage is a very powerful storage that easily manages huge data transactions with high IO processing speed. This Storage is well suited for critical production environments because response times are much better. This storage enables direct data backup. It's always up and running during updates because it creates a redundant connection from the controller.
    Incentivized
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    Dell Technologies
    As Dell EMC VxRail comes as pre-built, the deployment process is simple and easy. It is possible to scale out easily and will get support from the vendor instantly. As it is a Hyperconverged Infrastructure and it is also the integration of Dell EMC hardware and Vmware, the flexibility that VxRail provides is effective. An organization that is looking for all in one place like data management, network management, Integration, and backup software ecosystem can go for this product.
    Incentivized
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    IBM
    IBM Storage FlashSystem is the only good option. It is possible to do with other brands but not with the same compatibility and support. So in the IBM i world, there is not that much options if you want reliable products, performance and compatibility with overall system: IBM Storage FlashSystem product is the one. You may need to adjust performance to your needs and IBM has a complete range of systems for entry (FS5X00), mid-range (FS7X00) or high-end (FS9X00). In IBM i world, IBM Storage FlashSystem is the best, but knowing the product, I would probably recommend it for other platforms. And many of my customers are using it as a cross-technology platform (mainly virtualization on x86 like VMWare).
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    Dell Technologies
    • It creates a fully redundant connection from multiple controllers that are always up even during updates.
    • Once setup there is little to no adjustments that need to be made to the storage array. All that's needed is volume updates.
    Incentivized
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    Dell Technologies
    • VxRail gives us a standard, predictable, unit of scale and purchase.
    • Infrastructure maintenance and upgrades are much easier than on a traditional infrastructure stack.
    • Performance tuning is much easier and more straightforward than on a traditional infrastructure stack
    Incentivized
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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.
    Incentivized
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    Cons
    Dell Technologies
    • Initial configuration are bit difficult need some experience resource to manage it.
    • We faced issue with vendor support during major impact.
    Incentivized
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    Dell Technologies
    • The software release cycle is slow compared to general release of software. Particularly with VMware based releases.
    Incentivized
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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.
    Incentivized
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    Likelihood to Renew
    Dell Technologies
    No answers on this topic
    Dell Technologies
    No answers on this topic
    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.
    Incentivized
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    Usability
    Dell Technologies
    No answers on this topic
    Dell Technologies
    No answers on this topic
    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.
    Incentivized
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    Reliability and Availability
    Dell Technologies
    No answers on this topic
    Dell Technologies
    No answers on this topic
    IBM
    Yes. The last really issues I've seen in the environments of my customers were back in the "Storwize" era of systems. Issues with code updates or sometimes rarely failing critical components. BUT: since every component is at least dual redundant even back in that day real outages were very rare. And today in the "FlashSystem Era" the systems are so reliable and available even during code updates there are no complaints. I think the 5 or 6 9s are completely achieved.
    Incentivized
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    Performance
    Dell Technologies
    No answers on this topic
    Dell Technologies
    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.
    Incentivized
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    Support Rating
    Dell Technologies
    The best part about this array is that once you have it configured it is pretty much done. There is little to no other configurations to be done other than normal volume adjustments. Support is great as they understand this array very well. The updates are very hands-off and are done solely by support. You contact them and then there are no other changes done on the end-user's side.
    Incentivized
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    Dell Technologies
    No answers on this topic
    IBM
    I would rate the overall support for IBM Storage FlashSystem with a 10. The response times have consistently been fast, and the support engineers always come prepared with relevant questions and practical solutions. They demonstrate a deep understanding of the product and our use case, which means issues are typically resolved quickly and without unnecessary back-and-forth. This level of support has been especially valuable for our SAP environment, where uptime and quick resolution are critical.
    Incentivized
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    In-Person Training
    Dell Technologies
    No answers on this topic
    Dell Technologies
    No answers on this topic
    IBM
    Very good traning by experienced personnel. I attend instructor led sessions on IBM TechExchange and STUs before as well as IBM workshops for FlashSystems at IBM Böblingen which I helped to prepare and improve after piloting them. Absolutely nothing to complain about FlashSystem training in Germany or USA. So: all good here!
    Incentivized
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    Online Training
    Dell Technologies
    No answers on this topic
    Dell Technologies
    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.
    Incentivized
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    Implementation Rating
    Dell Technologies
    No answers on this topic
    Dell Technologies
    No answers on this topic
    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.
    Incentivized
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    Alternatives Considered
    Dell Technologies
    Incentivized
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    Dell Technologies
    All of these solutions scored very close together in our testing. Nutanix actually was the highest scoring in ease-of-use, but the integration with Vmware and the pricepoint led us to choose VxRail.
    Incentivized
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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.
    Incentivized
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    Scalability
    Dell Technologies
    No answers on this topic
    Dell Technologies
    No answers on this topic
    IBM
    I'm using cognos - especially cognos reports - as a part of IBMs Storage Intelligence software to manage datacenters and report storage and overall resource consumption to my customers. The software is reliable and - my customers who are using cognos in their businesses - say that they are very satisfied about the scalability of cognos. I can give it only an 8 rating because of the quite heavy resource footprint...
    Incentivized
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    Return on Investment
    Dell Technologies
    • Dell EMC VMAX All Flash Storage provides the hybrid cloud solution
    • Dell EMC VMAX All Flash Storage provides the great storage capacity with data security
    • Data Migration from other storage, data compression, stability
    Incentivized
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    Dell Technologies
    • We were able to exponentially reduce the cost spending to buy different components.
    • As it has VMWare integration, possible to work on different operating systems.
    • Automation of IT operations helped the colleagues to work on different manual tasks.
    Incentivized
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    IBM
    • Easy of use is a key aspect, as we do not have dedicated storage staff.
    • Our RPO has lowered near to Zero, using PBR as replication and this is key for us.
    • DR plan testing has become easier and less time-consuming, allowing us to conduct tests more frequently.
    Incentivized
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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)