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IBM Storage FlashSystem vs. IBM Storwize (now part of FlashSystems)

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    IBM Storage FlashSystem

    Score9.2 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

    IBM Storwize (now part of FlashSystems)

    Score7 out of 10
    N/AIBM Storwize is a family of recognized all-flash and hybrid storage solutions designed to support the virtualization needs and application workloads of mid-sized enterprises.N/A
    Pricing
    IBM Storage FlashSystemIBM Storwize (now part of FlashSystems)
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    IBM Storage FlashSystemIBM Storwize (now part of FlashSystems)
    Free Trial
    YesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    IBM Storage FlashSystemIBM Storwize (now part of FlashSystems)
    Considered Both Products
    IBM
    Chose IBM Storage FlashSystem
    IBM Storage FlashSystem is just a all-in-one system feature rich with capabilities and years of design and fine tuning. There is no comparison as it won't be comparing apples with apples. IBM Storage FlashSystem has just been remodeled from the ground up and is a completely …
    Incentivized
    Chose IBM Storage FlashSystem
    The PURE solution has better performance because it exclusively uses flash disks, however it ends up providing a higher cost, which in our institution's use case was an important requirement;
    Incentivized
    IBM
    Chose IBM Storwize (now part of FlashSystems)
    IBM Storewize is the best among other products available in the market. Many features such as scalability, data configuration, and data security show this system are best for our business. We can't compare it with others.
    Incentivized
    Chose IBM Storwize (now part of FlashSystems)
    Storwize does not have the performance of FlashSystem, but it’s low cost and high capacity options make it competitive as an option for point-in-time copies and backups.
    Incentivized
    Chose IBM Storwize (now part of FlashSystems)
    IBM Storwize is a part of a family that is complemented by the products listed. In many negotiations, involving storage is our workhorse to ensure several businesses thanks to its balanced cost and all the benefits that we offer.
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    100%
    Would buy again
    55 Answers
    100%
    Would buy again
    6 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    98%
    Delivers good value for the price
    52 Answers
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    6 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    55 Answers
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    6 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    98%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    45 Answers
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    6 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    94%
    Implementation went as expected
    46 Answers
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    6 Answers
    Features
    IBM Storage FlashSystemIBM Storwize (now part of FlashSystems)
    Enterprise Flash Array Storage
    Comparison of Enterprise Flash Array Storage features of IBM Storage FlashSystem and IBM Storwize (now part of FlashSystems)
    Feature
    IBM Storage FlashSystem
    8.2
    158 Ratings
    8% below category average
    IBM Storwize (now part of FlashSystems)
    -
    Ratings
    Flash Array Performance9.0153 Ratings00 Ratings
    Flash Array Integration8.3149 Ratings00 Ratings
    Data Compression7.8153 Ratings00 Ratings
    Non-Intrusive Upgrades9.1145 Ratings00 Ratings
    Simplicity8.8155 Ratings00 Ratings
    Power Savings6.6148 Ratings00 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    IBM Storage FlashSystemIBM Storwize (now part of FlashSystems)
    Small Businesses
    No answers on this topic
    DiskStation
    Score8.9 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Dell Compellent (discontinued)
    Score8 out of 10
    DiskStation
    Score8.9 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Everpure FlashArray
    Score8.2 out of 10
    DiskStation
    Score8.9 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    IBM Storage FlashSystemIBM Storwize (now part of FlashSystems)
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.1
    (158 ratings)
    9.9
    (20 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    7.6
    (6 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Usability
    8.8
    (23 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Availability
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    9.3
    (21 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.1
    (6 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Online Training
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    9.0
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Configurability
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    9.0
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    5.1
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    8.9
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    9.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    IBM Storage FlashSystemIBM Storwize (now part of FlashSystems)
    Likelihood to Recommend
    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
    Read full review
    IBM
    This stuff runs! Hot, cold not wet, but you know where your data is. Reliably in the cabinet turning your data for the next customer request. You need dedupe, get the flash drive models. Long archives with spinning disks can help with all the data modeling the analysts do. Keep up with the dba’s constant need for speed with all-flash! You will get what you pay for.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    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
    Read full review
    IBM
    • Data processing and IO. The Storwize devices are very resilient in how they process data and do not have a drop in IO when errors occur (common errors such as disk failures and lost paths).
    • Storage efficiency management. We are able to use multiple efficiency techniques such as thin provisioning and data reduction to reduce our budget footprint.
    • Easy to use interfaces. Creating a volume and mapping to a host has proven to be a very easy process and makes onboarding less stressful for our team.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    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
    Read full review
    IBM
    • As a business partner looking to provide services to keep the uptime of the Storwize, I would like to have the capability to pull reports from IBM Storage Insights to assist my clients in managing their system through it's lifecycle.
    • More knowledge out there for partners to best integrate IBM Storwize with IBM Power i. This seems to be lacking in communication from IBM.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    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
    Read full review
    IBM
    No answers on this topic
    Usability
    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
    Read full review
    IBM
    No answers on this topic
    Reliability and Availability
    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
    Read full review
    IBM
    No answers on this topic
    Performance
    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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    IBM
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    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
    Read full review
    IBM
    No answers on this topic
    In-Person Training
    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
    Read full review
    IBM
    No answers on this topic
    Online Training
    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
    Read full review
    IBM
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation Rating
    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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    IBM
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    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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    IBM
    We looked at a Netgear product - Ready Stor 5200, which is a great device and a bit cheaper than the IBM Storwize. However, considering it does not have built-in resilience, has limited capacity in terms of network interfaces and is twice the size (4U), I would choose the Storwize any time. The only advantage the Netgear device has is its lower price, however, performance, reliability, and scalability are limited.
    Incentivized
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    Scalability
    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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    IBM
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    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
    Read full review
    IBM
    • I would like to highlight the most positive aspect I have seen in the products of the IBM Storwize family, and it is the ROI that we can choose when we offer real-time compression with the IBM V7000 family. In truth, this feature is excellent, and we have seen how customers save storage resources, rack space, power and management.
    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)

    IBM Storwize (now part of FlashSystems) Screenshots

    Product screenshot