IBM Storage FlashSystem

Score9 out of 10

361 Reviews and Ratings

What is IBM Storage FlashSystem?

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.

Categories & Use Cases

Enterprise Flash Array Storage

Media

Screenshot of IBM FlashSystem 5600 (rear)

Screenshot of IBM FlashSystem 7600 and 9600

Screenshot of IBM FlashSystem 7600 and 9600 (rear)

1 / 5

Screenshot of Flash Core Module 5th Gen

Flash Array Performance
Solid state flash arrays offer high speed compared to hard-disk drives
Category average: 8.6
Flash Array Integration
Integration with hypervisors and applications
Category average: 9.2
Simplicity
Flash arrays should be simple to use and require little training
Category average: 8.9

Data Compression
Flash Arrays include compression and deduplication features to reduce storage requirements
Category average: 7.3
Non-Intrusive Upgrades
Software upgrades are often seamless with no performance tuning required
Category average: 8
Power Savings
Flash arrays use significantly less power than hard-disk drives
Category average: 7.1

Most Frequent Users

Top 3 industries using IBM Storage FlashSystem.

Based on HG Insights installation data

View all Reviews

#1 most frequent

Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services

24.3%

106 installations of 436

“NetApp MetroCluster and Dell VMAX”
— IT Solutions Architect, Uno Informatica S.p.A (Small Businesses)

#2 most frequent

Finance and Insurance

15.4%

67 installations of 436

“IBM Instana, IBM Concert platform”
— enterprise architect, metrobank (Enterprises)

#3 most frequent

Information

9.2%

40 installations of 436

“ease of use, etc. reduce the amount of time required for administration and free time for other required tasks”
— System Engineer, SVA System Vertrieb Alexander GmbH (Enterprises)

Pros

Consistent high performance and low latency for rapid data access
Robust cybersecurity features including ransomware protection and immutable backups
High system reliability and dependable hardware/firmware operation

Cons

User interface described as having minor duplications and needing general enhancements
Installation and overall product usage can present difficulties for some users
Licensing and pricing structures are sometimes unclear and hard to estimate

Stephan Durand

IT Manager | IT Resiliency, GRC, Data Centers, Platforms & Databases services in Information Technology at Rona Inc (10,001+ employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Our IBM Storage FlashSystem arrays have allowed us to drastically shrink our storage data center footprint as well as our energy consumption within. By the same token, we are saving on costly support contracts for aging hardware, administration costs and time spent on management and daily support, allowing our administrators to focus on other tasks.

But this does not mean that we lost in performance and/or options. We lowered our latency across all systems, all the while improving our protection through replications, snapshots and adding safeguarded copies as well.

Pros

Facility to setup a replication partner and protect data across sites
Facility to implement snapshot schedules and provide the option to safeguard them easily
Powerful Command line options to allow ease of management

Cons

The possibility to mass modify multiple options at once, like renaming LUN or increasing space
Adding multifactor authentication options other than IBM related only
Improved role base access
Quorum for protection would be a nice addition but not the available TPI requirement only superuser accounts

Return on Investment

Consolidation onto the IBM Storage FlashSystemd provided substantial cost savings on maintenance and licensing.
Migration from older storage onto new storage was almost 100% seamless and without impacts.
Consolidation onto one type of system across sites, makes for easy management and monitoring.

Alternatives Considered

Dell PowerStore and Everpure FlashArray

Other Software Used

IBM Storage Scale, IBM Storage Protect, Cohesity Data Cloud, IBM Bob

Edward Yeates

Technical Architect in Information Technology at TJ Morris Ltd (501-1000 employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Mission-critical IBM I workloads. These require high I/O rates, low latency, and strong operational and cyber resilience. Safeguarded copy provides immutable backups to ensure quick recovery if the system is impacted by a cyberattack. With IBM Storage Insights, real-time anomaly detection keeps cyber resilience a top priority. Also, the reliability and built-in redundancy features of IBM flash systems mean IBM I is always available, even if ports or disks fail.

Pros

Safeguarded Copy.
Low latency IO response times.
Anomaly detection.
Highly available snapshots.

Cons

Make sure you get the Storage Insights Pro edition

Return on Investment

FCM drives provide compression without performance cost, thereby reducing overall storage costs.
FCM drives use intelligent technology to extend their lifespan by managing data placement to optimize performance.

Alternatives Considered

Dell VMAX and Dell VPLEX

Other Software Used

IBM i, IBM Bob, IBM AIX

Paolo Sarchini

IT Solutions Architect in Information Technology at Uno Informatica S.p.A (11-50 employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

The IBM Storage FlashSystem family is used globally, starting with minimal solutions (for example, storage with ISCSI access for VTLs) and moving up to more complex solutions such as SVC in ESC mode with hot spares. The goal is to ensure, through the numerous technological solutions that can be implemented, not only data consistency but also infrastructure security.

La famiglia IBM Storage Flash system viene utilizzata in modo globale, nel senso che si parte con soluzioni minimali (ad esempio Storage con accesso ISCSI per VTL) per raggiungere soluzioni piu' complesse quali SVC in modalita' ESC con hot spare. Lo scopo e' quello di garantire, tramite le numerose soluzioni tecnologiche che vi si possono implement are, non solo la consistenza del data, ma la sicurezza della infrastruttura

Pros

Business Continuity
Disaster Recovery
Cyber Resilience
Threat Intelligence
Deduplication

Cons

The solution does not have a deduplication and compression solution such as Dell Datadomain
The offering is scarce when compared with other solution such as NetApp and we have to use NFS/smb integration other than FC
Integration with Defender in case of IBM platform

Return on Investment

The guarantee of business continuity and hot updates allows the systems to be always on with potentially enormous social consequences (think about what would happen in the event of a malfunction in the supply of goods to the points of sale)
The guarantee of data immutability allows for a multi-platform barrier against malware in the event that res ad triarios rediit
Integrated deduplication and compression, as well as support for many years of queue versions, allow customers to operate their investments at their best and with peace of mind
la garanzia di business continuity e di update a caldo permette AI sistemi di essere always on con ricadute sociali potenzialmente enormity (pensiamo a cosa accadrebbe in Caso di malfunzionamento a livello di approvvigionamento delle merci AI punti vendita)
la garanzia di immutabilita' del dato permette di avere una barriera multipiattaforma contro il malware nel Caso in cui res ad triarios rediit
la deduplica e la compressione integrate, oltreche' al supporto Delle versioni di code per molti anni permettono AI clienti di operate al meglio Ed in tranquillita' I propri investimenti

Alternatives Considered

NetApp MetroCluster and Dell VMAX

Other Software Used

IBM Storage Scale, IBM Storage Insights, IBM Storage for Red Hat OpenShift, IBM Storage Protect

Laurent Fondacci View profile

IBM infrastructure expert (Power and storage solutions) in Information Technology at Top Security Consulting (1-10 employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I am mainly using IBM Storage FlashSystem with Power systems running IBM i partitions and operate as an integrator for IBM systems (Power, Storage, and SAN solutions).

IBM Storage FlashSystem product is able to add 'intelligence' on storage subsystem like Flashcopies or more recently snapshots to add some flexibilty on backup or creating a clone partition (with our without additionnal tools).

IBM Storage FlashSystem is also able to virtualize other storage systems which can be interesting when migrating systems without having to deal with a complete save/restore operation (a great way to minimize downtime during this king of operations).

Another great advantage of IBM Storage FlashSystem is the ability to provide a complete DRP, replacing complex software products at no cost or so. Side by side migration using replication is another use case here (when I do not want to virtualize other storage subsystems).

As you can see, as an integrator, I am using a lot of advanced functionalities and would be happy to discover new ones.

Pros

Replication services providing a complete DRP (Disaster Recovery Plan) for most IBM i use cases:
- Based on replication services,
- Can provide active/passive replication via copy services or Policy-based replication (PBR),
- Can provide active/active replication via Hyperswap or Policy-based High-Availability (PBHA).
A complete solution to design the DRP based on customers needs.
Flashcopy or Snapshots:
- Used for daily/weekly/monthly backup of customers,
- Often with a product called Flash4i (M81),
- A good way to clone an IBM i partition for testing purpose: With or without other product.
Storage virtualization:
- IBM Storage FlashSystem products are able to virtualize other storage products (IBM or not IBM branded),
- A complete
Safeguarded copies/snapshots:
- As in 2026, security is more and more present, IBM Storage FlashSystem are able to add this layer of security on snapshots or Flashcopies,
- Noboby can modify any bit of a safeguarded copy so disaster recovery after a cryptolocker or any kind of intentionnal deletion can be done quickly instead of taking hours and hours (maybe days).

Cons

On code v9: No way to do repetitive tasks via GUI (like acting on many volumes in one single action).
This force us to use CLI for basic operations available easily on v8.7.
Urgent need here, could save a lot of time.
Storage insight pricing is really hard to understand for most of my customers which lead to no storage insight and probably a lack of monitoring.

Return on Investment

Using snapshots to do backup operations increase uptime for a near 24/7 uptime.
No downtime during upgrade increase uptime for a near 24/7 uptime.
Flexibility with capacity planning: easy to allocate new LUNs for an unknown/new project. Saving a lot of time without the need to add physical storage before starting a project or adding a new use case.

Ritesh Midde

Sr. Systems Administrator in Information Technology at Community Health Systems (10,001+ employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use the IBM Storage FlashSystem to store backups of virtual services hosted on-premises and off-premises. It helps to recover the environment in short period of time and less failures reported. NVMe drive has rapid response without any interruptions and decreased runtime on refresh services when using IBM Storage FlashSystem. Good thing with new flash models is less Rackspace and more energy efficient.

Pros

Better IOPS
Improved response time
Reduce storage management workload

Cons

Enhance features on Data protection

Return on Investment

Improved performance
Increased Uptime

Alternatives Considered

Dell PowerVault Disk Backup and Discovery (DL and TL & ML Series)

Other Software Used

IBM Storage Insights

IBM Storage FlashSystem

What is IBM Storage FlashSystem?

Categories & Use Cases

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