Skip to main content
TrustRadius
IBM Storage FlashSystem

IBM Storage FlashSystem

Overview

What is IBM Storage FlashSystem?

IBM's FlashSystem is a flash array storage option.

Read more
Recent Reviews
Read all reviews

Awards

Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards

Popular Features

View all 6 features
  • Flash Array Performance (108)
    8.9
    89%
  • Simplicity (110)
    8.9
    89%
  • Flash Array Integration (109)
    8.3
    83%
  • Data Compression (107)
    8.3
    83%

Reviewer Pros & Cons

View all pros & cons
Return to navigation

Features

Enterprise Flash Array Storage

All-flash array storage is a solid state, high performance storage option.

8.6
Avg 9.1
Return to navigation

Product Details

What is IBM Storage FlashSystem?

IBM FlashSystem is an all-flash storage portfolio that promises the following benefits and capabilities:

Engineered to meet modern high-performance application requirements

Ultra-low latency, cost-effectiveness, operational efficiency, and mission-critical reliability are built in to every all-flash storage solution and all-flash array


A comprehensive all-flash storage portfolio

IBM is able to deliver all-flash solutions tailored to the user's storage environments and workloads. IBM financing and payment options are available.


Technology supported by guarantees

IBM states they guaratee endurance, performance and compression are guaranteed, and they offer extended support and maintenance

IBM Storage FlashSystem Features

  • Supported: FlashCore Modules
  • Supported: FCM inline compression
  • Supported: high performance deduplication

IBM Storage FlashSystem Screenshots

Screenshot of IBM-FS-900Screenshot of FlashSystem V9000Screenshot of IBM FlashSystemScreenshot of FlashSystem A9000

IBM Storage FlashSystem Technical Details

Deployment TypesOn-premise
Operating SystemsWindows, Linux
Mobile ApplicationNo
Supported LanguagesEnglish

Frequently Asked Questions

IBM's FlashSystem is a flash array storage option.

HPE Nimble Storage, Pure Storage FlashArray, and Dell PowerMax NVMe are common alternatives for IBM Storage FlashSystem.

Reviewers rate Flash Array Performance and Simplicity highest, with a score of 8.9.

The most common users of IBM Storage FlashSystem are from Enterprises (1,001+ employees).
Return to navigation

Comparisons

View all alternatives
Return to navigation

Reviews and Ratings

(258)

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-25 of 121)
Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
Balaji SG | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We had challenges in storing and managing massive amount of customer data. We needed ultra-low latency storage solution to keep up the customer experience. Also, we use it for our ML usecase to extract, process and train models real-time. This hybrid-flash solutions helped to simplified data delivery, facilitate real-time analytics generation with scalable virtualisation at affordable cost. We have been it for few years, and i’d say its highly dependable and secure. It has a great portfolio, that perfectly balances performance, capacity, cost and data service to fit business for any size.
  • Ultra low latency for best performance and improve productivity
  • Wide portfolio options for different customer sizes
  • Advanced virtualisation for good scalability
  • Safeguarded snapshot creation
  • User interface could be improved
  • Upgrade and patch could be smoother
  • Limitation in storage expansion functionality
IBM Storage FlashSystem helps us to save lot of time in job executions that involve complex processing. The hybrid cloud tools make the replication and migration easier and convenient. The management interface is awesome and it is convenient for storage management and administration which helps as lot for cost optimization as well as performance optimization. The storage repository is able to manage Corporate workload with high performance without any fuss.
Caden Yarbrough | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We were in need of a centralized storage repository that would be used across the IT department. IBM’s flashsystem showed to not only offer good speeds via our benchmarks, but the 5000 model proved to be affordable for a smaller business while also allowing us the option to scale for future growth.
  • Centralized storage
  • Cloud capabilities
  • Efficient
  • increased bandwidth
  • improved manual with more details on cloud capabilities
  • size reduction
There are enough models to fit the sizing of your business. This idea allows customers to find the perfect fit for their storage needs all through IBM. If you are looking for fast and efficient storage then flashsystem is perfect. Being not entirely on the cloud, at the very least a server closet will be required to host the box itself.
Anirudh Srinivas | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We currently use the Storage systems on our managed customer environment for high performance systems , that have demanding IOPS and on the virtual systems where we host backup infrastructure.
  • The read and write times on these devices are extremely fast and responsive
  • The IOPS are achieved easily for the applications that have high requirement
  • The expansion and scaling down of pools are quite easy as well
  • The flexiblity of upgrading the flash modules for a higher capcity needs to be allowed
  • The user interface for the management console is sometimes a bit confusing
  • the configuration of call home can only be done to a specific IP address but not a dns name
For environments where high IO and read writes are performed the flash storage is very well suited . We also use this for another customer as a back end storage for high performance backups where we run multi stream data writes to it via 100G interface.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We have the issue of storing massive amount of data. The servers and other equipment that we have in our organisation demanded better capabilities to store all the data we have and generate. We ever waited different options and we found that IBM Storage FlashSystem was a valid tool that we could acquire.
  • Easy access
  • Easy to use hardware
  • low maintenance
  • option to put the device in a separate rack
  • some buttons could be better situated
  • access directory
I think the device is very well designed to be managed in any kind of organisation. It provides a reliable hardware that ensures that most of the functionality are well executed. In my experience, you can trust that the device we'll keep all data in perfect conditions and that you can access it anytime on anywhere. The price of the solution is also very important to be considered as it it is adapted to small and medium sized companies.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
The IBM Storage Flash system is used as virtualization platform storage and for a smart file approach with shares.
  • Performance
  • Ease of use.
  • Scalability
  • Nothing i could think of so far.
When it comes to the question of a reliable, fast, stable, and scalable flash storage system, the IBM Storage flash system is clearly an option you should look at. It's easy to install, to handle, to administrate, and to handle in general. Also, when it comes to support-related questions, you will always have good people being able to help you.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use IBM Storage FlashSystem as our primary storage array for our virtualization environment. It provides storage for our main 5 host cluster via 16Gb fiber channel. The hosts support roughly 100 virtual machines. The business problems that the unit addresses are providing very fast VM storage with extremely low latency. The array contains 12 NVME storage modules in a ~RAID6 level setup, so that we can lose 2 drives without impacting uptime.
  • Low latency
  • Storage DRS is supported
  • Ease of expansion
  • Drive firmware updates are a bit clunky, the update files have to be sourced manually
  • IBM has separate storage monitoring you need to set up to get good historical statistics.
  • If you need 8 16Gb ports you will not be able to expand with a SAS connector.
IBM Storage FlashSystem is very well suited for a small or medium business that does not want to compromise storage performance. Pricing is excellent and transparent on the website. The option to have 8 16Gb FC connectors allows you to forgo expensive and complicated SAN switches if your host count is low enough. Fewer components make the infrastructure more reliable.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
It is mainly targeted to cater to the needs of high-end IOs from different applications across the organization. Mainly focused on delivering mission-critical servers with low latency disk access. This helps us to reduce a significant amount of time while running jobs on various applications across different domains. The storage has been deployed to use across different divisions in the company.
  • Performance is the crucial element to be highlighted, as it delivers the best in class industry performance.
  • Guaranteed compression ratio, one of the leading in [the] industry we got a 2:1 guaranteed and it achieved as per the commitment.
  • Reliability is one of the main elements which works really well, even being a storewide family product it delivers [the] best reliability features.
  • [The] footprint is key, as it helped us to reduce our organization's 2 racks storage capacity into a 2U rack space.
  • Better GUI interface
  • Currently, [the] performance of FS7200 can't be monitored through TPC/SC, this should be considered to include in [the] future.
  • IBM primarily lacks in designing its products physical looks, should have designed more intrusive and attractive design. A first impression of the product creates [an] impressive opinion.
Well suited: 1. High-end applications, especially in banking or core oil-related applications where latency is the key in delivering optimal results 2. It addresses the needs of [a] large footprint in the datacenter, even an SME can manage the physical capacity in a limited IT space. Less appropriate: 1. There should be a cost-effective version of Flash in [the] IBM portfolio, which helps SMB to consider/opt within their budget. 2. Marketing, as the product has not been widely marketed by IBM. This is one of the areas which needs improvement.
July 11, 2023

I blindly trust IBM

Tatiana Lazo Sarmiento | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I now use IBM Flashsystem, what we called IBM Storwize, these IBM products have helped me for more than 10 years to keep information safe, now with the new functionalities for the hybrid cloud I can make copies, migrations very easily.They have always been a family of very reliable products that allow us to optimize storage and optimize administration with their management software.
  • Cyber resilience with the new functionality of immutable copies called sfaguarded copies
  • With the IBM FlashCore modules it allows us to have good levels of online compression of the information, besides that it is a hardware compression that would not affect the performance of the equipment
  • the virtualization of other storages that can be IBM or other brands
  • binary replication works great
  • I don't really like how the compression software works, especially when we configure the pools with data reduction, you need to have enough free space available to handle the delete operations, if you don't have that free space in the pool, the storage performance decreases in a very notorious way that directly affects the performance of access to information from the servers
One of the most important scenarios for the use of IBM Flashsystems is the possibility of virtualizing other Storage, this allows us to use equipment that we have not been using perhaps for years and now we can virtualize and use as backup repositories or evidence. A scenario in which visualization can also be used is if we have a storage that does not have some functionality that is only available in a higher-end storage, we can virtualize it and therefore it would inherit all the functionality, I will use this when virtualize an old storage under an IBM Flashsystem 7200 to use this old storage as a repository for immutable copies that are only available on storage like the 7200
Score 6 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
IBM Storage FlashSystems is an amazing way to get high-speed storage in a small size unit, with amazing capacities to integrate with cloud systems.
  • Expandable
  • Fast.
  • Small.
  • Integration.
  • Code.
  • Cost.
It is an amazing solution if you can invest an important amount of money. Super easy to be used as external storage like a file share place.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Currently I am using FS5000 for my company's AI solution and image storing. Production images from certain tools will be transferred and safe keep in this storage for future reference. It is also used by an AI solution to store, scan, process and return the result before the next production process can proceed.
  • Fast
  • Easy to manage
  • Easy to deploy & configure
  • cheaper cost
IBM flash storage is easy to configure and deploy. it is a reliable storage for enterprise level too.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We're using FlashSystem to address our disk performance issue. We're using the FlashSystem for one of our core banking system.
  • Scheduled snapshot
  • Ease of use GUI
  • Safeguarded snapshot creation
  • Safeguarded snapshot that is really safe, and can't be deleted even by the user (need to log case to delete it)
  • More detailed performance monitoring in the GUI (per volume, per host)
  • Volume protection setting can't be changed by user (need to log case to change it)
Well suited when performance and resiliency is important to the organization.
Less appropriate for archiving purpose, lower priority system usage
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
ResellerIncentivized
The IBM FlashSystem 7200 was employed in our project for six months in critical production situations to accomplish the desired business outcome. This software provides the best repository system and great performance to manage the corporate workload. This gadget offers good system performance and is dependable and stable.
  • Getting over a tragedy.
  • Data replication and migration.
  • The IBM FlashSystem 7200 is capable of supporting iSCSI Extensions for RDMA.
  • Training for initial implementation and configuration is somewhat expensive.
We've been using this software in our projects for the past six months to manage a sizable workload and provide timely business outcomes for a crucial production database. The IBM FlashSystem 7200, which offers good performance and compression, has so far produced remarkable results. Our customers are overjoyed with the result and performance of this product.
Camilo Andrés Espinosa | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I implemented it at another company as a storage backend for its tax core system. It is being used only by a POWER8 system.
  • DRP Compression and deduplication
  • Replication across sites
  • Flashcopies
  • Great performance
  • Insights should provide better reporting in terms of performance
  • Unable to see volume occupation from storage perspective
This storage is best suited for medium to high workloads for full allocated volumes. Compression and dedupe features will help only if there are low sets of transactions. Performance is highly affected when using global mirror if there is a high number of IOPS.
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
To achieve the business outcome, IBM FlashSystem 7200 was used in our project [for] six months in key production environments. To manage the corporate workload, this software offers the best repository system and high performance. This device is dependable and stable, and it provides excellent system performance.
  • Recovering from a disaster
  • Replication and migration of data
  • iSCSI Extensions for RDMA are supported by the IBM FlashSystem 7200.
  • Initial deployment and configuration training is a little pricey.
For the past six months, we've been utilising this software in our projects to manage a significant workload and deliver quick business results for a key production database. As of now, we've had excellent results with the IBM FlashSystem 7200, which provides good performance as well as compression. The outcome and performance of this product have left our clients completely happy.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
For medium and large applications that require elite execution memory for their applications and information, a few venture groups in my firm employ the IBM Flash System 5000. It has aided us in matching client expectations for further enhanced business conveyance while also improving the overall speed and execution of major applications.
  • Every critical application maintains a high level of performance.
  • The transfer of assets is fantastic.
  • The group will necessitate a significant amount of planning and comprehension.
  • The FS5200 has no shortcomings when compared to prior FlashSystems or Storwize systems.
It necessitates rapid memory to process and executes a large number of transactions in a short period of time while maintaining excellent end-client help accessibility. IBM Flash System 5000 provides dependability, excellent execution, and adaptability all under one roof.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
A few venture groups in my firm use IBM Flash System 5000 for medium and enormous applications that request elite execution memory for their applications and information. It has supported the improvement of in general speed and execution of significant applications, as well as assisting us with meeting client assumptions for further developed business conveyance.
  • It keeps an elevated degree of execution for every single key application
  • Asset conveyance is brilliant
  • The group will require a lot of preparing and understanding
It requires quick memory to process and execute an enormous number of exchanges in a short measure of time while keeping up with high help accessibility for end clients. Under one rooftop, IBM Flash System 5000 gives dependability, superior execution, and adaptability.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
To achieve the business result, IBM FlashSystem 7200 has been implemented in our project for [six months] for critical production environments. This product offers the best repository system as well as high performance for managing business workloads. This product is dependable and stable, and it provides the best system performance.
  • Reconstruction after a disaster
  • Advanced SAS Connectivity Training is required for initial deployment and configuration.
  • iSCSI Extensions for RDMA are also supported by the IBM FlashSystem 7200.
We've been using this product in our projects for the last six months to manage a heavy workload and get quick business results for the critical production database. As of now, we have had excellent results with the IBM FlashSystem 7200, which provides high performance as well as compression capabilities. Our clients are completely satisfied with the outcome and performance of this product.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
The IBM Flash System 7200 is used by our company to improve and optimize our business processes. It's a fantastic storage repository that all of our company's IT departments use. Its quick performance helped us compress data, and it's also useful for storage efficiency. VMware integration is also possible.
  • Performing at a high rate.
  • It has compression and replication capabilities.
  • More information should be included in need reports.
  • The implementation of this application is difficult.
We've been using this solution in our projects for the last six months to manage a huge workload and generate quick business results for a vital production database. We now have a positive experience with IBM Flash System 7200, which provides good performance as well as compression capabilities. Our customers are really pleased with the outcome and performance of this product.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
It's pretty beneficial in phrases of supplying help for a provider that we used for it for approximately about 12 months. It diminished the attempt required to behavior duties and replica data. Its AI is the maximum important because the selections made are really actual and greater green at work. It's one of the maximum brilliant IBM merchandise I've ever seen. That's very incredible.
  • It's perfection
  • The pace at it works
  • Product performance is very high
  • The accuracy of the product sets high standards
  • When as compared to different digital electricity systems, it is also short and has minimum latency.
It is greater dependable, its precision is phenomenal, and its overall output is world-class. It may be the maximum aggressive of all of the digital strength structures, and its connectivity seems to be sufficient. It is likewise on hand at a low fee, but having this many structures with better performance at a decreased fee is sufficient. A minor factor to word is that during a small [percentage] of cases, it can turn out to be caught because of immoderate use, which includes stressed paintings, inflicting paintings disruption.
Charles Levy | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
ResellerIncentivized
I recently replaced a Gen1 V5000 with a FS5200 filled with 9.6TB Flashcore Modules(FCM). This is in an IBM iSeries environment. They are using the IBM FSFC Toolkit for backups. We went from 14u of rack space with 22TB useable to 1u of rack space with 77TB useable. The system cut 12 hours off their full system nightly backups. Performance improved from up to 6ms latency to 0ms. The FCM are also achieving 2.2/1 compression with zero performance penalty.
  • Distributed RAID6
  • FCM Compression w/zero performance penalty
  • Rack space Savings
  • Compared to previous FlashSystems or Storwize systems, the FS5200 lacks for nothing.
IBM FlashSystem 5200 is well suited for remote locations, where performance and advanced features provide a subsystem that can support both iSeries and Open Systems access. It is also applicable to data center workloads that require modest performance along with enterprise features.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Several project teams in my firm use IBM Flash System 5000 for medium and large applications that demand high-performance memory for their applications and data. It has aided in the improvement of overall speed and performance of important applications, as well as helping us meet client expectations for improved business delivery.
  • It maintains a high level of performance for all key applications
  • Resource distribution is excellent
  • The team will require a significant amount of training and understanding
It necessitates rapid memory in order to process and execute a large number of transactions in a short amount of time while maintaining high service availability for end-users. Under one roof, IBM Flash System 5000 provides stability, high performance, and scalability.
January 24, 2022

Manages the Management

Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I worked as a designer and also on animations. We used to face issues with data on day to day basis. How would I explain this product? Let's say the IBM FlashSystem 5000 is a family of all-flash and hybrid-flash solutions that simplify data delivery, enable real-time analytics, accelerate virtualization and cloud deployments, improve disaster recovery time and reduce IT infrastructure costs. The FlashSystem portfolio combines enterprise-class reliability with built-in data services to achieve the best balance of performance, capacity, cost efficiency, and data services for your most demanding workloads.
  • Content Catching
  • Data Services
  • Data Management
  • Smooth Storage
  • Data caching can be improved a bit.
The IBM FlashSystem 5000 is a family of all-flash and hybrid-flash solutions that simplify data delivery, enable real-time analytics, accelerate virtualization and cloud deployments, improve disaster recovery time and reduce IT infrastructure costs. The FlashSystem portfolio combines enterprise-class reliability with built-in data services to achieve the best balance of performance, capacity, cost efficiency, and data services for your most demanding workloads. It is best suited for organizations with a huge chunk of data and struggling with Data Management For individuals it might not be the solution, in case large data can come in handy.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
The IBM FlashSystem 5000 is a storage subsystem, so, its main purpose is to store data and keep it secure while it is accessed by end-users. Knowing that, it is important to note that IBM has made great efforts to show the ease of use for a piece of hardware that has such importance within an organization. If you need to provide space for new applications or projects, IBM FlashSystem 5000 is easy while providing good performance for daily operations. During benchmarks we have had made while migrating data to this subsystem, many customers had shown good impressions for the response times of their internal processes after they reside inside IBM FlashSystem 5000. Like I said, for the variety of options the IBM FlashSystem 5000 possesses, like Data Migration, Data Replication, or integration with other technologies (like VMware through VVOL/VASA), it is easy and fast to learn and manage by a Storage Admin. Also, because IBM FlashSystem 5000 is located and categorized as an Entry-Level, it is a good candidate for small-medium organizations that need a robust solution to protect their data against issues, like accidental deletion or cyberattacks.
  • Ease of use
  • Good Performance
  • Scalable
  • Improved Cloud integration
  • Improved internal Dashboard (it is better to use other alternatives, like Storage Insights)
  • Activate Safeguard Copy from the box, without the necessity of IBM Copy Services Manager (CSM). CSM could be later added, for restore purposes, but backup could easily be initiated from the framework itself
Like I mentioned before, IBM FlashSystem 5000 is great for small-medium companies who which to have good hardware to store their data and have it accessible and secure. But there are several models within the IBM FlashSystem 5000 family so it could be reduced for a maximum of 2 models (right now are 3). This could simplify the decision-making process to choose a model. Once the IBM FlashSystem 5000 is in place, it will greatly help during the data migration process, so customers will see there are no “headaches” in this critical step of the project. Later, to take great advantage of the solution, replicate it to another IBM FlashSystem 5000 for high availability; the implementation is also easy and can be either fiber channel or iSCSI (TCP/IP) which reduce cost significantly and without impacting performance. Although the IBM FlashSystem 5000 could be used in an AS400 environment, I will recommend used it better for Windows/Linux environments, including Hypervisors (like VMware). The reason is, AS400 will benefit much more from a storage subsystem with more resources (remember that IBM IBM FlashSystem 50000 is Entry-Level) so, even working with Flash Drives technologies, maybe another model like IBM FlashSystem 7200 or IBM FlashSystem 9200 are more according to it.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
To automate and [optimize] our business processes, we employ the IBM Flash System 7200. It's a fantastic storage repository that all of our company's IT departments rely on. Its quick performance helped us compress data, and it's also useful for storage efficiency. VMware integration is also possible, which is perfect.
  • Its user interface is simple.
  • Reduce storage latency to boost application performance.
  • Initial setup and deployment.
This is an outstanding recommended option for storage and low latency as a high-performance tool with the capability to [optimize] our [organization]. It's perfect for anyone who wants to get client data to them rapidly. However, the feature of it that I despise the most is its reports, because I expected more extensive reports rather than superficial ones.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
It's fairly useful in terms of furnishing support for a service that we used for about seven months. It lowered the trouble demanded to conduct tasks and dupe data. Its AI is the most important, as the opinions made are truly authentic. and more effective at work. It's one of the most emotional IBM products I've ever seen. That's truly implausible.
  • Usage is effective
  • Less power consumption
  • User friendly
  • When compared to other virtual power systems, it is usually quick and has minimal latency.
It is due to its precision, efficiency, and speed. It's been quite beneficial to our business, allowing us to complete a limited number of duties in less time, and it's been our first pick because it's the greatest. The price is likewise reasonable, and it is simple to maintain, therefore it is the only option
Return to navigation