Reliable and cost effective Flash of IBM
Updated September 19, 2023

Reliable and cost effective Flash of IBM

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Modules Used

  • IBM Flashsystem 7200

Overall Satisfaction with IBM Storage FlashSystem

The same storage is optimal to use in on-premises and compatible with the cloud vendors. This will be a win-win for the clients who have plans to move/host the data in the cloud. Due to the extreme IO-intensive storage capabilities, customers are mainly focusing to use in mission-critical applications directly hosted on the storage.
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.

Pros

  • 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.

Cons

  • 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.
  • There is a significant improvement for OLTP applications.
  • Jobs run/execution time reduced by around 70%.
  • Saving significant amount of cost in cooling and power.
  • Savings on spending management/administration cost, as the product is straightforward to maintain with in-house engineers.
One of the best-in-class storage systems in recent times, optimal in delivering state-of-the-art performance for mission-critical business applications and crucial OLTP transactions. In addition, one of the key USP of IBM Flash storage is its guaranteed compression ratio which IBM promises and if it is not achieved it will offer customers free storage. Lastly, flash array works with blazing speed with very low latency (in nano second).
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.

IBM Storage FlashSystem Feature Ratings

Enterprise Flash Array Storage
9.2
Flash Array Performance
10
Flash Array Integration
8
Data Compression
10
Non-Intrusive Upgrades
10
Simplicity
7
Power Savings
10

Using IBM Storage FlashSystem

5000 - Mainly core applications such as internal employee payroll, [a] crucial oil-related application which is primarily used for exploration, the discovery of oil using seismic data.
2 - Majorly managed/administered by skilled staff who are trained on Storage/SAN technologies and have [been] hands-on for quite some time. But this particular model can be managed by a staff intermediate skill on storage/SAN.
  • OLTP Applications
  • Oil discovery
  • Seismic data analysis
  • In-house applications
  • N/A
  • Planning to use as staging space to [speed up] the backups as the environment is already equipped with high-speed data transfer from servers to storage.
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.

Evaluating IBM Storage FlashSystem and Competitors

Yes - We had replaced our current portfolio of Flash Storage 820 with a unified [IBM FlashSystem] 7200, main reason is to consolidate the environment and reduce the footprint. Secondly, to reduce the cost and unify all the storage arrays/small xylos into a single and robust environment. Lastly, maintenance cost is the key in choosing [IBM FlashSystem] 7200 over smalled FS820 arrays.
  • Price
  • Product Features
  • Product Usability
Mainly we are focused on product stability/robustness along with price factor and support are the key metrics in opting for [IBM FlashSystem] 7200 over other peers in the market.
If I get an opportunity to re-evaluate, I consider including the compression feature as the key parameter. I feel IBM products are lacking in offering compression ratio compared to peers in the market.

IBM Storage FlashSystem Implementation

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.
  • Implemented in-house
  • Third-party professional services
One of the leading partner of IBM and sole distributor helped us to build our storage flash portfolio
Change management was a minor issue with the implementation - There is nothing specific, as its a regular device replacement or addition of new hardware to the storage portfolio
  • No significant issues, its a smooth process

IBM Storage FlashSystem Support

IBM support ecosystem is robust and well organized, due to the advent of Watson based case management system IBM offers a decent support system for the customers and the users of its products.
ProsCons
Quick Resolution
Good followup
Knowledgeable team
Problems get solved
Kept well informed
Immediate help available
Support understands my problem
Support cares about my success
None
support will be provided by local Business Partner, due to the regional constraints
When we had a fire suppression incident, we lost most of the hardware components. IBM support taken it as a challenge and supported us through out the crisis and helped us to come out of the catastrophic situation

Using IBM Storage FlashSystem

ProsCons
Like to use
Relatively simple
Easy to use
Technical support not required
Well integrated
Consistent
Quick to learn
Convenient
Feel confident using
Lots to learn
  • compression is in build due to the usage of FCM modules, this is seamless to the user but a prominent feature to be highlighted
  • seamless data migration/copy across Flash array
  • GUI should have better interface

Comments

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