DataCore SANsymphony vs IBM Spectrum Scale comparison

DataCore and IBM are both solutions in the Software Defined Storage (SDS) category. DataCore is ranked #5 with an average rating of 9.4, while IBM is ranked #7 with an average rating of 9.3. DataCore holds a 7.9% mindshare in SDS, compared to IBM’s 4.7% mindshare. Additionally, 97% of DataCore users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of IBM users who would recommend it.

DataCore SANsymphony

Read 56 DataCore SANsymphony reviews

1,717 Views
924 Comparison Views

97% willing to recommend

IBM Spectrum Scale

Read 12 IBM Spectrum Scale reviews

1,148 Views
842 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

DataCore SANsymphony

IBM Spectrum Scale

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 5, 2024

DataCore SANsymphony and IBM Spectrum Scale are major players in storage solutions. DataCore has an edge in pricing and support, whereas IBM Spectrum Scale is preferred for comprehensive features and performance, particularly in large-scale environments.

Features: DataCore SANsymphony is known for its efficient data management with easy-to-manage disk pools and auto-tiering, ensuring high availability through its mirroring function. Seamless capacity expansion and fast implementation are key highlights. IBM Spectrum Scale is recognized for its superior parallel file management, scalability, and cross-platform integration, maintaining high performance with minimal latency.

Room for Improvement: DataCore SANsymphony users report pricing complexity and tech support issues, with desires for improved iSCSI connectivity and better integration with solutions like Veeam. A more intuitive interface is needed. IBM Spectrum Scale's challenges include complex licensing and difficult initial deployment, with calls for clearer instructions and GUI enhancements.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: DataCore SANsymphony offers on-premises and hybrid cloud deployment options and is praised for its customer service and responsive technical support. IBM Spectrum Scale, primarily focused on on-premises deployment, is lauded for robust support but mentioned less frequently than DataCore.

Pricing and ROI: DataCore SANsymphony involves high costs due to its subscription model based on storage volume, yet is seen as cost-effective for redundancy and scalability. IBM Spectrum Scale has reasonable costs but a complex pricing model, offering high availability and strong ROI through effective resource utilization.

To learn more, read our detailed DataCore SANsymphony vs. IBM Spectrum Scale Report (Updated: February 2025).

Buyer's Guide

DataCore SANsymphony vs. IBM Spectrum Scale

February 2025

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

DataCore SANsymphony

Ranking in Software Defined Storage (SDS)

5th

Average Rating

9.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Storage Software (2nd), HCI (7th), Storage Performance (2nd)

IBM Spectrum Scale

Ranking in Software Defined Storage (SDS)

7th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Cloud Software Defined Storage (3rd)

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the Software Defined Storage (SDS) category, the mindshare of DataCore SANsymphony is 7.9%, up from 5.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Spectrum Scale is 4.7%, down from 7.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Software Defined Storage (SDS)

Featured Reviews

TempreviewerD

Architecte Principal at Orange

Robust with good replication and access protection

The solution is constantly evolving. Recently, deduplication and compression have been further improved to meet customer needs, and updates are easily implemented without stopping production. The update assistant checks the state of health before using good practices, during checks that the data is still presented for service continuity, and afterward, if the actions carried out are indeed active. Technical support is truly available even without a production incident. This is really essential right now.

Read full review

Bernd Stroehle.

Enterprise Architect at kosakya

Deliver improved performance in data processing and foster extensive AI initiatives

I find IBM Spectrum Scale to be an excellent product known for its fast parallel file system. It achieved the best results when integrated with IBM hardware. Even though it is complex, it provided significant performance advantages in large-scale data management. Its fault tolerance mechanisms and integration capabilities make it popular for extensive AI initiatives and data processing tasks for organizations like Daimler Benz and Bosch.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"For us, fault tolerance is the most important feature of DataCore."

"The dashboard is very intuitive, and there are many counters to diagnose what happens during a short period (like when a backup is in progress)."

"Auto-tiering to obtain performance at a lower cost without the customer having to purchase ultra-fast storage is great."

"I am very happy with this product's ability to adapt, increase, and modify existing infrastructures."

"The most valuable feature for us is that we can adjust the size of the storage very easily, without stopping production."

"An advantage of SANsymphony is its ease of use, especially when installing or upgrading the system."

"Storage is always available."

"The solution's most valuable feature is its versatility, with there being support for all new hardware technologies and platforms, disc mirroring and very effective auto tiering."

More DataCore SANsymphony pros

"Allows us to share files across multiple environments."

"The high performance of the solution is its most valuable aspect. If you compare it to other storage solutions, it's much better."

"We can have multiple systems within the same file system."

"It has been pretty reliable throughout the years. As far as capacity is concerned, it can handle most heavy loads."

"The most valuable feature is the ability to share files across different platforms."

"I rate this product ten out of ten."

"It is a scalable solution."

"Technical support has been very helpful. They provide us with pretty good solutions that we can implement moving forward."

More IBM Spectrum Scale pros

Cons

"We are waiting for container support (on the roadmap), as well as a user-friendly full web-administration capability, and an improved API."

"I would like for it to improve into a more ergonomic management console and a translation into the French language. It should have some process for a shutdown of a VM properly in case of a problem."

"I think an easier way to open a service call, right through the DataCore GUI, would be an improvement, especially when there is an urgent issue."

"Management could be improved. The management console sometimes reacts very slowly."

"The cost is becoming prohibitive since they moved to a subscription model."

"For customers or technicians who don't speak and understand English, it would be great to have other language support, all the more so given the number of countries in which SanSymphony is used."

"The solution is constantly evolving."

"One area where the solution could improve is its software platform. Many customers have expressed dissatisfaction with the software running on Microsoft Windows."

More DataCore SANsymphony cons

"The initial setup is complex, especially if trying to avoid erasure coding, as it requires more discs. Avoiding erasure coding can significantly increase costs."

"We do have some issues where Spectrum Scale does not work as expected. We have seen our Spectrum Scale servers go down unexpectedly, but because we have a cluster, it does not take out the entire organization."

"The biggest problem is that it is not able to provide block storage."

"I believe there is no graphic user interface, so they should include it."

"There can be improvements in fault tolerance and making erasure coding faster."

"The main issue that we have now is with the encryption. They want to use more metrics in encryption, which is not working very well."

"They should probably simply the Red Hat implementation portion. This portion was not as straightforward as I would like it to be."

"It would be helpful if there was a graphical user interface that could walk you through the deployment process. The instructions surrounding setup aren't the best. They need to be more step-by-step."

More IBM Spectrum Scale cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"DataCore SANsymphony's pricing is very high and should be much cheaper."

"Make sure you are made aware of the annual subscription cost when purchasing."

"The cost is at the same level as other storage solutions and it is easy to understand the licensing."

"This solution allows the use of off-the-shelf hardware and charges by the TB of storage."

"In my case, the licensing per terabytes is very high and it must be licensed for each extra functionality."

"This product has a good ratio between quality and price. In many cases, it's less expensive to work with DataCore than other storage systems."

"We have licensing costs on a yearly basis. They charge per terabyte, so in terms of cost, it can be very costly. They have three different features, and you have to pay extra for those."

"It is relatively expensive, and the additional costs for hardware and storage can make it a significant investment for customers."

More DataCore SANsymphony pricing and cost advice

"The licensing model is complex and depends on factors such as the number of processing cores and the amount of storage."

"The licensing is based on the number of terabytes."

"The solution is costly but reliable."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

21%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

20%

Computer Software Company

15%

Manufacturing Company

14%

Educational Organization

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for DataCore SANsymphony SDS?

The cost changed from a perpetual license to a subscription model, and it seems reasonable. I am technical personnel and not deeply involved in sales, but the pricing appears fine.

See all answers

What do you like most about DataCore SANsymphony?

The dashboard is very intuitive, and there are a lot of counters to diagnose what happens during a short period (like when a backup is in progress).

See all answers

What needs improvement with DataCore SANsymphony?

In my opinion, there should be improvements in how to get and filter logs. However, this is not a frequent need because they have great support that offers quick and knowledgeable assistance. Other...

See all answers

What do you like most about IBM Spectrum Scale?

It is a scalable solution.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Spectrum Scale?

IBM Spectrum Scale is very expensive with complex pricing models usually based on the amount of storage used or the number of servers. Using Excelero for mirroring storage helped reduce Spectrum Sc...

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM Spectrum Scale?

There can be improvements in fault tolerance and making erasure coding faster. Additionally, it would be beneficial to have example configurations or applications that assist in setup and configura...

See all answers

Comparisons

Red Hat Ceph Storage vs DataCore SANsymphony

Compared 14% of the time

VMware vSAN vs DataCore SANsymphony

Compared 13% of the time

HPE SimpliVity vs DataCore SANsymphony

Compared 10% of the time

Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct vs DataCore SANsymphony

Compared 10% of the time

StorMagic SvSAN vs DataCore SANsymphony

Compared 9% of the time

More DataCore SANsymphony Competitors

Red Hat Ceph Storage vs IBM Spectrum Scale

Compared 28% of the time

Portworx Enterprise vs IBM Spectrum Scale

Compared 16% of the time

DDN IME vs IBM Spectrum Scale

Compared 15% of the time

NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP vs IBM Spectrum Scale

Compared 7% of the time

IBM Spectrum Accelerate vs IBM Spectrum Scale

Compared 7% of the time

More IBM Spectrum Scale Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

DataCore SANsymphony

March 2025

Download DataCore SANsymphony product report

Buyer's Guide

IBM Spectrum Scale

March 2025

Download IBM Spectrum Scale product report

Also Known As

DataCore Virtual SAN

No data available

Overview

Experience peace of mind with DataCore SANsymphony, the ultimate software-defined storage solution alleviating storage management challenges. Say goodbye to the complexities of managing different storage tiers and disruptions with SANsymphony's block-level storage virtualization technology, empowering you to automate capacity provisioning and data placement across diverse storage environments including SAN, DAS, HCI, and JBOD. Break down silos, control data placement, meet business continuity objectives, boost performance, and seamlessly expand or refresh hardware with SANsymphony. Benefit from features like asynchronous replication for disaster recovery, minimizing data loss, accelerating application responsiveness, and integrating new technology non-disruptively. Trusted by industry leaders like NASA, Thorntons, Inc., and TUI Cruises, DataCore SANsymphony guarantees unparalleled flexibility, scalability, and reliability, ensuring uninterrupted data access and application availability while reducing storage costs and inefficiencies.

DataCore

IBM Spectrum Scale is a cluster file system that provides concurrent access to a single file system or set of file systems from multiple nodes. The nodes can be SAN attached, network attached, a mixture of SAN attached and network attached, or in a shared nothing cluster configuration. This enables access to this common set of data to support a scale-out solution or to provide a high availability platform. IBM Spectrum Scale has many features beyond common data access including data replication, policy based storage management, and multi-site operations. You can create a cluster of AIX nodes, Linux nodes, Windows server nodes, or a mix of all three. IBM Spectrum Scale can run on virtualized instances providing common data access in environments, leverage logical partitioning, or other hypervisors. Multiple IBM Spectrum Scale clusters can share data within a location or across wide area network (WAN) connections.

IBM

Sample Customers

Volkswagen , Maimonides Medical Center, NASA, Thorntons, Inc., TUI, ISCO Industries, Pee Dee Electric Cooperative, United Financial Credit Union, Derby Supply Chain Solutions, Mission Community Hospital, Bellarmine College Preparatory, Colby-Sawyer College, Mount Sinai Health System, The Royal Institute of International Affairs, Quorn Foods, Bitburger, University of Birmingham, Stadtverwaltung Heidelberg, NetEnt to name a few.

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

DataCore SANsymphony vs. IBM Spectrum Scale

February 2025

Free Report: DataCore SANsymphony vs. IBM Spectrum Scale

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