DDN IntelliFlash vs Dell XtremIO comparison

DataDirect Networks and Dell Technologies are both solutions in the All-Flash Storage category. DataDirect Networks is ranked #31 with an average rating of 5.0, while Dell Technologies is ranked #21 with an average rating of 8.3. DataDirect Networks holds a 0.5% mindshare in AFS, compared to Dell Technologies’s 1.1% mindshare. Additionally, 87% of DataDirect Networks users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 82% of Dell Technologies users who would recommend it.

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 18, 2024

Dell XtremIO and DDN IntelliFlash are high-performance storage solutions competing in the enterprise storage market. Dell XtremIO seems to have the upper hand in support and overall performance, whereas DDN IntelliFlash is strong in features and versatility.

Features: Dell XtremIO offers scalable performance, ease of management, and specialized functionality. DDN IntelliFlash supports various workloads, integrates seamlessly with cloud storage, and is highly versatile.

Room for Improvement: Dell XtremIO could improve data reduction capabilities, analytics tools, and enhance its feature sets. DDN IntelliFlash needs to improve technical support, streamline updates, and address support-related issues.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Dell XtremIO is noted for its straightforward deployment and responsive customer service. DDN IntelliFlash, although slightly more complex to deploy, offers satisfactory customer service.

Pricing and ROI: Dell XtremIO has higher setup costs but delivers strong ROI through performance and reliability. DDN IntelliFlash offers cost-effective initial pricing with adequate ROI, especially in cloud-integrated deployments.

To learn more, read our detailed DDN IntelliFlash vs. Dell XtremIO Report (Updated: December 2024).

Buyer's Guide

DDN IntelliFlash vs. Dell XtremIO

December 2024

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Categories and Ranking

Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Mindshare comparison

As of December 2024, in the All-Flash Storage category, the mindshare of Pure FlashArray X NVMe is 0.7%, down from 1.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of DDN IntelliFlash is 0.5%, down from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Dell XtremIO is 1.1%, down from 1.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

All-Flash Storage

Q&A Highlights

Avigail Sugarman

Community Manager at PeerSpot (formerly IT Central Station)

Nov 20, 2014

Tegile vs. XtremIO?

Tegile is (or can be) a hybrid storage system that can support both traditional HDDs as well as flash SSD drives like other traditional storage systems/appliances. EMC XtremIO otoh is an all flash array (AFA) designed from the group up with flash SSD in mind that like some other AFAs can scale performance and capacity linearly as you scale-out the solution (add additional nodes/cluster members/systems/enclosures). Here is some more info: http://storageioblog.com/emc-announces-xtremio-general-availability-part/ http://storageioblog.com/part-ii-emc-announces-xtremio-general-availability/

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Featured Reviews

Paul Pearson

Storage and Backup Architect at Concentrix

Works well, is easy to implement, and has upgrade analysis capabilities

We love the product. Pure Storage works really well. The CAT tool and also the ability to upgrade the unit's place grades are great. It allows for in-place control or upgrades. It's a very simple implementation. They have a good tool to analyze upgrades. The stability is good. Technical support has been excellent.

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Anil Rahulwar

Storage Engineer at Movate

Good customer service and support and suitable for large environments

It is very easy to install. Users don't need to remember anything while deploying IntelliFlash because everything will be taken care of by tech support. They can easily modify the installation or change the password with the help of the tech support. It is very easy to integrate IntelliFlash with other solutions. We have plugins that can be integrated with other solutions. It will require maintenance. It is the same as any other storage solution: updates and upgrades, firmware upgrades, and drive upgrades.

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Gouranga Maiti

Sr. Project Manager -IT at ITC Ltd

Suitable for high IOPS and helps get backup in ten minutes

We use Dell XtremIO for high IOPS. We get backup within 10 minutes. Initially, we faced numerous issues with our analytical systems. However, we saw performance improvement after the implementation of the solution. I like the tool's snapshot backup and flash storage features. Sometimes we…

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We are satisfied with the performance as it is significantly faster compared to traditional storage options."

"On a scale of one to ten, I rate Pure FlashArray as ten."

"What I really like about this program, is that it is easy to use and easy to configurate."

"Offers excellent features like efficient data reduction, a reliable SafeMode, and a great support model for continuous assistance and updates."

"The solution is very straightforward to set up."

"Pure Storage has signature security technology, which cannot be deleted, even if you are an administrator."

"The most valuable feature of this solution is reliability."

"The most valuable features of Pure FlashArray X NVMe are its superior performance compared to other flash tiers, as well as its ease of use, with an intuitive user interface that is simple to deploy and use."

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe pros

"It provides a combination of all the protocols that you need, without losing deduplication and compression."

"It performed great originally, and when it performed great, it was awesome."

"High performance and ease-of-management are the most valuable features."

"EasyTier/hotcaching: Valuable because it allows greater performance than standard SAS disks"

"The initial setup is straightforward."

"It has reduced our electricity usage by reducing the amount of disks needed for the virtual environment."

"Data Compression: Up to 80% space reduction in the database"

"It's very fast. We were seeing read latencies of less than one millisecond. It is robust."

More DDN IntelliFlash pros

"Linear performance – The XtremIO wasn’t the fastest in all tests against other all flash arrays, but even with a massive workload, the response time and user experience were absolutely predictable with no sharp drop-offs."

"It is scalable."

"Initially, we faced numerous issues with our analytical systems. However, we saw performance improvement after the implementation of the solution."

"The speed is extremely valuable."

"The solution's most valuable feature is its high performance."

"Deduplication and cloning capability"

"I like the deduplication and auto-tiering features."

"Xtrem10's features are more simple to implement. The integration and interface are also good."

More Dell XtremIO pros

Cons

"The UI for this solution needs to be improved."

"Many options to check performance, like read, writes, random writes, and random reads, are missing in Pure FlashArray X NVMe."

"You cannot tag a LUN with a description, and that should be improved. What I like on the Unity side is that when I expand LUNs or do things, there is an information field on the LUN. This is the Information field that you can tag on your LUNs to let yourself know, "Hey, I've added this much space on this date". Pure lacks that ability. So, you don't have a mechanism that's friendly for tracking your data expansions on the LUN and for adding any additional information. That's a downside for me."

"I would like to see some AI features that would allow arrays to intelligently identify threats or unusual behavior in the data pattern and give an alert."

"We've seen that when we create a POD in synchronous mode, it increases the latency."

"Managing data isn't difficult for me. The performance is usually perfect, but we sometimes have capacity problems."

"In the next release, I would like to see real-time analytics for further insight into consumption models."

"We would like to see more visibility into garbage collection and CPU performance in the GUI."

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe cons

"Snapshots are not as easy to access as on a NetApp device."

"Performance is horrible now. Our original intent was to buy new storage in about two years. But since it became a critical urgency for us, we decided to purchase a new one in two or three months."

"In the proxy section you can’t choose a user account and password, so it is not allowed at the moment to go out, if customer has such constellation."

"It's somewhat scalable, but maybe not so much as some of the competition."

"We had just one small stability problem with power flapping and it did not start up again automatically. We had to access service ports and manually restart the storage processors."

"In future releases, I look forward to more AI features."

"They need to offer better integration for a virtual platform to enable you to create hyper-converged solution."

"Technical support is bad. It'd grade them at 30% or 40%. The response time is terrible."

More DDN IntelliFlash cons

"Sometimes we don't get an immediate response from the support team. The initial POC also took a lot of resources."

"Management and reporting need improvement."

"Management: At the time, there was no snapshot scheduler, so I had to write XSnapCourier to address it. The sad thing is that even after the newest release, which includes a native scheduler, most customers using XSnapCourier chose to stick with it due to a more feature-rich experience."

"Ease of use is key in the converged and hyper-converged world that requires administrators to have both hypervisor and storage skills."

"Scalability is something that can be improved because there is an issue when it comes to mixing versions."

"I am not too impressed with XtremeIO because we had a major failure."

"XtremIO is coming to its end of life."

"I believe having more replication options comparatively to VMAX (other than RecoverPoint) would be great."

More Dell XtremIO cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The support cost per array is about $20,000 a year for 24/7 support."

"The licensing is on a yearly basis."

"We pay approximately $50,000 USD per year in licensing fees."

"The tool's pricing is cheap; I rate it a six to seven out of ten. Most of our sales are not subscription-based. We sell the hardware, and customers keep using it. They only renew the service part annually. The support can be a bit pricey, but the solution is more cost-effective than anything else out there."

"Its price could be better. It is not too expensive, but it is the high-end cost. It is kind of a Rolls-Royce. You pay a lot, but you get a lot out of it. So, the price pressure on the way down would be great, but at the end of the day, if you need to do the work, you just pay for it."

"With VMware, we pay $300,000 annually."

"The product is expensive."

"The tool is an investment that we've budgeted for. While the prices may be higher than those of other vendors, we see it as a market leader with benefits. We don't regret purchasing it."

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe pricing and cost advice

"I recommend the full bundle software in order to have all the functionality. It is more expensive to purchase it one by one."

"I think we pay around 100 grand per year for three arrays or four arrays."

"The price of the solution should be reduced. The price matches the price of a VMAX service but it does not have the capability of a VMAX service. However, the prices of Dell EMC XtremIO can be reduceable."

"Pricing and licensing are in line with other products from other manufacturers. You get what you pay for."

"This is the best flash array on the market for high-end workloads, so expect to pay for that. But the support subscription cost is fixed for seven years, which made it easier for us to plan on the maintenance costs."

"The licensing cost is on a yearly subscription basis, which can be expensive but is necessary for ongoing support and services. The pricing could be improved to make it more accessible."

"It's not cheap, but it absolutely gets the job done. I don't have any real comment regarding licensing specifically."

"It is great when a product can deliver high-end performance capabilities while offering a very competitive price point."

"It is expensive if you need to increase scalability."

"It is costly but worth it."

More Dell XtremIO pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which All-Flash Storage solutions are best for your needs.

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Comparison Review

it_user182013

Federal Civ/Intel Engineering Lead at Rubrik

May 1, 2015

Measuring Up: EMC XtremIO and HP 3PAR

Leading up to EMC World 2015, IT Central Station asked how I would compare EMC XtremIO and HP 3PAR. Until recently, the flash storage conversation in my organization and many others has centered on XtremIO and Pure Storage, the leaders of the all-flash array (AFA) space. To that end, I've written a…

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

16%

Manufacturing Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Government

Computer Software Company

13%

Real Estate/Law Firm

University

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

18%

Financial Services Firm

17%

Manufacturing Company

Healthcare Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Pure FlashArray X NVMe?

Pure FlashArray X NVMe helps to improve our processing speed. It is user-friendly and easy to use.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Pure FlashArray X NVMe?

I am an engineer and am not aware of the setup cost.

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What needs improvement with Pure FlashArray X NVMe?

After implementation, there are limitations, such as the number of paths, file systems, and replication options. It f...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IntelliFlash?

It is a bit cheaper than other products, 10% to 20% cheaper.

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What needs improvement with IntelliFlash?

DDN IntelliFlash should improve in terms of sales. In future releases, I look forward to more features about AI and M...

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What is your primary use case for IntelliFlash?

We use IntelliFlash products for larger environments, like Qatar Airways. They have large scalability and use more th...

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What do you like most about Dell EMC XtremIO?

The feature I like most about Dell Xtremio is its hardware quality compared to other vendors. It's clear they're cont...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell XtremIO?

When purchased eight years ago, it was offered at a special price that was good and competitive. However, upgrading w...

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What needs improvement with Dell XtremIO?

When we upgraded the capacity from five to ten TB, the price of the disks was high. Dell explained that they are sell...

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Comparisons

Dell PowerStore vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 36% of the time

TrueNAS R-Series vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 16% of the time

Pure Storage FlashBlade vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 14% of the time

Dell Unity XT vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 11% of the time

IBM FlashSystem vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 9% of the time

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe Competitors

VAST Data vs DDN IntelliFlash

Compared 29% of the time

Pure Storage FlashBlade vs DDN IntelliFlash

Compared 23% of the time

Pure Storage FlashArray vs DDN IntelliFlash

Compared 18% of the time

Tintri VMstore T7000 vs DDN IntelliFlash

Compared 17% of the time

NetApp AFF vs DDN IntelliFlash

Compared 14% of the time

More DDN IntelliFlash Competitors

Dell PowerStore vs Dell XtremIO

Compared 33% of the time

Pure Storage FlashArray vs Dell XtremIO

Compared 14% of the time

Dell PowerMax NVMe vs Dell XtremIO

Compared 14% of the time

Dell Unity XT vs Dell XtremIO

Compared 10% of the time

VAST Data vs Dell XtremIO

Compared 7% of the time

More Dell XtremIO Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Pure FlashArray X NVMe

December 2024

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Buyer's Guide

DDN IntelliFlash

December 2024

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Buyer's Guide

Dell XtremIO

December 2024

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Also Known As

Pure FlashArray//X NVMe, Pure FlashArray//X, FlashArray//X

Tegile, IntelliFlash N-Series, IntelliFlash T-Series, IntelliFlash HD-Series

Dell EMC XtremIO Flash, Dell EMC XtremIO X2, XtremIO, XtremIO X2

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Pure Storage

DataDirect Networks

Video not available

Dell Technologies

Overview

Pure Storage FlashArray//X is the world’s first enterprise-class, all-NVMe flash storage array. It represents a new class of storage – shared accelerated storage, which is a term coined by Gartner – that delivers major breakthroughs in performance, simplicity, and consolidation.

Western Digital through its IntelliFlash arrays delivers high-performance storage with a complete range of features and connectivity options, including inline compression and deduplication, application and VM consistent snapshots, replication, RAID, data encryption, VMware vCenter integration, and multi-protocol support for SAN (FC, iSCSI) and NAS (NFS, SMBv3). IntelliFlash arrays deliver high availability through dualredundant and hot-swappable components, active/active or active/passive controllers, non-disruptive software upgrades, eMLC flash, and proactive cloud-based monitoring, analytics, and intelligence. A RESTful API provides scripted or programmatic control.

Bring all-flash, scale-out storage to your enterprise applications with EMC XtremIO. Purpose-built for flash, XtremIO storage arrays are amazingly fast. Delivering high IOPS at less than 1 millisecond latency is just the start. EMC XtremIO helps you harness the power of flash storage by building in innovations like content-based data placement and dual-stage metadata.

Sample Customers

Fremont Bank, Judson ISD, The Nielsen Company

Bank of Stockton, Barnsley College, Boyes Turner, Brigham Young University

Raiffeisen Bank Bulgaria, Wentworth-Douglas Hospital

Buyer's Guide

DDN IntelliFlash vs. Dell XtremIO

December 2024

Free Report: DDN IntelliFlash vs. Dell XtremIO

Find out what your peers are saying about DDN IntelliFlash vs. Dell XtremIO and other solutions. Updated: December 2024.

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