Dell XtremIO vs IBM FlashSystem comparison

Dell Technologies and IBM are both solutions in the All-Flash Storage category. Dell Technologies is ranked #19 with an average rating of 8.3, while IBM is ranked #13 with an average rating of 8.4. Dell Technologies holds a 1.0% mindshare in AFS, compared to IBM’s 7.6% mindshare. Additionally, 82% of Dell Technologies users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 91% of IBM users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 18, 2024

Dell XtremIO and IBM FlashSystem are two leading storage solutions in the market. IBM FlashSystem has a competitive edge with its superior features despite higher costs, while Dell XtremIO is noted for its ease of deployment and cost efficiency.

Features: Dell XtremIO is praised for its inline data reduction, scalability, and performance. IBM FlashSystem stands out with its comprehensive data protection, high availability, and seamless integration capabilities.

Room for Improvement: Users suggest Dell XtremIO could improve in areas like NAS support, analytics, and adding more functionalities. IBM FlashSystem could benefit from more intuitive management tools, clearer upgrade paths, and enhancements in usability.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Dell XtremIO is noted for its straightforward deployment process and effective troubleshooting support. IBM FlashSystem, while praised for deployment, occasionally receives feedback about complex setup steps. Dell's customer service is seen as more responsive and user-friendly.

Pricing and ROI: Dell XtremIO offers lower initial setup costs and faster ROI, appealing to budget-conscious buyers. IBM FlashSystem, despite higher costs, provides a return on investment through exceptional performance and long-term reliability. Users are generally satisfied with the value provided by both, but IBM's ROI is noted for its high performance.

To learn more, read our detailed Dell XtremIO vs. IBM FlashSystem Report (Updated: January 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Dell XtremIO vs. IBM FlashSystem

January 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

Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the All-Flash Storage category, the mindshare of Pure FlashArray X NVMe is 0.8%, down from 1.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Dell XtremIO is 1.0%, down from 1.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM FlashSystem is 7.6%, up from 6.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

All-Flash Storage

Featured Reviews

Eugene Hemphill

Sales Manager at Multicomputos PR

Helps to save money and resources with the data compression feature

One point I'd like to improve is that the tool should start selling small boxes again. It discontinued some products and is focusing on bigger, more capable boxes, neglecting the SMB market. Even though it's not a big market, it shouldn't have removed them. One way to improve the product is to add an operational assistant that doesn't depend on VMware. It could also establish more alliances with other operational systems.

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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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Raanan Sitton

Vice President Sales at BELOCAL LTD

Offers cost-effective storage for small companies with budget constraints

IBM FlashSystem 5300 is offered at a very low cost in Israel, which is advantageous for small companies. However, other features like deduplication and compression do not perform effectively. The price sensitivity makes it a viable option for clients with budgetary constraints, as it allows us to secure deals based on the cost rather than advanced performance.

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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

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

"The high availability of the product is the most valuable feature."

"It has benefited my organization because it has reduced time to insights."

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

"I use the tool for Oracle databases, Oracle virtual machines, and Oracle Linux databases. I'm on the storage side, not a database administrator."

"One of the best features is the support, which is excellent."

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

"I appreciate the performance."

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe pros

"The program is very stable."

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

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

"The performance is good, which is important."

"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."

"Deduplication and cloning capability"

"The most valuable feature of Dell EMC XtremIO is the data protection (DP) group, it is one of the most advanced features in these types of arrays. The dedupe and compression that this array provides both do a superb job."

"The most valuable features are: complete performance and ease of use."

More Dell XtremIO pros

"The speed and the ease of installation are the most valuable features."

"We are a 100% satisfied with the stability of the solution."

"The initial customer technical support was efficient and effective."

"At the FlashSystem level, customers are especially fond of multi-tier and distributed rate systems, particularly the dynamic rate six arrays."

"When it comes to the interface of the solution we did not encounter any challenges. Additionally, the solution has good documentation."

"FlashSystem offers proven technology in a compact package."

"The performance of the All-Flash System is very good. There is more enhanced performance and data production in the solution, which I appreciate."

"No queuing and high ops, speed, and performance."

More IBM FlashSystem pros

Cons

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

"I'd like to see the product implement active replication for vehicles such as VMware."

"I would like to see replication and DR features in the next release of this solution."

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

"If the customer only needs 500 terabytes and doesn't care how much data they'll put in the server, IBM is cheaper than Pure."

"They could add more support for file storage and different types of storage."

"In terms of what needs improvement, the dashboard and management could be simplified."

"Efficiency improvements would always be welcome, but I'm not sure if they could get more efficient."

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe cons

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

"It is very expensive to scale. You have to buy an additional system to extend from one disc, for instance. It is scalable, but extremely expensive to do so."

"I would like hardware capacity additions to be a little more flexible. The upgrade path for the existing XTremIO units requires you to purchase 2 XBricks at a time and they need to be the same capacity as the existing XBricks."

"If you are looking at flash storage solutions, XtremIO doesn't offer any unique features. Most of my customers are migrating their workload from XtremIO to other formats because of this."

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

"In some cases where we don’t need the flexibility of the virtualization layer, we could free up resources on the VPLEX by using the storage replication."

"The solution's stability has certain shortcomings where improvements are needed."

"This solution is geared toward enterprise-level companies. Small and medium-sized businesses would find it extremely expensive."

More Dell XtremIO cons

"The solution is quite expensive. That's one of the downsides to using it."

"The design is a little old-fashioned and could be updated. The rack is very primitive and designed in an older style."

"I know they have a flashcopy manager, but it is extra software, an additional license, and some customers don't like to add addition costs to their infrastructure. If IBM could create, or include snapshot management within the GUI, that would really be helpful."

"I would like to have a larger disk. Right now, you can get 57 terabytes in a shelf. Once they get the larger disk and you get larger capacities, it'll be even better."

"There is room for improvement in the troubleshooting part, specifically related to IBM Spectrum for Insight. Customers are uncomfortable with remote access, which affects automated remote support."

"The generic functionality of IBM FlashSystem, IBM always dismisses using file share or sharing protocols inside their storage hardware, and they only focus on the block-level storage."

"This solution could be improved by offering greater amounts of storage."

"The solution has a low number of NVME host attachments at 16 per IO group over the fiber channel."

More IBM FlashSystem cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is expensive."

"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."

"With Pure Storage, we would like to continue seeing price reductions with flash storage. I don't think we're any different than anybody else when we continue to look to the industry for price reductions of both NVMe and traditional SSD storage. We would like to see these prices continue to decline and erode, even displacing large spinning disks."

"The licensing is on a yearly basis."

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

"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."

"Pretty much everything that you need is licensed when you buy the product. Licensing to me is different than the maintenance cost, but they can bleed into one another. We buy the product, and we expect three years of support bundled into what we negotiate on our storage arrays. I would start to see maintenance costs going into the fourth year, but we're not there yet."

"Pure FlashArray X NVMe’s pricing is cheaper than other products."

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe pricing and cost advice

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

"It is costly but worth it."

"The license for XtremIO is in the box, so you don't have to buy anything."

"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."

"XtremIO is pretty straightforward about pricing. However, you need to look at your data so you can estimate, with the advice of DEL EMC, what data reduction ratio you will reach. In our case, a 3:1 reduction ration gave us a positive case compared to other storage arrays."

"Licensing is approximately $200,000 per year."

"Don’t buy this array. You’re paying for loads of magic beans, since it’s mediocre at best for a platform in a rapidly growing field. Look instead at Pure Storage or something with variable block deduplication. You’ll end up spending less and getting a better product with actual support."

"Too high priced for the Brazil market."

More Dell XtremIO pricing and cost advice

"I would rate the pricing of this solution a four out of five."

"They've been much more aggressive in the last five, six years than they were before that."

"The total storage capacity vs price is still quite high for the IBM Flash Array."

"The cost is pretty high in terms of licensing. We pay at least $100,000 USD in licensing fees for the storage."

"This is an expensive product and if the price were reduced it would be better."

"It pays to go back and get the best price you can from your supplier. The first offer is not always at the best discount."

"The pricing is competitive in our country."

"The integration is already included in the license cost of IBM FlashSystem. The integration is very easy. You get the IBM storage core with all software, firmware, and upgrades. EMC provides the features in the box, but they are not free for customers. There is a licensing cost for features. We have yearly licensing, but IBM has also provided a new option where you pay as you go. They provide a big box, and I pay, for example, for 10 terabytes. If I exceed 10 terabytes, IBM will charge for the new storage after 10 terabytes. It is a good opportunity in the market for using the storage as a cloud and paying as you go."

More IBM FlashSystem pricing and cost advice

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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

Financial Services Firm

17%

Computer Software Company

17%

Manufacturing Company

Healthcare Company

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

Government

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.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Pure FlashArray X NVMe?

Maybe the price can be reduced since the solution is very expensive.

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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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What do you like most about IBM FlashSystem?

It is simple to make an update.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM FlashSystem?

Many factors affect purchasing directly from IBM, often involving a multi-step process. Customers, especially in bank...

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What needs improvement with IBM FlashSystem?

There is room for improvement in the troubleshooting part, specifically related to IBM Spectrum for Insight. Customer...

See all answers

Comparisons

Dell PowerStore vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 38% of the time

TrueNAS R-Series vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 17% of the time

Pure Storage FlashBlade vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 16% of the time

Dell Unity XT vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 12% of the time

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Dell PowerStore vs Dell XtremIO

Compared 30% of the time

Dell PowerMax NVMe vs Dell XtremIO

Compared 14% of the time

Pure Storage FlashArray vs Dell XtremIO

Compared 13% of the time

Dell Unity XT vs Dell XtremIO

Compared 10% of the time

NetApp AFF vs Dell XtremIO

Compared 5% of the time

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Dell PowerStore vs IBM FlashSystem

Compared 25% of the time

Pure Storage FlashArray vs IBM FlashSystem

Compared 8% of the time

Huawei OceanStor Dorado vs IBM FlashSystem

Compared 7% of the time

Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform vs IBM FlashSystem

Compared 6% of the time

HPE Alletra Storage vs IBM FlashSystem

Compared 6% of the time

More IBM FlashSystem Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Pure FlashArray X NVMe

January 2025

Download Pure FlashArray X NVMe product report

Buyer's Guide

Dell XtremIO

January 2025

Download Dell XtremIO product report

Buyer's Guide

IBM FlashSystem

January 2025

Download IBM FlashSystem product report

Also Known As

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

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

IBM Storwize

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Pure Storage

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Dell Technologies

IBM

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.

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.

IBM FlashSystem products are enterprise computer data storage systems that store data on flash memory chips. Unlike storage systems that use standard solid-state drives, IBM FlashSystem products incorporate custom hardware based on technology from the 2012 acquisition of Texas Memory Systems. This hardware provides performance, reliability, and efficiency benefits versus competitive offerings.

Sample Customers

Fremont Bank, Judson ISD, The Nielsen Company

Raiffeisen Bank Bulgaria, Wentworth-Douglas Hospital

Celero, Friedhelm Loh Group, Clarks, Mingkang Natregro Health Food Group, Sofia, Etisalat Fights Fraud, UF Health Shands Hospital, Generali, Elecon Engineering Company Limited, Ventiv , Technology, CPFL Energia, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., SciQuest, Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated, Paddy Power, Kelsey-Seybold Clinic, Interconnect Services, Severstal IP-Only AB, PVU Group GmbH

Buyer's Guide

Dell XtremIO vs. IBM FlashSystem

January 2025

Free Report: Dell XtremIO vs. IBM FlashSystem

Find out what your peers are saying about Dell XtremIO vs. IBM FlashSystem and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.

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