HPE Alletra Storage vs IBM FlashSystem comparison

Hewlett Packard Enterprise and IBM are both solutions in the All-Flash Storage category. Hewlett Packard Enterprise is ranked #7 with an average rating of 9.1, while IBM is ranked #6 with an average rating of 8.6. Additionally, 97% of Hewlett Packard Enterprise users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 91% of IBM users who would recommend it.

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 18, 2024

IBM FlashSystem and HPE Alletra Storage compete in the storage solutions market. HPE Alletra Storage has the upper hand due to its advanced management features and superior scalability.

Features: IBM FlashSystem offers robust data protection, high-performance capabilities, and reliability. HPE Alletra Storage provides advanced management, scalability, and intuitive controls.

Room for Improvement: IBM FlashSystem needs better cost efficiency, enhanced analytics, and customer support responsiveness. HPE Alletra Storage requires more comprehensive support resources, improved update processes, and cost-effective solutions.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM FlashSystem is noted for its straightforward deployment but has mixed customer service reviews. HPE Alletra Storage is praised for easy implementation and consistently favorable customer support.

Pricing and ROI: IBM FlashSystem has competitive initial setup costs but questionable long-term ROI. HPE Alletra Storage, though initially more expensive, delivers better ROI through advanced features and long-term reliability.

To learn more, read our detailed HPE Alletra Storage vs. IBM FlashSystem Report (Updated: October 2024).

Buyer's Guide

HPE Alletra Storage vs. IBM FlashSystem

October 2024

Download the complete report

Helped 815,854 peers since 2012

Categories and Ranking

Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Featured Reviews

Paul Pearson

Storage and Backup Architect at Concentrix

Apr 25, 2022

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

Currently, it's our tier-one storage. We use it mostly for our Oracle databases It has drastically improved the performance of our high-end Oracle databases and allows us the ability to replication to a DR location with ease. We love the product. Pure Storage works really well. The CAT tool and…

Read full review

Lisa Whalen

System Engineer at University of Nebraska

Jun 19, 2024

Provides a cloud-like operation model on-prem for managing data infrastructure

I've always said I love that it's easy to use. At one point in time, we had a 3PAR. And with 3PAR, I always thought it was a little more difficult. There was so much more to maintaining it, setting it up, and everything. With the [HPE] Alletra [Storage], it's just easy. It's easy to provision space to use and to set up. InfoSight is invaluable to me. With it, I can just quickly go out there and see what is going on. Alletra provides a cloud-like operation model on-prem for managing data infrastructure. [HPE] Alletra [Storage] is very good for predicting problems and preventing them before they occur. InfoSight has really helped with that. I honestly don't have to look at it much. However, there's the alerting and everything that will tell us what's going on. That said, I check InfoSight every once in a while. [HPE Alletra Storage] reduced the time spent on storage provision. It's so much easier than the 3PAR. It's just so much easier. I don't spend time in there at all. The product improved our storage performance experience in terms of IOPS. Our end users that use the SAP environment were a little concerned at first. We said we were going to switch over from the 3PAR to the Alletra since they've always been more familiar with the 3PAR. However, when we moved them over, they noticed a performance increase.

Read full review

Abdul-Salam

Sr. Manager - System Analyst (Datacenter Infrastructure) at Sohar International

Feb 3, 2023

An easy GUI and simple provisioning but our model does not support compression

Our company uses the solution for robotic process automation, workflow automation, and document management. The solution is used for certain front-end systems, so users are not aware of the how it operates on the backend. About 30 front-end users access each application across various bank…

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

"The most valuable feature of this solution is its ease of use."

"The system allows for seamless learning experiences, facilitating quick and easy cloning of environments within minutes."

"FlashArray has some fresh efficiency features. I've never seen a storage solution with a compression rating this high before. It's at least 4-to-1 on Oracle databases. It's the best flash storage for Oracle."

"We're able to get higher-density workloads on the same infrastructure, and we have a smaller physical footprint. The performance is excellent – during our test the bottlenecks are never on the X array, it just keeps picking up the pace to match what you need. The real-time visibility is a differentiator in my opinion."

"It is very easy to install and configure. It has got excellent diagnostics. If you really need to see how the box is performing, the console gives you a lot of information. You can set thresholds as well as alerts based on the thresholds, which is a very powerful functionality. They are very proactive. They know how to monitor and manage the systems. They see a problem, and they are all over it before us. They see the problem before we see it, which is very good."

"Pure FlashArray X NVMe has low latency and high Ops. It is an evergreen model."

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

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

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe pros

"The extended capacity offers a small footprint that's still meeting a large customer demand."

"It's really easy to use."

"The performance is valuable. The NVMe performance with VDI plays a big role. There is efficiency of the array and replication between two sites. A lot of customers use Alletra for production and DR and do replication."

"It's good for preventing problems before they occur."

"It is simple to manage and integrate with our virtualization platform. There is also the storage efficiency."

"The ease of setup was huge for me, as I'm the only storage admin for our company."

"Alletra's performance has been very good."

"We have improved storage performance."

More HPE Alletra Storage pros

"The most valuable features are deduplication and compression."

"Ability to manage third-party arrays and virtualise them: One screen to control multiple arrays. Simplified administration."

"The storage system is one of the best in the world."

"User friendly management interface."

"The Flash core models offer amazing performance."

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

"The technical support for this solution is good. They used to help us when the motherboard of Power Systems broke. Their response times are really fast."

"They have a virtualization feature and, even if you do not want to buy that feature, you can have it as a trial for two to three months. If you have another brand of storage from another company, you can use this tool to transfer all your data from the old system to the new Storwize system, which really shortens the migration time."

More IBM FlashSystem pros

Cons

"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."

"There is room for improvement in catering to midrange storage needs, especially for customers seeking Enterprise-class features."

"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."

"Our use cases require more multi-tenant capabilities and additional VLAN interfaces for separating different customers. We currently use it to provide storage, sometimes shared storage, to different customers, but it is less flexible in comparison to a dedicated solution."

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

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

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

"Every time I think of something that needs to improve, they're one step ahead, which I love. The only area I wish to see improve, I believe is coming, is in the FlashBlade product. Blade implementation fell short on a few of the services."

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe cons

"They can continue developing their V vaults and peer persistence. They can implement active-active peer persistence so that our organization can use it."

"They have a new update coming out that I'm going to be using as far as lack of snapshots. I'm going to put that into place as soon as I upgrade to the new version."

"There can be more visibility and statistics for the customers to see. The customers would love to see AI."

"We faced many problems with HPE Alletra 6000, and we did not understand whether it was because of some issue with the controllers or the disk."

"One problem we had during the installation of HPE Alletra Storage was the connection to the cloud. Our company does not like cloud connections for storage, but it was necessary. It would be a good thing to start without the GreenLake cloud."

"The licensing could always be cheaper."

"The solution could use more monitoring of their split-brain system controllers."

"The solution could improve the upgrades. In Brazil, it's difficult. The price is very high and it is not an easy process."

More HPE Alletra Storage cons

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

"The data reduction pool feature sucks and is not recommended for use with heavy workloads."

"They can improve its initial configuration. The initial configuration is currently very difficult. There are multiple choices or alternative ways to configure based on the use case and what you are targeting out of the device, that is, more capacity or more performance. These multiple alternatives cause a lot of confusion. They should increase the processing part of the nodes. Currently, you can cluster up to eight nodes. From my experience and the workload that I am facing in my environment currently, I would like to see either a bigger or stronger node or a larger number of nodes that can be clustered together. We formally communicated to them that we need to see either this or that, and they are working on something."

"They can include Amazon file system S3 protocol in the upcoming releases. It is a cloud file system. IBM FlashSystem doesn't have this feature in the box for high-end or mid-range. We have got requests for this from customers because we need to use S3 for EDI application storage. At the beginning of every year, IBM releases firmware. When I find any bugs in the firmware during the year, I am unable to find any information from IBM regarding the bug. I need to open a ticket, and the IBM engineering team makes a patch only for me. This patch is not public. By creating a customized patch for a client, they don't really solve the issue for everyone. If multiple users have the same bug, IBM should upload the patch on the official website so that we can download it. IBM FlashSystem has a monitoring tool in the box, but it is not advanced. I need a more advanced tool for more advanced equations and monitoring. All top three storage vendors, that is, EMC, IBM, and Pure Storage, don't have a powerful monitoring tool. To monitor our box to show the statistics for I/Os and latency, I need to pay for extra software. The built-in monitoring storage is not mature enough to handle all requests and generate all reports that I need. They can include the functionality to stretch a cluster natively without using any additional boxes. In addition, there are some features that EMC has integrated with the box. These features are not available in IBM FlashSystem."

"The array level RAID does not seem available."

"The solution's pricing is a bit high so there is room for improvement."

"This solution needs a management console where we are alerted to issues and can report them, or escalate them through email or another method."

"Additional licenses might be added for the fundamental licenses, such as those for copying and flash copies."

More IBM FlashSystem cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Our licensing fees are $500,000+ USD."

"As far as the licensing costs, everything is included in the license."

"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."

"They can tout the functionality and cutting edge technology that they have, but that's where the price tag comes in. The cost is high, but I think as they grow their business and get more customers that it will probably go down a little bit."

"Given its price, Pure is not the first option."

"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."

"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."

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe pricing and cost advice

"It is reasonably priced."

"Its licensing is good. Pricing-wise, there can be a little bit more flexibility. It would help to have different sizes. However, it fits into the budget that we have, so we are happy."

"HPE was a clear winner on price per terabyte. It was very smooth."

"It is fairly priced. It is in line with industry standard pricing and cost models."

"So far, so good."

"There is a license. HPE Alletra uses a cloud-based model."

"For us, its price is good."

"Overall, it was good. It had a good price per gigabyte."

More HPE Alletra Storage pricing and cost advice

"The price depends of the technology that our customers need. The price can come at a lower cost but this may increase as storage is added."

"The price of IBM FlashSystem is a little high because you pay a premium because the solution is from IBM. We had paid for the SLA prior to using the solution."

"The pricing is reasonable."

"For a yearly license, it is about $100,000. There are no additional costs. The entire system is included."

"I'd rate the basic licensing and the Virtualize software a ten out of ten, and the extra Spectrum and other an eight out of ten."

"Regarding licensing make sure you add at least three years software maintenance from IBM at the beginning, because you will not be able to download firmware updates or any fixes/patches without this."

"This solution is expensive compared to other solutions."

"I find the pricing of the solution to be very reasonable."

More IBM FlashSystem 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.

See recommendations

815,854 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

16%

Manufacturing Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Government

Computer Software Company

20%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

Government

Computer Software Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

12%

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.

See all answers

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?

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

See all answers

What do you like most about HPE Alletra?

It offers rich features and high speed for transferring data.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HPE Alletra?

We work with a vendor partner, and he offers us good service and pricing. Some vendor partners are not so effective.

See all answers

What needs improvement with HPE Alletra?

More training videos would help. We could learn some best practices. Sometimes, people may not follow the best practi...

See all answers

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?

The product is expensive. It costs around 150k for five years.

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM FlashSystem?

The product could be cheaper.

See all answers

Comparisons

Dell PowerStore vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 37% of the time

Pure Storage FlashBlade vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 15% of the time

TrueNAS R-Series vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 13% of the time

Dell Unity XT vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 11% of the time

Dell PowerMax NVMe vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 9% of the time

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe Competitors

Dell PowerStore vs HPE Alletra Storage

Compared 30% of the time

HPE Primera vs HPE Alletra Storage

Compared 17% of the time

Pure Storage FlashArray vs HPE Alletra Storage

Compared 8% of the time

HPE 3PAR StoreServ vs HPE Alletra Storage

Compared 8% of the time

Dell PowerMax NVMe vs HPE Alletra Storage

Compared 5% of the time

More HPE Alletra Storage Competitors

Dell PowerStore vs IBM FlashSystem

Compared 26% of the time

Pure Storage FlashArray vs IBM FlashSystem

Compared 9% 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 MSA vs IBM FlashSystem

Compared 4% of the time

More IBM FlashSystem Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Pure FlashArray X NVMe

November 2024

Download Pure FlashArray X NVMe product report

Buyer's Guide

HPE Alletra Storage

November 2024

Download HPE Alletra Storage product report

Buyer's Guide

IBM FlashSystem

November 2024

Download IBM FlashSystem product report

Also Known As

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

No data available

IBM Storwize

Learn More

Pure Storage

Video not available

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

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.

HPE Alletra Storage is designed for high-performance workloads including virtualization, data centers, VMware storage, and hybrid cloud, delivering NVMe performance with sub-millisecond latency and 100% data availability.

HPE Alletra Storage integrates with technologies like Synergy compute and Hyper-V, offering essential features like deduplication, data replication, cloud integration, and predictive analytics. Its reliability, throughput, ease of use, and simplified provisioning make it ideal for a range of applications, including SAP environments, databases, and financial systems. Room for improvement includes better integration, setup, monitoring, and a more intuitive management interface. Customers seek enhancements in reporting, real-time stats, NVMe support for other storage tiers, smaller chassis, and cost-effective options.

What are the key features of HPE Alletra Storage?

NVMe Performance: Sub-millisecond latency for high-speed access.
Deduplication: Reduces storage consumption through data deduplication.
Data Replication: Ensures data is replicated for high availability.
Cloud Integration: Seamless integration with cloud environments.
Predictive Analytics: Uses InfoSight for proactive issue detection.
Simple Management: Streamlined management interface for ease of use.
High Availability: Guarantees 100% data availability.
Fast Provisioning: Quick setup and deployment to save time.

What benefits should users review?

Improved IOPS: Enhances input/output operations per second.
Space Efficiency: Maximizes storage use with deduplication and compression.
Cost Savings: Reduces overall costs through efficient storage solutions.
Reduced Support Tickets: Lowers the number of support tickets due to proactive issue detection.
Ease of Use: Simplified management and quick provisioning.

HPE Alletra Storage is implemented in industries like corporate and restaurant data centers, supporting customer and infrastructure scalability environments. It is particularly valuable for SAP environments, databases, and backend storage for applications requiring high throughput and low latency. It's frequently utilized for VMware storage, SAN, VDI, and financial systems, providing reliable and efficient storage solutions. Users benefit from its seamless integration with Synergy compute, Hyper-V, and its cloud capabilities while leveraging its high availability and data replication features.

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

Accenture, Aetna, AIG, Airbus, Allianz, American Express, ATT, Bank of America, Barclays, BASF, Bayer, Berkshire Hathaway, Boeing, BNP Paribas, Citigroup, Coca Cola, Comcast, Credit Suisse, Dell, Deutsche Bank, ExxonMobil, Ford Motor Company, General Electric, Google, HSBC, IBM, Intel, JPMorgan Chase, Kroger, L'Oreal, Merck

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

HPE Alletra Storage vs. IBM FlashSystem

October 2024

Free Report: HPE Alletra Storage vs. IBM FlashSystem

Find out what your peers are saying about HPE Alletra Storage vs. IBM FlashSystem and other solutions. Updated: October 2024.

DOWNLOAD NOW

815,854 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our HPE Alletra Storage vs. IBM FlashSystem report.

See our list of best All-Flash Storage vendors.

We monitor all All-Flash Storage reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.