HPE MSA vs IBM FlashSystem comparison

Hewlett Packard Enterprise and IBM are both solutions in the Modular SAN (Storage Area Network) category. Hewlett Packard Enterprise is ranked #5 with an average rating of 7.8, while IBM is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.6. Hewlett Packard Enterprise holds a 18.9% mindshare in MS, compared to IBM’s 19.0% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of Hewlett Packard Enterprise users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 91% of IBM users who would recommend it.

HPE MSA

Read 22 HPE MSA reviews

1,658 Views
1,357 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

IBM FlashSystem

Read 109 IBM FlashSystem reviews

1,632 Views
1,267 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

HPE MSA

IBM FlashSystem

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between HPE MSA and IBM FlashSystem based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Modular SAN (Storage Area Network) solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed HPE MSA vs. IBM FlashSystem Report (Updated: December 2024).

Buyer's Guide

HPE MSA vs. IBM FlashSystem

December 2024

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Categories and Ranking

HPE MSA

Ranking in Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)

5th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

IBM FlashSystem

Ranking in Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)

3rd

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

109

Ranking in other categories

NAS (4th), All-Flash Storage (7th)

Mindshare comparison

As of December 2024, in the Modular SAN (Storage Area Network) category, the mindshare of HPE MSA is 18.9%, up from 16.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM FlashSystem is 19.0%, up from 15.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)

Featured Reviews

Pragnesh Sachania

Deputy Manager IT at La Gajjar

Scalable, easy to manage, and used for virtualization environments

We didn't face any issues with the technical functionality. However, we faced a lot of challenges with our custom configuration. The HPE support person who did the installation was very technical. He answered all the queries, and we resolved the entire setup. We set up the storage as per our requirements. We previously used a physical server instead of virtualization. With the help of an HPE engineer and partners, we prepared a strategy for migrating the entire physical servers to our virtualization infrastructure. It took two days to deploy the solution. Six people were involved in the solution's deployment, including two from HPE and four from our IT team.

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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

"The most valuable feature for customers is the autonomic tiering, which enhances their storage scalability as easily as possible."

"I like StorageWorks' snapshots for our backup system. We had a pool of SSD and traditional drives. StorageWorks has a feature that transfers the hot data to high-performing drives."

"The most valuable feature of HPE StorageWorks MSA is its flexibility."

"The cost to performance for HPE StorageWorks MSA is good."

"The most valuable features were the dual controllers and being able to expand it."

"The solution is very easy to use, it is not really complex for any user, such as non-technical individuals."

"Monitoring is a very big thing. Other great features include block storage; volume creation and the data reliability scalability, which makes the solution really good."

"The solution is pretty transparent and works well."

More HPE MSA pros

"Virtualization of external storage, while adding cache and speed to the external storage."

"IBM FlashSystem 5300 is offered at a very low cost in Israel, which is advantageous for small companies."

"The feature I find most valuable, is the deduplication, because the nature of the data that we are using in our current environment, has a lot of replicated data."

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

"The power systems are very reliable if you are running 24/7 operations. For ongoing mission-critical applications, it's the best solution."

"The most valuable feature of the solution is SCM (Storage Class Memory), which has the lowest latency value in the storage industry."

"This solution is convenient, user-friendly, convenient and reliable."

"The most valuable features are deduplication and compression, which together, enable you to have more space."

More IBM FlashSystem pros

Cons

"The platform’s monitoring capabilities could be enhanced."

"The solution's license should be integrated and not separate."

"HPE should reintroduce customizable ports as they were in Gen 5, allowing customers to use both iSCSI or SC on a single controller."

"I rate HPE support four out of 10. I'm not happy with them. We purchased mission-critical support, and we're supposed to get a response in four hours. Instead, I'm waiting days for them to replace the drive. They asked me to send back the failed one, and I don't know the address. After I sent it back, they told me they haven't received it. It's a nightmare."

"The solution requires hardware."

"The solution could improve by adding configuration tools."

"This product is getting a little bit older, so new features like deduplication are not included."

"It would be beneficial to have an add-on feature to improve analytics or insight capabilities inside the app."

More HPE MSA cons

"The basic setup can be challenging when it comes to certain IP addresses and the configuration of the IP. You have to go in to different menus to makes changes and ensure it is stable."

"The solution's infrastructure technology level could be PCI Express 5 instead of PCI Express 4 for the next version."

"The solution is not easy to implement. It takes a lot of time to study the product and it's a little complicated in general."

"The pricing could be improved, but I think it's getting better and better with each version. IBM needs to implement NAS storage again, as this is a big flaw. Dell EMC is very good at this and if you compared them based on NAS storage, Dell EMC would win right away. IBM's solution for NAS storage is very complicated. We don't have a storage box that provides file sharing from itself, we have to put software on it and go through a whole complicated process. It should be simplified."

"When you provision a datastore auto-format takes a long time"

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

"The deduplication and compression ratio is not very good. It's not reaching a very high ratio."

"The product could be cheaper."

More IBM FlashSystem cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"This solution is quite expensive; they should lower the cost."

"This solution involves a one-time CapEx payment, followed by warranty extensions."

"When we bought this solution it was very reasonably priced and they were willing to deal."

"The solution can be a bit expensive."

"The solution’s pricing is reasonable."

"The price of the solution is a little high and they should provide more competitive pricing. If you want to increases the storage size there are additional fees."

"I would rate the pricing as nine out of ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive."

"HPE StorageWorks MSA's licensing is perpetual and not integrated."

"IBM V7000 has a new license and price structure which provides intuitive licensing based on the functions customers wish to enable and use the most."

"The pricing may be a bit higher than other brands. If you compare the IBM FlashSystems in midrange with Dell EMC in midrange, IBM costs a bit more, but I prefer IBM because it has more specs that I can benefit from."

"The solution has good pricing, but it is not cheaper."

"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."

"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."

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

"Our customers would like IMB FlashSystem to be less expensive."

"Pricing can be considered as per market competition."

More IBM FlashSystem pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

21%

Manufacturing Company

13%

Government

Real Estate/Law Firm

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 HPE StorageWorks MSA?

The most valuable feature of HPE StorageWorks MSA is its flexibility.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HPE StorageWorks MSA?

The solution’s pricing is reasonable.

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What needs improvement with HPE StorageWorks MSA?

We faced a lot of challenges with our custom configuration during installation. At the time of deployment, there was some communication gap between my partner and HPE.

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

NetApp FAS Series vs HPE MSA

Compared 50% of the time

HPE 3PAR StoreServ vs HPE MSA

Compared 16% of the time

Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform vs HPE MSA

Compared 5% of the time

More HPE MSA Competitors

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

Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series vs IBM FlashSystem

Compared 4% of the time

More IBM FlashSystem Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

HPE MSA

December 2024

Download HPE MSA product report

Buyer's Guide

IBM FlashSystem

December 2024

Download IBM FlashSystem product report

Also Known As

HP StorageWorks MSA

IBM Storwize

Learn More

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Hewlett Packard Enterprise

IBM

Overview

Whether you need best-in-class performance or are looking to get the most capacity for your investment, MSA has a fast, affordable solution for you. And every MSA comes with an intuitive setup and management interface anyone can master.

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

Femsa CSC, TTX, Rabobank

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 MSA vs. IBM FlashSystem

December 2024

Free Report: HPE MSA vs. IBM FlashSystem

Find out what your peers are saying about HPE MSA vs. IBM FlashSystem and other solutions. Updated: December 2024.

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We monitor all Modular SAN (Storage Area Network) 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.