HPE Primera vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series comparison

Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Lenovo are both solutions in the All-Flash Storage category. Hewlett Packard Enterprise is ranked #11 with an average rating of 8.1, while Lenovo is ranked #24 with an average rating of 9.3. Hewlett Packard Enterprise holds a 4.3% mindshare in AFS, compared to Lenovo’s 2.5% mindshare. Additionally, 94% of Hewlett Packard Enterprise users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Lenovo users who would recommend it.

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 18, 2024

Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series and HPE Primera are two competitive storage solutions. Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series has an edge in pricing and simplicity, whereas HPE Primera stands out with more advanced features.

Features: Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series is known for reliable performance, scalability, and ease of manageability. HPE Primera offers advanced data reduction capabilities, high availability, and comprehensive analytics. HPE Primera's features are deemed more advanced, suitable for high-end needs.

Room for Improvement: Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series could benefit from better integration capabilities and improved firmware updates. HPE Primera could improve by simplifying the initial setup and enhancing the cost-effectiveness of its features. Lenovo's improvements are simpler compared to HPE's setup complexity.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series is noted for its straightforward deployment and responsive customer service. HPE Primera is praised for detailed deployment support but marked down for complex setup. Lenovo's easy deployment is a key advantage while HPE's comprehensive support is valued.

Pricing and ROI: Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series is valued for competitive pricing and good ROI, making it a cost-effective choice. HPE Primera is seen as expensive, though its robust feature set justifies the higher price. Lenovo's affordability gives it an edge in cost-effectiveness, while HPE Primera is noted for its high value.

To learn more, read our detailed HPE Primera vs. Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series Report (Updated: March 2025).

Buyer's Guide

HPE Primera vs. Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series

March 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 March 2025, in the All-Flash Storage category, the mindshare of Pure FlashArray X NVMe is 0.8%, down from 0.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HPE Primera is 4.3%, down from 5.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series is 2.5%, down from 2.6% 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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Taufeeq Rauf

Head of IT at NATIONAL INSTITUTIONAL FACILITATION TECHNOLOGIES (PVT.) LTD.

Offers a simple user interface and is useful for data replication

I use HPE Primera for mission-critical applications. My company uses the product as a storage solution for our machines. The availability of HPE Primera in our company is critical for us, considering that we operate in an HA environment where we can't have downtime since we need to deal with cheque clearance for banks. The product's interface is simple to use. I am satisfied with the user experience provided by the product. The ease of use of the product's interface has directly had an impact on our company's operations, along with the improvement in the availability and performance of machines. Compared to HPE Primera, I work with a much more reliable storage solution like Dell PowerStore. Compared to HPE Primera, Dell PowerStore's features related to deduplication are very good, and it also offers a physical storage capacity of eight TB, which can be expanded up to forty TB. I would recommend the product to others who plan to use it only after taking into consideration their usage and requirements. From the price and performance point of view, Dell PowerStore is a better choice. I rate the tool a seven out of ten.

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Gastone Canali

IT Consultant at Effegibi

Provides good stability and is reliable in terms of performance

The solution is reliable in terms of performance They should include a snapshot feature for the solution. We have been using the solution for two to three years. The solution is stable. We have 60 solution users in our organization. The solution's initial setup process is easy. It takes three…

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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

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

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

"The latency is good."

"Everything, especially the VMs inside, is pretty fast."

"I appreciate the performance."

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

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

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

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe pros

"The high availability was most valuable because they come with what's called 100% data availability. With special terms, they license and guarantee 100% data availability. That was probably one of the key features or components that HPE was offering with that model."

"It is stable and reliable."

"HPE Primera is an all-flash storage product that's very stable and has a higher storage capacity. It can also give better ROI compared to NetApp."

"HPE Primera is quite a stable storage system that provides good provisioning and allows for the changing of partition sizes."

"Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."

"When taking into account the price, maintenance required, and performance of HPE Primera, it is an effective solution."

"HPE Primera provides me with system reliability and 100% data reliability. The storage is good and is consistently reliable and scalable, allowing me to use it whenever needed. The overall performance is great. The product is stable. The customer service and support is excellent. It's a commendable solution, especially suitable for online transactions. It is reliable in meeting data requirements."

"The most valuable feature is an all-flash system, which means the data access speed is amazing while the latency is almost nothing, and it can deliver IOPS up to 16,000."

More HPE Primera pros

"ThinkSystem's storage performs well, and the price per gigabyte is good, especially on SSD solutions. It's also easy to use."

"The most valuable features of the Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series are the dual controllers, available installation documentation, and the option of multiple host bus adapter interfaces."

"The solution's initial setup process is easy."

"The solution is very easy to troubleshoot. It's one of the most valuable features. It also doesn't take long to deploy and normally it comes with a three-year warranty."

"Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series is highly reliable, especially for block-level storage. It is stable, with minimal downtime and no issues beyond user errors."

"We have been working with the solution for around a year and so far it has shown itself to be stable."

"I would rate the stability of Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series as a ten."

"This solution is good for virtualization and meets the need for CPU and RAM requirements."

More Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series pros

Cons

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

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

"The software layer has to improve."

"Adding some functions to the product would be beneficial."

"Right now, the box itself is just strictly working as a backend storage system. It would be fantastic if we could access it directly like a NAS device through network access or SIS drives. I think they have an interface, but I am not sure how good it is. If we could address a box directly on the network without having to go through a server, it would be great. The replication schemas could be improved. We are not using replication on the storage level right now. We use a different type of replication. If their replication would be as good as the one that we have, I would probably run the replication schema because it might be faster, but I don't know that for a fact. So, I cannot say that they have good replication. All I can say is that they need to inform us better."

"It is on the expensive side."

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

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

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe cons

"Like most storage, we want to see flash become more and more stable. Like any flash that uses MLC or TLC techniques, over time, the more writes you have, the less usable the storage becomes. They try to plan for this and have a lot of extra space in the arrays, but over time, their performance does degrade. This is true for any flash storage."

"HPE Primera is not good enough as a storage solution as it does not provide a good NAS storage."

"Increasing the IOPS and throughput values would make the product even better. Improving the scalability of HPE Primera is also recommended."

"There really isn't any aspect of the solution that needs improvement for the customer other than its price."

"The initial setup is not straightforward."

"Recently, we had many issues with HPE Primera storage, mainly in the leveling process, which caused many problems for the customers."

"The solution could improve by having seamless migration from other storage systems. The process should be made easier."

"There are certain features that require engineering-level access, which should be accessible to storage admins as well."

More HPE Primera cons

"Its performance could be faster."

"The solution could be more scalable, although it suits our present needs."

"The product could support advanced software integrations."

"ThinkSystem could be better integrated with backup software like Commvault, Veritas, or Symantec."

"In the next release, I would like to see support for Hyper-converged infrastructure."

"The features are limited."

"Usually, when a part fails, we have to replace it and it takes a while. It would be better if the part could be available locally here in Kenya so we don't have to wait so long to repair the solution."

"It would be useful to have structured solutions replicated to other sites."

More Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is expensive."

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

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

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

"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."

"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."

"The licensing is on a yearly basis."

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

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe pricing and cost advice

"The tool is expensive. I can say that HPE Primera is one of the costliest tools in the market."

"Because it has high availability, the cost is above average. The cost depends upon the sizing, and every customer has a different size. It is slightly above average in terms of cost compared to its competitors, but the value add was that they could know what their maintenance cost was going to be going forward. They knew what their renewal or expansion costs would be."

"It is basically in the mid-range of the price. It is not cheaper than Hitachi, but it is cheaper than Pure Storage. There are no additional costs. Everything was taken care of in the price."

"The solution’s pricing is affordable and worth the money."

"The price of this solution is good for medium-sized and large businesses."

"From what I see, this is competitively-priced and HPE are doing their best to stay competitive."

"Licensing fees are billed on a yearly basis and the cost of GreenLake service is included."

"HPE Primera is a little bit higher than Dell PowerStore...HPE Primera costs around 80,000 USD."

More HPE Primera pricing and cost advice

"The pricing for this solution is good compared to HP or Dell EMC."

"The price of the Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series is a one-time purchase. There is a global price list available to find the price of the solution."

"It is an expensive solution."

"We have a five-year contract for providing support."

"For an all-flash setup, the cost is around $20,000 for a decent configuration."

"The pricing is fair and low compared to other products in this category."

"The solution's price could be better."

"The best thing about this solution is its price, which reduces our costs."

More Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Government

Educational Organization

44%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

18%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

University

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?

Adding some functions to the product would be beneficial. Storage replication should be essential, and the analytics ...

See all answers

Which would you choose - HPE Nimble Storage or HPE Primera?

HPE Nimble is a versatile synced WAN San solution. It is easy to use and doesn’t require much training for admins. Th...

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What's the difference between HPE 3PAR StoreServ and HPE Primera?

HPE Primera has many great features but one of the best is that it is very easy to deploy. From an overall perspectiv...

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What do you like most about HPE Primera?

For over a year, I have not seen any downtime in the product.

See all answers

What do you like most about Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series?

The solution's initial setup process is easy.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series?

For an all-flash setup, the cost is around $20,000 for a decent configuration.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series?

The product could support advanced software integrations.

See all answers

Comparisons

Dell PowerStore vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 34% 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

IBM FlashSystem vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 11% of the time

Dell Unity XT vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 8% of the time

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HPE Alletra Storage vs HPE Primera

Compared 34% of the time

HPE 3PAR StoreServ vs HPE Primera

Compared 18% of the time

HPE Nimble Storage vs HPE Primera

Compared 10% of the time

Dell PowerStore vs HPE Primera

Compared 9% of the time

Huawei OceanStor Dorado vs HPE Primera

Compared 5% of the time

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Dell PowerStore vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series

Compared 33% of the time

IBM FlashSystem vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series

Compared 14% of the time

NetApp AFF vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series

Compared 12% of the time

Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series

Compared 11% of the time

HPE Alletra Storage vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series

Compared 8% of the time

More Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Pure FlashArray X NVMe

March 2025

Download Pure FlashArray X NVMe product report

Buyer's Guide

HPE Primera

March 2025

Download HPE Primera product report

Buyer's Guide

All-Flash Storage

March 2025

Download Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series product report

Also Known As

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

Primera

ThinkSystem DE Series

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.

Pure Storage

HPE introduces HPE Primera, a new storage platform designed to deliver superior simplicity, availability, and performance for mission-critical applications
HPE Primera advances the HPE Intelligent Data Platform, a portfolio of products and solutions designed to help customers transition from delivering storage to unlocking business value with intelligent data

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

The DE All-Flash Series delivers the performance of more than 2,000 15k rpm HDDs, yet requires only 2% of the rack space, power, and cooling. Because it consumes 98% less space and power, DE Series can significantly improve the overall efficiency of your IT operations while continuing to meet your performance requirements.

Lenovo

Sample Customers

Fremont Bank, Judson ISD, The Nielsen Company

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

HPE Primera vs. Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series

March 2025

Free Report: HPE Primera vs. Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series

Find out what your peers are saying about HPE Primera vs. Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.

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