IBM FlashSystem vs IBM XIV comparison

IBM FlashSystem and IBM XIV are both solutions in the Modular SAN (Storage Area Network) category. IBM FlashSystem is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.4, while IBM XIV is ranked #10. IBM FlashSystem holds a 19.6% mindshare in MS, compared to IBM XIV’s 1.2% mindshare. Additionally, 91% of IBM FlashSystem users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 85% of IBM XIV users who would recommend it.

IBM FlashSystem

Read 110 IBM FlashSystem reviews

1,600 Views
1,220 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

IBM XIV

Read 6 IBM XIV reviews

142 Views
92 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

IBM FlashSystem

IBM XIV

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between IBM FlashSystem and IBM XIV 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 IBM FlashSystem vs. IBM XIV Report (Updated: January 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM FlashSystem vs. IBM XIV

January 2025

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Helped 831,265 peers since 2012

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

IBM FlashSystem

Ranking in Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)

4th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

110

Ranking in other categories

NAS (4th), All-Flash Storage (13th)

IBM XIV

Ranking in Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)

10th

Average Rating

7.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the Modular SAN (Storage Area Network) category, the mindshare of IBM FlashSystem is 19.6%, up from 15.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM XIV is 1.2%, down from 1.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)

Featured Reviews

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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Ajith Kandaramage

IT Operation Engineer at HNB

Good value for money but issues with modular scaling

IBM XIV's most valuable features are NVME, especially when it comes to de-duplication, compression, and responsiveness I've been using IBM XIV for two and a half years. IBM XIV is stable. IBM XIV's scalability is adequate for our requirements, but because it's modular, you can't scale to larger…

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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 Flash core models offer amazing performance."

"The most valuable features of IBM FlashSystem are performance and security."

"The most valuable feature is reliability."

"The pricing is reasonable."

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

"The all-flash storage has tier replication capabilities."

"The FlashSystem 900 consistently delivers performance below 1ms for read/write. This performance is essential for an effective SVC stretch-cluster configuration across two datacenters, and presenting active-active storage to the customer."

"The initial setup is straightforward and can be done in an hour and a half by one person."

More IBM FlashSystem pros

"Very easy to produce reporting data (Snaps). Very easy and fast for provisioning devices and Remote mirroring."

"The performance and robustness of the systems are very good."

"IBM XIV's most valuable features are NVME, especially when it comes to de-duplication, compression, and responsiveness."

"As it spreads, a chuck of 1MB across the board means using all available spindles on the backend."

"Installation is amazingly easy."

"Hands down, this is the easiest storage platform on the market to manage."

Cons

"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."

"IBM FlashSystems is lagging in optimizing storage technologies."

"Events/log analysis tools."

"The product needs to improve their scalability."

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

"Include an option to upload the support package to the IBM ECuRep when opening an IBM PMR."

"The storage capacity of this solution could be improved."

"Enterprise data storage needs improvement. They should create a feature for data and file storage."

More IBM FlashSystem cons

"I encountered stability (performance) issues during enclosure or disk rebuild. Also some power supply issues due to malfunctions of circuits. Sometimes "internal" Snap sessions hang and consume pool capacity."

"This product was not a good fit for our organization as we have a ton of latency sensitive applications and XIV was not able to keep up with IO + latency demand."

"The change form synchronous mirroring to asynchronous (and vice versa) without reconfiguration from scratch would be helpful."

"IBM XIV's scalability is adequate for our requirements, but because it's modular, you can't scale to larger requirements."

"I would rather have a web GUI served directly from the unit, and a CLI accessible directly through SSH."

"Until the drive is replaced, the pool_resizing is locked."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Among IBM, Dell EMC, and Pure Storage, IBM is the cheapest. The price is also based on our location, the size of our entity, and our regular annual purchases from them. We are a very big IBM customer, so we normally get very high discounts. We are not a big customer of Pure Storage. We don't buy that much from Pure Storage per year. Everything is included in the price. There is no extra license for different functions."

"There are no licensing fees, it is a one-time purchase of the IBM FlashSystem."

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

"You purchase it as a bundle and the price is comparable."

"I price of IBM FlashSystem is reasonable and competitive."

"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."

"Pricing can be considered as per market competition."

"The pricing is reasonable."

More IBM FlashSystem pricing and cost advice

"Licensing is straightforward."

"No-license-required policy, unlike others where you need a license for everything. Just pay once and forget about licenses."

"We have a five-year total cost of ownership where we pay an initial amount and then annually for maintenance."

"If you are going to use the product behind an SVC, IBM will price the units lower, since you are likely not to use any of the advanced copy services."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

Government

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

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 banking, often use the latest devices as they are upgrading, indicating they do not ...

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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. Customers are uncomfortable with remote access, which affects automated remote support. ...

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Comparisons

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

No data available

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM FlashSystem

January 2025

Download IBM FlashSystem product report

Buyer's Guide

Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)

January 2025

Download IBM XIV product report

Also Known As

IBM Storwize

XIV

Overview

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.

IBM

IBM XIV is a high-end, grid-scale storage system that excels in tuning-free consistent performance, ease of use and exceptional data economics, including inline, and IBM Real-time Compression. IBM XIV is ideal for hybrid cloud, offering predictable service levels for dynamic workloads, simplified scale management, including in multi-tenant environments, flexible consumption models — and robust cloud automation and orchestration through OpenStack, RESTful API and VMware. It offers security and data protection through hot encryption, advanced mirroring and self-healing and investment protection with perpetual licensing.

IBM

Sample Customers

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

Celero, NaviSite, Technische Universit_t Mªnchen, Netflix Inc., Muhr und Bender KG, Pelephone Communications

Buyer's Guide

IBM FlashSystem vs. IBM XIV

January 2025

Free Report: IBM FlashSystem vs. IBM XIV

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

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