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 8.3, while IBM XIV is ranked #10. IBM FlashSystem holds a 19.8% 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

1,558 Views
1,189 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

IBM XIV

Read 6 IBM XIV reviews

126 Views
78 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

IBM FlashSystem

IBM XIV

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 2, 2025

IBM XIV and IBM FlashSystem are solutions in the storage category. IBM FlashSystem offers superior performance, making it more appealing for users prioritizing speed and capacity, whereas IBM XIV balances cost with benefits due to advantageous pricing and support.

Features: IBM XIV offers robust data reduction, consistent data replication, and is highly reliable in performance. IBM FlashSystem provides high-speed capabilities, extensive scalability through NVMe technology, and superior throughput, highlighting its focus on performance.

Room for Improvement: IBM XIV could enhance its scalability and data access speeds. Improvements could also include better integration capabilities with newer technologies. IBM FlashSystem might consider simplifying its deployment process and provide a more cost-effective entry point. Enhanced ease of use and streamlined management features can also be areas for refinement.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM XIV is known for its straightforward deployment and responsive customer service, providing rapid and easy integration. IBM FlashSystem, while requiring a more complex setup, delivers detailed technical assistance and thorough documentation to support deployment decisions.

Pricing and ROI: IBM XIV stands out as a budget-friendly option, aligning well with mid-range storage needs, offering a steady return on investment. Conversely, IBM FlashSystem demands higher initial costs but provides notable performance returns over time, making it appealing as a long-term investment option.

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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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

7.0

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

Reviews Sentiment

5.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Modular SAN (Storage Area Network) category, the mindshare of IBM FlashSystem is 19.8%, up from 15.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM XIV is 1.2%, down from 1.3% 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 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."

"The performance of the solution is noteworthy."

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

"The solution is very easy to configure and use."

"FlashSystem offers proven technology in a compact package."

"The most crucial feature of IBM FlashSystem is compression."

"Most of the features for the reduction in data compression are useful. It is also very easy to use and administer. Its performance is also good."

"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

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

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

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

"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."

Cons

"The initial setup is complex."

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

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

"IBM FlashSystem 5300 needs improvement in its deduplication and compression features."

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

"The solution should improve its pricing and the mechanism in the reduction pool."

"A big area for improvement is that the data reduction pool feature is not recommended for use in a production environment because it has stability and performance issues."

"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."

More IBM FlashSystem cons

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

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

"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."

"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."

"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."

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."

"We have no issues with the price as it is very competitive."

"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 price of IBM FlashSystem is reasonable."

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

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

"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."

"This solution is expensive compared to other solutions."

More IBM FlashSystem pricing and cost advice

"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."

"Licensing is straightforward."

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

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

12%

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?

The GUI needs some improvement. An additional function that could be helpful is reducing the time it takes to delete volumes, especially if they are compressed or deduplicated.

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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

HPE Alletra Storage vs IBM FlashSystem

Compared 7% of the time

Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform vs IBM FlashSystem

Compared 6% of the time

More IBM FlashSystem Competitors

No data available

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM FlashSystem

February 2025

Download IBM FlashSystem product report

Buyer's Guide

Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)

February 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

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