IBM FlashSystem vs NetApp NVMe AFF A800 comparison

IBM and NetApp are both solutions in the All-Flash Storage category. IBM is ranked #6 with an average rating of 8.6, while NetApp is ranked #19 with an average rating of 8.6. IBM holds a 7.3% mindshare in AFS, compared to NetApp’s 1.2% mindshare. Additionally, 91% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of NetApp users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 18, 2024

IBM FlashSystem and NetApp NVMe AFF A800 are high-performance storage solutions. IBM FlashSystem is preferred for pricing and support, while NetApp NVMe AFF A800 has an edge in features despite higher costs.

Features: IBM FlashSystem offers efficient data reduction capabilities, high performance, and scalability. NetApp NVMe AFF A800 provides superior throughput, low latency, and comprehensive data management features.

Room for Improvement: IBM FlashSystem could improve its integration processes and analytics capabilities. NetApp NVMe AFF A800 users suggest enhancements in software updates and reducing complexity.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM FlashSystem is noted for its straightforward deployment process and responsive customer service. NetApp NVMe AFF A800 has mixed feedback on customer service with some indicating longer response times.

Pricing and ROI: IBM FlashSystem is viewed favorably for its better pricing and quicker ROI. NetApp NVMe AFF A800, despite higher costs, offers long-term value due to its extensive features.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM FlashSystem vs. NetApp NVMe AFF A800 Report (Updated: October 2024).

Buyer's Guide

IBM FlashSystem vs. NetApp NVMe AFF A800

October 2024

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Categories and Ranking

Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2024, in the All-Flash Storage category, the mindshare of Pure FlashArray X NVMe is 0.8%, down from 1.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM FlashSystem is 7.3%, up from 6.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetApp NVMe AFF A800 is 1.2%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

All-Flash Storage

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…

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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…

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Tanveer Rahman

Chief Technical Office at Novotel Ltd.

Nov 17, 2023

A scalable solution that serves as a storage for the cloud services opted by organizations

My company uses NetApp NVMe AFF A800 as storage for our cloud The most valuable feature of the solution is that it is a product that is fast and provides a fast I/O. The product's performance has some shortcomings, making it an area that could be a little better. I don't expect to see additional…

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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

"What I really like about this program, is that it is easy to use and easy to configurate."

"The most valuable features of this solution are its ease of use and performance."

"The duplication algorithm allows us to get a lot more use out of less storage. We're running a five terabyte array right now and we're running probably about 30 terabytes on it. So the duplication rate is pretty phenomenal, without a cost to performance. It still runs pretty smoothly."

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

"I appreciate the performance."

"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."

"Pure FlashArray X NVMe will quickly overcome all the hurdles you face, including network and latency issues."

"The high availability of the product is the most valuable feature."

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe pros

"I like most of the features. Its speed, performance, and availability are valuable. We are implementing the data reduction technology the most."

"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."

"The most valuable features in IBM FlashSystem are IOPS, performance, duplication, and compression."

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

"We are a 100% satisfied with the stability of the solution."

"The speed, performance, and stability are the best features of IBM FlashSystem."

"The GUI is very easy and performance is also good."

"No queuing and high ops, speed, and performance."

More IBM FlashSystem pros

"During the use cases of the solution, its reliability and suitability are the best."

"NetApp NVMe AFF A800 is easier to use than some other solutions and the UI is very good to use for day-to-day activities. Overall, the solution has good technology."

"The most valuable feature of the solution is that it is a product that is fast and provides a fast I/O."

"The storage features are valuable."

"The most valuable features are stability and performance."

"You can easily scale up, and scale-out."

"Over the eight years, we've been using NetApp with ONTAP, we've never lost a bit of data, and we've only experienced a few minutes of downtime in that entire time."

"The product can be scaled vertically as well as horizontally."

More NetApp NVMe AFF A800 pros

Cons

"We would like to see more visibility into garbage collection and CPU performance in the GUI."

"We would like to see VNC integration or be able to use Pure Storage with VNC."

"It's more multi-tenant functionality in their Pure1 manage portal that is lacking."

"You cannot tag a LUN with a description, and that should be improved. What I like on the Unity side is that when I expand LUNs or do things, there is an information field on the LUN. This is the Information field that you can tag on your LUNs to let yourself know, "Hey, I've added this much space on this date". Pure lacks that ability. So, you don't have a mechanism that's friendly for tracking your data expansions on the LUN and for adding any additional information. That's a downside for me."

"It is on the expensive side."

"In the next release, I would like to see real-time analytics for further insight into consumption models."

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

"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."

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe cons

"The customer's expectations are what they get on the cloud, they're expecting even in the on-premises deployments, going forward."

"Product support is restricted to IBM only. It must be decentralized to IBM partners as well."

"There could be some extra features added."

"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."

"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."

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

"The only issue my team faced was transferring the data from the old system to IBM FlashSystem, which is an area for improvement in the solution."

More IBM FlashSystem cons

"Increasing the RAM, and including physical cords would be beneficial."

"Sometimes, it takes a while to get somebody competent on the other end of the line. They do have engineers in multiple time zones around the world. However, their level-one support is not always the best."

"Stability is an area with a certain shortcoming where the solution needs to improve"

"The initial setup is complex."

"The cost of the solution is quite high. It would be ideal if they could adjust it so that it's a but less."

"The product's performance has some shortcomings, making it an area that could be a little better."

"The support can take a few days to have a response. However, the response that we do receive is very informative."

"The product’s UI could be better."

More NetApp NVMe AFF A800 cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The licensing is on a yearly basis."

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

"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."

"Pretty much everything that you need is licensed when you buy the product. Licensing to me is different than the maintenance cost, but they can bleed into one another. We buy the product, and we expect three years of support bundled into what we negotiate on our storage arrays. I would start to see maintenance costs going into the fourth year, but we're not there yet."

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

"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."

"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."

"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."

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe pricing and cost advice

"The solution requires a license and could be less expensive."

"The cost is pretty high in terms of licensing. We pay at least $100,000 USD in licensing fees for the storage."

"The price of IBM FlashSystem is reasonable."

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

"The pricing is competitive in our country."

"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 integration is already included in the license cost of IBM FlashSystem. The integration is very easy. You get the IBM storage core with all software, firmware, and upgrades. EMC provides the features in the box, but they are not free for customers. There is a licensing cost for features. We have yearly licensing, but IBM has also provided a new option where you pay as you go. They provide a big box, and I pay, for example, for 10 terabytes. If I exceed 10 terabytes, IBM will charge for the new storage after 10 terabytes. It is a good opportunity in the market for using the storage as a cloud and paying as you go."

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

More IBM FlashSystem pricing and cost advice

"Considering the requirements and the situation, I don't feel that this is an expensive product."

"I rate the product’s pricing a seven out of ten."

"Though NetApp NVMe AFF A800 may seem like a highly-priced product, it is not extremely expensive."

"The solution is expensive."

"There are licenses for the use of this solution, such as commercial licenses."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

16%

Manufacturing Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Government

Computer Software Company

17%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Manufacturing Company

22%

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Educational Organization

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.

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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...

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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

What do you like most about NetApp NVMe AFF A800?

The most valuable feature of the solution is that it is a product that is fast and provides a fast I/O.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NetApp NVMe AFF A800?

Though NetApp NVMe AFF A800 may seem like a highly-priced product, it is not extremely expensive.

See all answers

What needs improvement with NetApp NVMe AFF A800?

The product's performance has some shortcomings, making it an area that could be a little better. I don't expect to s...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Dell Unity XT vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

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Dell PowerMax NVMe vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 9% of the time

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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 6% of the time

Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform vs IBM FlashSystem

Compared 6% of the time

Dell PowerMax NVMe vs IBM FlashSystem

Compared 6% of the time

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NetApp ASA vs NetApp NVMe AFF A800

Compared 26% of the time

Huawei OceanStor Dorado vs NetApp NVMe AFF A800

Compared 23% of the time

Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series vs NetApp NVMe AFF A800

Compared 16% of the time

Dell PowerStore vs NetApp NVMe AFF A800

Compared 15% of the time

Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform vs NetApp NVMe AFF A800

Compared 5% of the time

More NetApp NVMe AFF A800 Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Pure FlashArray X NVMe

October 2024

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IBM FlashSystem

October 2024

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Buyer's Guide

NVMe All-Flash Storage Arrays

October 2024

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Also Known As

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

IBM Storwize

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Pure Storage

IBM

NetApp

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.

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.

Your data is a gold mine. Get the most out of it - faster - with AFF A800. Designed for NVMe media, further accelerated with NVMe/FC connectivity to the host, AFF A800 all-flash systems deliver an incredible sub-200 microsecond latency. Providing more than 11.4M IOPS and 300GB/s throughput in a single cluster, AFF A800 redefines the limit of what’s possible with artificial intelligence and deep learning.

Sample Customers

Fremont Bank, Judson ISD, The Nielsen Company

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

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Buyer's Guide

IBM FlashSystem vs. NetApp NVMe AFF A800

October 2024

Free Report: IBM FlashSystem vs. NetApp NVMe AFF A800

Find out what your peers are saying about IBM FlashSystem vs. NetApp NVMe AFF A800 and other solutions. Updated: October 2024.

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