IBM FlashSystem vs VAST Data comparison

IBM and VAST Data are both solutions in the All-Flash Storage category. IBM is ranked #6 with an average rating of 8.6, while VAST Data is ranked #21 with an average rating of 10.0. IBM holds a 7.3% mindshare in AFS, compared to VAST Data’s 2.7% mindshare. Additionally, 91% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of VAST Data users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 18, 2024

IBM FlashSystem and VAST Data are two prominent solutions in the data storage market. IBM FlashSystem seems to have the upper hand in deployment ease and customer service, while VAST Data leads in technological advancements and performance.

Features: IBM FlashSystem is praised for its reliability, high performance, and extensive integration capabilities. VAST Data is commended for its scalability, innovative architecture, and high throughput.

Room for Improvement: IBM FlashSystem users suggest enhancements in predictive analytics, reporting functions, and better analytics. VAST Data users point out room for improvement in documentation, support for more legacy integration, and perhaps more robust support services.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM FlashSystem deployments are straightforward, with robust customer support highly praised by users. VAST Data also offers smooth deployment but requires more technical expertise. Its customer service, though improving, does not match the levels of support found with IBM FlashSystem.

Pricing and ROI: IBM FlashSystem is noted for its cost-effective pricing model and good return on investment. VAST Data, while more expensive, is seen as delivering a higher ROI due to its superior features and performance.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM FlashSystem vs. VAST Data Report (Updated: October 2024).

Buyer's Guide

IBM FlashSystem vs. VAST Data

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 VAST Data is 2.7%, up from 2.4% 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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Alan Powers

HPC CTO at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

May 3, 2023

Stability-wise, a device that has been up and running for years

The solution is useful for machine learning and scientific applications, including computer simulations The failover capability and resiliency are some of the solution's valuable features. The big thing is resilience because it has richer coding in it, so multiple devices can't fail. Also, one…

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

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

"I appreciate the performance."

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

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

"The latency is good."

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

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

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe pros

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

"Speed (IOPS/second) – It is most vital for applications that need low latency and high speed for transferring the data."

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

"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 speed and the ease of installation are the most valuable features."

"IBM FlashSystem is flexible, quick, and has a solid design."

"Data deduplication is one of the most valuable features of this solution."

"User friendly management interface."

More IBM FlashSystem pros

"The solution is useful for machine learning and scientific applications, including computer simulations."

"This has been one of the most reliable storage systems that I have ever used."

Cons

"I want to see Pure Storage not only be for fast storage, but I want to see it be for the entire data center."

"The UI for this solution needs to be improved."

"It is on the expensive side."

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

"There is room for improvement in the pricing of the product."

"In the future, I would like to see integration with enterprise backup systems."

"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."

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

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe cons

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

"The pricing needs to be more competitive."

"Sometimes the performance is effective but it gets resolved in the process."

"I would like to see bigger modules."

"The support could improve by allowing you to speak to someone when you call rather than them calling you back. However, once we do have contact with one of their technicians they are excellent."

"The product needs to improve their scalability."

"Their technical support needs improvement in terms of reachability for the clients and response times. They should be more responsive and have more online platforms for support. They should make more technical information available online. There could be some kind of documentation community."

"I think the only thing the developers can look at, is that it is limited to 25 gigabytes currently. In the next release they might want to increase that."

More IBM FlashSystem cons

"The read/write ratio is an area in the solution with some flaws and needs improvement."

"The write performance could be improved because it is less than half of the read performance."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is expensive."

"They can tout the functionality and cutting edge technology that they have, but that's where the price tag comes in. The cost is high, but I think as they grow their business and get more customers that it will probably go down a little bit."

"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."

"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."

"As far as the licensing costs, everything is included in the license."

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

"The licensing is on a yearly basis."

"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."

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe pricing and cost advice

"If five is a good price and one is a high price, I would rate the price a two or three out of five."

"The price is a little bit high so is rated a six out of ten."

"I find the pricing of the solution to be very reasonable."

"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."

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

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

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

More IBM FlashSystem pricing and cost advice

"We acquired VAST Data as a one-time, capital purchase."

"Price-wise, VAST Data is not the cheapest, not the most expensive one."

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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

Computer Software Company

18%

Manufacturing Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Educational Organization

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

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.

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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?

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.

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What needs improvement with IBM FlashSystem?

The product could be cheaper.

See all answers

What do you like most about VAST Data?

The solution is useful for machine learning and scientific applications, including computer simulations.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for VAST Data?

Price-wise, VAST Data is not the cheapest, not the most expensive one.

See all answers

What needs improvement with VAST Data?

The read/write ratio is an area in the solution with some flaws and needs improvement.

See all answers

Comparisons

Dell PowerStore vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 39% of the time

Pure Storage FlashBlade vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 16% of the time

TrueNAS R-Series vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 14% of the time

Dell Unity XT vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 12% of the time

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

More IBM FlashSystem Competitors

Pure Storage FlashBlade vs VAST Data

Compared 14% of the time

NetApp AFF vs VAST Data

Compared 10% of the time

Qumulo vs VAST Data

Compared 10% of the time

Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs VAST Data

Compared 9% of the time

Pure Storage FlashArray vs VAST Data

Compared 7% of the time

More VAST Data Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Pure FlashArray X NVMe

October 2024

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Buyer's Guide

IBM FlashSystem

October 2024

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Buyer's Guide

NVMe All-Flash Storage Arrays

October 2024

Download VAST Data product report

Also Known As

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

IBM Storwize

No data available

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Pure Storage

IBM

VAST Data

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.

Innovation to break decades of data storage trade-offs.

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

Norwest Venture Partners, General Dynamics Information Technology, Ginkgo Bioworks

Buyer's Guide

IBM FlashSystem vs. VAST Data

October 2024

Free Report: IBM FlashSystem vs. VAST Data

Find out what your peers are saying about IBM FlashSystem vs. VAST Data and other solutions. Updated: October 2024.

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