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IBM Spectrum Accelerate vs IBM Spectrum Scale comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 5, 2024

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 Spectrum Accelerate
Ranking in Software Defined Storage (SDS)
22nd
Ranking in Cloud Software Defined Storage
4th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
IBM Spectrum Scale
Ranking in Software Defined Storage (SDS)
7th
Ranking in Cloud Software Defined Storage
3rd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Software Defined Storage (SDS) category, the mindshare of IBM Spectrum Accelerate is 1.6%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Spectrum Scale is 4.9%, down from 7.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Software Defined Storage (SDS)
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer1154616 - PeerSpot reviewer
A robust solution with good performance and support
This is a solution that scales well, although I think that we have stabilized in terms of use. With respect to scalability, we have an open question as to whether we will be able to grow into a cloud-based deployment. We don't know in what ways this solution will assist us with the migration, or whether we can still use it for DR. We don't know about the type of backup, be it full, incremental, or otherwise. We are also looking for a cost-savings if we migrate. These are things that we will find out over time. We have about two petabytes of data.
JanithRanasinghe - PeerSpot reviewer
Parallel file access efficiency and good file management with good scalability
We are using GPFS Scale for parallel file access. It's primarily for file management We use GPFS Scale for parallel file access, the file management, and it's an essential part of our operations. It's the only feature we are using since we have not explored other options. I wish there were some…

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The most valuable feature is the robustness, which is typical of IBM because their software generally just works."
"The ease of use is the solution's most valuable aspect. It's very user-friendly."
"I find IBM Spectrum Scale to be an excellent product known for its fast parallel file system."
"We can have multiple systems within the same file system."
"I rate this product ten out of ten."
"Technical support has been very helpful. They provide us with pretty good solutions that we can implement moving forward."
"It makes our file system sharing a lot easier, even across different continents. We have had file systems shared across different continents with no performance degradation."
"The high performance of the solution is its most valuable aspect. If you compare it to other storage solutions, it's much better."
"It is a scalable solution."
"The most valuable feature is the ability to share files across different platforms."
 

Cons

"he interface is not user-friendly so the ease of use could be improved."
"The reporting mechanisms need improvement."
"They should probably simply the Red Hat implementation portion. This portion was not as straightforward as I would like it to be."
"Integration with other vendors is not available."
"The pricing and licensing model for this solution are complex and it is sometimes difficult to explain it to customers."
"Making it a little easier to add bad file sets would help. There is a transition to how you add storage and how you add a file set, so making that a little smoother would probably be my recommendation."
"Maybe it needs integration with HA."
"We do have some issues where Spectrum Scale does not work as expected. We have seen our Spectrum Scale servers go down unexpectedly, but because we have a cluster, it does not take out the entire organization."
"The initial setup is complex, especially if trying to avoid erasure coding, as it requires more discs. Avoiding erasure coding can significantly increase costs."
"The solution's pricing could be better."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"If you are cost-sensitive then this solution is not for you."
"For a database, on a yearly basis, we pay approximately $3,500 for licensing fees. The solution is sold as a subscription on a yearly basis so there are no other ancillary costs."
"The solution is costly but reliable."
"The licensing model is complex and depends on factors such as the number of processing cores and the amount of storage."
"The licensing is based on the number of terabytes."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Financial Services Firm
20%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
14%
Educational Organization
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
What needs improvement with IBM Spectrum Scale?
I wish there were some graphical user interface to access the GPFS file system creation and monitoring.
 

Also Known As

IBM XIV
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Silverpop
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Spectrum Accelerate vs. IBM Spectrum Scale and other solutions. Updated: February 2025.
838,713 professionals have used our research since 2012.