Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series vs NetApp NVMe AFF A800 comparison

Lenovo and NetApp are both solutions in the All-Flash Storage category. Lenovo is ranked #25 with an average rating of 8.7, while NetApp is ranked #19 with an average rating of 8.5. Lenovo holds a 2.2% mindshare in AFS, compared to NetApp’s 1.0% mindshare. Additionally, 60% of Lenovo users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of NetApp users who would recommend it.

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 18, 2024

Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series and NetApp NVMe AFF A800 are two competing storage solutions. NetApp NVMe AFF A800 offers superior features and has higher user satisfaction despite Lenovo's competitive pricing and support.

Features: Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series stands out for its efficient storage management, scalability, and streamlined data protection. NetApp NVMe AFF A800 excels with advanced NVMe capabilities, performance enhancements, and robust data deduplication. Users highly value NetApp's speed and overall functionality.

Room for Improvement: Users suggest Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series could benefit from improved integration capabilities, enhanced support for hybrid cloud environments, and advanced security features. For NetApp NVMe AFF A800, users highlight the need for better cost management tools, more intuitive configuration options, and improved migration support.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series is praised for straightforward deployment and reliable customer support. NetApp NVMe AFF A800, while also praised for its deployment, receives higher marks for proactive customer service and comprehensive training resources, providing a smoother overall experience.

Pricing and ROI: Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series is noted for its competitive initial setup costs, making it an attractive option for budget-conscious buyers. NetApp NVMe AFF A800, though more expensive, offers a higher ROI due to its advanced features and efficiency gains. Users find NetApp's long-term benefits justify the higher investment.

To learn more, read our detailed Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series vs. NetApp NVMe AFF A800 Report (Updated: January 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series vs. NetApp NVMe AFF A800

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

Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the All-Flash Storage category, the mindshare of Pure FlashArray X NVMe is 0.7%, down from 1.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series is 2.2%, down from 2.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetApp NVMe AFF A800 is 1.0%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

All-Flash Storage

Featured Reviews

Eugene Hemphill

Sales Manager at Multicomputos PR

Helps to save money and resources with the data compression feature

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. One way to improve the product is to add an operational assistant that doesn't depend on VMware. It could also establish more alliances with other operational systems.

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Mark Richmond

Chief Technology Officer at Next Level Communications

Reliable and fast servers with good support

We use on-premise servers with Lenovo ThinkSystem. We set up Hyper-V and load multiple types of servers including a domain controller, a SQL Server, and application servers The solution provides fast servers that are reasonably priced. We set up RAID ten to ensure drive redundancy, leading to…

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Tanveer Rahman

Chief Technical Office at Novotel Ltd.

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

"I appreciate the performance."

"The solution uses newer technology for deduplication and compression."

"Everything, especially the VMs inside, is pretty fast."

"The solution is scalable."

"The solution is very straightforward to set up."

"The database workloads are pretty fast because I frequently move data from here to there."

"It's helped us because we've changed fundamentally what we talk about. We don't talk about storage and different tiers of storage anymore nor do we talk about servers. We talk now about applications and how applications impact the business and end users."

"One of the best features is the support, which is excellent."

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe pros

"The most valuable feature of Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series is its capability to tier to the cloud, such as Microsoft Azure or Amazon AWS. Additionally, the integration is good and they are user-friendly."

"It has been a perfect fit for the workload that our customer is doing."

"The FlexClone feature is the solution's most valuable aspect."

"The solution offers very good reliable systems and storage for our clients."

"The price of this solution is good."

"The product’s quality of service guarantees the performance of each workload."

"Ability to cluster two storages together with HA availability."

"The most valuable feature of the Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series is its ability to store data well."

More Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series pros

"Low latency is the most valuable feature."

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

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

"The storage features are valuable."

"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 features are stability and performance."

"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."

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

More NetApp NVMe AFF A800 pros

Cons

"We have run into a couple of instances recently where we are running out of space. So we have had to buy some more packs for it and they have deployed fine and it has increased smoothly."

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

"Many options to check performance, like read, writes, random writes, and random reads, are missing in Pure FlashArray X NVMe."

"It feels more suitable for small and medium-sized businesses rather than enterprises."

"There is room for improvement in catering to midrange storage needs, especially for customers seeking Enterprise-class features."

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

"The tool's portfolio is minimal. It is expensive."

"There are some challenges with data encryption and reduction."

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe cons

"The tool's pricing is high."

"The licensing model needs to be revisited. It needs to be simplified."

"The solution needs a simpler licensing theme around the DM series. The problem is if you only need one of the features, you still have to buy the whole thing. The licensing needs to be more granular or flexible so you have the option to only license FlexCone or Inline Compression features."

"I would like Lenovo to add a feature like IBM Easy Tier to DM Series. This is a crucial feature for the customers."

"Many people do not realize that Lenovo has a storage solution, so better marketing from the vendor is needed."

"This is an expensive solution."

"The solution should change the licensing model and allow customers to choose features based on their requirements."

"Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series could improve by having a snapshot feature. Additionally, there can be other features added to help restore the data faster."

More Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series cons

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

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

"The initial setup should be easier, and more like a plug-and-play approach."

"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."

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

"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."

More NetApp NVMe AFF A800 cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

"Our licensing fees are $500,000+ USD."

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

"Pure FlashArray X NVMe’s pricing is cheaper than other products."

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

"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's pricing is similar to Dell and HPE."

"Lenovo offers two software tiers for the DM Series: basic and premium. If you need more features like the MetroCluster, you must buy the premium version. You can stick to the basic software if you don't need MetroCluster or features like asynchronous replication. That makes DM Series a little cheaper."

"The price of the Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series is good."

"The solution is highly-priced."

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

"The solution is expensive."

"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."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

15%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Government

Computer Software Company

20%

Comms Service Provider

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

22%

Computer Software Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

15%

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.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Pure FlashArray X NVMe?

Adding some functions to the product would be beneficial. Storage replication should be essential, and the analytics ...

See all answers

What do you like most about Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series?

The product’s quality of service guarantees the performance of each workload.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series?

The pricing is cost-effective and less expensive compared to HP servers.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series?

There might be improvements needed in drive throughput as disk speed has been a limitation on Windows servers. Althou...

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

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Compared 38% of the time

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Compared 12% of the time

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Compared 11% of the time

Dell Unity XT vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series

Compared 10% of the time

HPE Alletra Storage vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series

Compared 2% of the time

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Compared 32% of the time

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Dell PowerStore vs NetApp NVMe AFF A800

Compared 18% of the time

IBM FlashSystem vs NetApp NVMe AFF A800

Compared 9% of the time

Dell PowerMax NVMe vs NetApp NVMe AFF A800

Compared 8% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Pure FlashArray X NVMe

February 2025

Download Pure FlashArray X NVMe product report

Buyer's Guide

All-Flash Storage

January 2025

Download Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series product report

Buyer's Guide

NVMe All-Flash Storage Arrays

February 2025

Download NetApp NVMe AFF A800 product report

Also Known As

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

ThinkSystem DM Series

No data available

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.

Pure Storage

To meet enterprise storage requirements, ThinkSystem All-Flash DM Series systems provide high performance, superior flexibility, and best-in-class data management. DM Series runs on ONTAP data management software, which gives customers unified storage across block-and-file workloads. It accelerates your business while improving the efficiency, flexibility, and reliability of your IT operations.

Lenovo

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.

NetApp

Sample Customers

Fremont Bank, Judson ISD, The Nielsen Company

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series vs. NetApp NVMe AFF A800

January 2025

Free Report: Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series vs. NetApp NVMe AFF A800

Find out what your peers are saying about Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series vs. NetApp NVMe AFF A800 and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.

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