The prices are high. Except for this, there is nothing I don't like in FlashSystem. Before IBM Flash, I was using NetApp 2020. You can't easily do what you want to do with NetApp. It takes more time to take snapshots, it takes more time to do deduplication.
FlashSystem is better than the old system. I recommend it to my friends who ask what to pick.
I have been using IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe for about three years.
FlashSystem doesn't have any limitations.
IBM's support is not good. I experienced a big problem where I opened the console IBM Storage and would see that something was broken. I called the call centers, and I said, "I have a problem. My drive is not working." They want me to give them the serial number, I gave it to them and they told me "I cannot find your product. Your product is not here."
It was unbelievable. I had purchased it a week prior. I was the first person in Turkey to buy it. They said they couldn't help me. I ended up fixing it myself.
Before buying IBM Flash, I tested many flash storage solutions. For example, I tested Pure Storage for about one and a half months, Huawei Storage, and Dell Storage. I tested and compared the performance results.
I also tested Iometer. When we run the Imeter on NetApp, the performance result is not the same. It immediately goes down and suddenly, goes up. It's not stable. But when we were testing Pure Storage, we found it to be very good. It's stable. It goes on the same line. When I tested Dell Storage and removed the controller or hard drive manually I saw the performance go down. Dell goes down, and Huawei goes down. When I did the same test on Pure Storage, the performance was near the same. Because of this, I would recommend Pure Storage. I plan to buy it when I have the budget for it.
I would rate IBM FlashSystem a seven out of ten. The performance is good but the support is not. It's easy to use, has good stability, and many features.