We compared NetApp AFF and Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series based on our user's reviews in several parameters.
Users praise NetApp AFF for exceptional performance, scalability, and efficient data management with positive ROI. In contrast, Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series is valued for powerful performance, reliability, and robust data protection. NetApp AFF receives high marks for customer service, pricing, and integration, while improved performance and a more user-friendly interface are needed. On the other hand, the Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series could benefit from enhancements in performance, stability, scalability, and user-friendliness.
Features: Key differences: - NetApp AFF: emphasizes exceptional performance, efficient data management, high availability, and integration with various applications and systems. - Lenovo ThinkSystem DM: focuses on powerful performance, reliable storage capabilities, ease of management, impressive scalability, and robust data protection.
Pricing and ROI: The setup cost for NetApp AFF is straightforward and does not pose difficulties. User feedback suggests that the pricing is competitive and offers good value. On the other hand, the Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series has a reported fairly straightforward and hassle-free setup cost. Users are satisfied with the flexibility and options available in terms of licensing., The ROI of NetApp AFF was positive and impressive, with increased productivity, efficiency, data storage capabilities, reliability, and performance. It seamlessly integrates with existing infrastructure and offers enhanced data protection. On the other hand, the Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series also provided a profitable ROI.
Room for Improvement: NetApp AFF could benefit from improvements in performance optimization, integration, software functionality, scalability, complexity, and user-friendly interface. Meanwhile, the Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series needs enhancements in performance, stability, scalability, expandability, user interface, reliability, and support.
Deployment and customer support: Based on user reviews, the duration required for establishing a new tech solution can vary greatly for both NetApp AFF and Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series. Some users of NetApp AFF spent three months on deployment and an additional week on setup, while others required only a week for both phases. Similarly, users of Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series reported spending three months on deployment and a week on setup, but some also stated that they needed one week for both phases. The reviews emphasize the importance of considering deployment and setup as separate phases for both products, but also suggest that these terms may refer to the same period and should be evaluated together., NetApp AFF's customer service excels with highly praised assistance, prompt response times, and helpful guidance. Users value the reliability and professionalism displayed. Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series also receives positive feedback, with users appreciating the responsiveness and knowledgeable support provided.
The summary above is based on 50 interviews we conducted recently with NetApp AFF and Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series users. To access the review's full transcripts, download our report.
"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."
"It is very easy to install and configure. It has got excellent diagnostics. If you really need to see how the box is performing, the console gives you a lot of information. You can set thresholds as well as alerts based on the thresholds, which is a very powerful functionality. They are very proactive. They know how to monitor and manage the systems. They see a problem, and they are all over it before us. They see the problem before we see it, which is very good."
"The initial setup was extremely simple and straightforward."
"The Pure1 component is most valuable at this point in time when comparing it with EMC. Pure1 is where you can have your diagnostics in the cloud, so you can look at things from your mobile phone."
"Pure FlashArray X NVMe has low latency and high Ops. It is an evergreen model."
"The high availability of the product is the most valuable feature."
"Overall stability is very good. It is a very stable solution."
"It has good, reliable, fast storage."
"Ability to cluster two storages together with HA availability."
"We are satisfied with the stability."
"Scalable and stable storage array."
"The product’s quality of service guarantees the performance of each workload."
"The solution offers very good reliable systems and storage for our clients."
"The most valuable feature of the Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series is its ability to store data well."
"Last year, I did a DM Series installation with my colleague, and this installation was effortless because we had Lenovo support on the phone, so it was easy to get help if we had any problems."
"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."
"NetApp AFF handles tier-one workloads, including home drives, departmental shares, group shares, and application shares."
"NetApp AFF's flash technology offers great performance. This feature has been my go-to for managing data and ensuring speed and reliability."
"It has a good interface. Its configuration and flexibility are also good."
"The most valuable features are the IO performance that we get, the cluster part, and the increased workload and performance with the SSDs."
"The most valuable features are high performance and encryption. It also provides aggregate level dedupe."
"The scale up version of it is the most valuable feature. You can go to 24 nodes, which is very cool."
"With the new version, they have the FabricPool which works for me. I can extend the hyperscaler storage."
"The tool has lowered latency."
"Efficiency improvements would always be welcome, but I'm not sure if they could get more efficient."
"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."
"Many options to check performance, like read, writes, random writes, and random reads, are missing in Pure FlashArray X NVMe."
"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."
"The software layer has to improve."
"It's more multi-tenant functionality in their Pure1 manage portal that is lacking."
"In the next release, I would like to see real-time analytics for further insight into consumption models."
"If the customer only needs 500 terabytes and doesn't care how much data they'll put in the server, IBM is cheaper than Pure."
"The Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series was very hard to configure. Installation of the product was very hard. These are its areas for improvement."
"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 rate the support of Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series a four out of five."
"The solution should change the licensing model and allow customers to choose features based on their requirements."
"Many people do not realize that Lenovo has a storage solution, so better marketing from the vendor is needed."
"It takes a very long time to enter the management console, as well as to restart the system, and these are things that should be improved."
"Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series could improve by having a snapshot feature. Additionally, there can be other features added to help restore the data faster."
"This is an expensive solution."
"We'd like to see improvement in the time to retrieve from the Cloud, whether it's on-prem to cloud and whether it's public or private cloud."
"The total cost of ownership has increased a little."
"The procurement process could be improved. It takes a long time for us to receive stuff. The product is good. It's not the product, it's just that it takes forever to get it. It's not our reseller's problem; it's usually held up at NetApp."
"The price of NVMe storage is very expensive."
"There are little things that need improvement. For example, if you are setting up a SnapMirror through the GUI, you are forced to change the destination name of the volume, and we like to keep the volume names the same."
"From my perspective, everything works well. They've already announced that they have some features in their next release that make the existing investment more usable, by adding software features to your existing legacy hardware investment."
"I have experienced slow responses several times, if the ticket has only been opened in portal."
"In future releases, I would like to see the ability to automatically mount SMB shares and file systems."
Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series is ranked 21st in All-Flash Storage with 10 reviews while NetApp AFF is ranked 2nd in All-Flash Storage with 280 reviews. Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series is rated 7.4, while NetApp AFF is rated 9.0. The top reviewer of Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series writes "Simple deployment, stores data well, but missing features". On the other hand, the top reviewer of NetApp AFF writes "Since switching, our clients have reported improved performance and reduced latency". Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series is most compared with Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series, Dell Unity XT, Dell PowerStore, IBM FlashSystem and HPE Nimble Storage, whereas NetApp AFF is most compared with Dell PowerStore, Dell Unity XT, Pure Storage FlashArray, VMware vSAN and NetApp FAS Series. See our Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series vs. NetApp AFF report.
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