Huawei OceanStor vs IBM FlashSystem comparison

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Pure Storage Logo
18,745 views|9,975 comparisons
99% willing to recommend
Huawei Logo
3,321 views|2,485 comparisons
100% willing to recommend
IBM Logo
10,681 views|8,171 comparisons
91% willing to recommend
Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary
Updated on Feb 21, 2023

We performed a comparison between Huawei OceanStor and IBM FlashSystem based on our users’ reviews in four categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.

  • Ease of Deployment: Although a few users experienced difficulties setting up IBM FlashSystem, the prevailing opinion for both products is that they are easy to deploy.
  • Features: Huawei OceanStor is an easy-to-operate scalable product with valuable features for management data performance, hybrid applications and storage, and availability. The solution needs to improve the vendor integration and configuration and the user interface. IBM FlashSystem is a stable and scalable, mature solution with the most valuable features for performance, compression, connectivity, and deduplication. Among its drawbacks are its design and the limitation of certain features.
  • Pricing: Huawei OceanStor has a complex licensing system that may increase its price too much. IBM FlashSystem is in the upper price range but reviewers see improvement in the cost-to-value ratio with new upgrades.

  • Service and Support: The support for Huawei OceanStor is described as good but needs improvements in its communication. IBM FlashSystem’s support is very good and provides helpful responses in a timely manner.

Comparison Results: Based on the parameters we compared, IBM FlashSystem came out ahead of Huawei OceanStor. Although both products have valuable features, our reviewers found that Huawei OceanStor has complex licensing that can make the solution too expensive and needs to improve their tech support’s communication.

To learn more, read our detailed Huawei OceanStor vs. IBM FlashSystem Report (Updated: March 2024).
769,599 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"It's just very easy for general block storage.""We also use VMware integrations developed by Pure, their plugins in our vCenter environment. They help by allowing our non-technical operations teams to deploy new data stores and resize data stores without me having to involve myself all the time to do those simple tasks.""Technical support has been amazing.""It's simple, powerful, and ready to use.""We like the speed. It's very low latency. In virtualization, you can mask lots of problems, and even in code you can mask lots of problems, with low latency. It's just pure speed and low latency.""Data reduction and compression. Sub millisecond latency.""It has been very stable. I have not seen or heard of downtime storage issues after moving over to it.""It simplifies storage."

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"The solution works well for non-critical applications that do not require a heavy workload. The tool's all features are valuable.""The support is excellent.""Excellent and efficient support, and the product is a good price.""Huawei OceanStor is a good product. Its interface is very simple. The complexities we encounter with recovery points are gone. We just attach to remote storage, click the application, and it starts.""If your virtual machine that resides on it completely fills the storage space, thanks to it's built-in function of all-zero data space reclamation, you just have to ask to System Engineer to run a zero-free on hosts (thin provisioned) and you will get more space instantaneously.""The performance and ease of management are the most valuable features.""The most valuable feature of Huawei OceanStor is the hybrid applications.""The solution is scalable."

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"The power systems are very reliable if you are running 24/7 operations. For ongoing mission-critical applications, it's the best solution.""At the FlashSystem level, customers are especially fond of multi-tier and distributed rate systems, particularly the dynamic rate six arrays.""The most valuable feature of the solution is replication...Stability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.""The price-performance ratio is most valuable.""Over the years, it has become increasingly user-friendly.""The Flash core models offer amazing performance.""The performance of IBM FlashSystem is very good. The new technology and high throughput have given us more confidence in the solution. The management of the system has improved and we can control the monitoring system alerts and multiple FlashSystems with the Enterprise Cloud Edition, which is free. The migration of recently stored data to a new flash is much easier. You can move your data because you can utilize it externally.""The all-flash storage has tier replication capabilities."

More IBM FlashSystem Pros →

Cons
"The one major gripe I have is that there is no snapshotting enabled by default on the SAN.""I would love for them to have a hyper-converged solution.""I would like to see them lower the costs.""It was a little costly. The price was ultimately higher than both of the other solutions that we evaluated. I'd say that's the only downside.""With scalability, I have run into a little problem with our last upgrade. There were some undocumented limitations to the number of drives that our controller could run on. So, instead of putting in a new data pack as we had anticipated, we had to keep adding and removing to get up to the capacity that we needed to be. What should have been a one day process (or a few hours) turned into a month and a half process.""We've had it in place for about a year and a half and have had zero complaints, other than that box-to-box replication is not encrypted.""Pure Storage support could be a little better.""I would like to see support for NVMe, end-to-end."

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"The solution could improve by having better integration.""The security could be a bit more robust.""The main concern is regarding the usability of the data storage.""Its storage capacity could be better.""Its data replication features work slowly for nodes.""Could have a more stable, lighter Metro and better logging system.""We did experience a little latency with this solution.""The duration of the built-in snapshot technology must be improved."

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"Our model does not support compression or deduplication.""Cloud file sharing is an area that needs improvement.""The deduplication and compression ratio is not very good. It's not reaching a very high ratio.""The price is very costly.""There could be some extra features added.""The generic functionality of IBM FlashSystem, IBM always dismisses using file share or sharing protocols inside their storage hardware, and they only focus on the block-level storage.""Additional licenses might be added for the fundamental licenses, such as those for copying and flash copies.""The solution is quite expensive. That's one of the downsides to using it."

More IBM FlashSystem Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "We feel that the pricing is fair and the licensing process was easy for both."
  • "There is always room for negotiation."
  • "The price was slightly higher than others, but competitive, if you consider all the other features that you get from it."
  • "It is a more expensive solution, but it is worth it. You are getting what you paid for."
  • "For pricing, you have to take into account their performance on deduplication and compression in a $/GB comparison."
  • "We have seen a reduction in total cost of ownership (TCO)."
  • "It is a cheaper solution."
  • "Pure Storage is all-flash, so this sometimes tends to make it a bit more expensive in the beginning."
  • More Pure Storage FlashArray Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "This product value matches its price."
  • "It's roughly affordable."
  • "Pricing is very fair."
  • "Huawei OceanStor is priced very well but is a bit complicated."
  • "The price of the solution could be less expensive. However, there are not any licensing costs."
  • "We pay a monthly licensing fee for this solution. The price could be less expensive."
  • "The pricing depends on the features the customer wants, such as storage, RAM, and processors, but in general, Huawei is much cheaper compared to Dell and Cisco."
  • "The price of Huawei OceanStor should be less expensive. It is expensive at the moment."
  • More Huawei OceanStor Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "Pricing can be considered as per market competition."
  • "The total storage capacity vs price is still quite high for the IBM Flash Array."
  • "It pays to go back and get the best price you can from your supplier. The first offer is not always at the best discount."
  • "Regarding licensing make sure you add at least three years software maintenance from IBM at the beginning, because you will not be able to download firmware updates or any fixes/patches without this."
  • "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 pricing has been very competitive for the last few years. IBM got to the point where they changed the pricing model and we feel very comfortable with the pricing. It's very competitive. Over the last two years, IBM has been coming up with all kinds of interesting promos, especially for the SMB systems. That makes it very competitive price-wise and in terms of performance..."
  • "For a yearly license, it is about $100,000. There are no additional costs. The entire system is included."
  • "The integration is already included in the license cost of IBM FlashSystem. The integration is very easy. You get the IBM storage core with all software, firmware, and upgrades. EMC provides the features in the box, but they are not free for customers. There is a licensing cost for features. We have yearly licensing, but IBM has also provided a new option where you pay as you go. They provide a big box, and I pay, for example, for 10 terabytes. If I exceed 10 terabytes, IBM will charge for the new storage after 10 terabytes. It is a good opportunity in the market for using the storage as a cloud and paying as you go."
  • More IBM FlashSystem Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:Both are great platforms, but if you are considering all flash solutions, I would recommend you to consider Pure… more »
    Top Answer:We consume less physical storage because of the solution’s deduplication and compression.
    Top Answer:We have customers who use a three-year or five-year license. We also have customers who use Evergreen.
    Top Answer:The duration of the built-in snapshot technology must be improved. We must be able to keep the snapshots for a specific… more »
    Top Answer:I rate the pricing a three out of ten. The tool is cost-efficient. The prices are good.
    Top Answer:Customization features must be improved.
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    OceanStor Dorado V3 All-Flash Storage System, OceanStor 18000 V3 Series Storage Systems, OceanStor 6800 V3 Storage System
    IBM Storwize
    Learn More
    Overview

    Pure Storage FlashArray is the world’s first enterprise-class storage array that runs exclusively on the nonvolatile memory express (NVMe) protocol for memory access and storage. It represents a totally state-of-the-art type of storage technology. It offers users shared accelerated storage that delivers cutting-edge features in the realms of performance, simplicity, and consolidation. Pure Storage is fresh and modern today and will be for the next decade. Without forklift upgrades or planned downtime, Pure Storage takes the work out of storage ownership and delivers unprecedented customer satisfaction.

    Pure Storage FlashArray is built with simplicity and reliability in mind. The solution can be implemented and optimized in hours, as opposed to other similar solutions that can take days. It has no moving parts, which removes areas where it could potentially be vulnerable to suffering errors. It is highly stable and gives users the ability to manage system shutdowns in a way that  prevents data loss.

    Benefits of Pure Storage FlashArray

    Some of the benefits of using Pure Storage FlashArray include:

    • A much higher level of speed than similar pieces of technology. Pure Storage FlashArray maximizes the speed at which data can be transferred while at the same time minimizing system latencies that might slow the transfer down. Additionally, it offers users quick memory read and data access speeds.

    • A higher bang for your buck in terms of the storage capabilities you get for the money you pay. They are smaller in size than more standard storage technologies, but they offer flash memory, which enables users to store larger amounts of data than the current standard.

    Reviews from Real Users

    Pure Storage FlashArray is a highly effective piece of storage technology which stands out among its competitors for a number of reasons. Two major ones are its overall robustness and the value that it offers by way of its reliability and ease of use. It provides users with many valuable features that allow them to maximize what they can do with this solution. Pure Storage FlashArray’s reliability and ease of use make it a highly valuable solution. 

    PeerSpot user Prabakaran K., a technical consultant at Injazat Data Systems, notes the robustness of this solution when he writes, "FlashArray has many valuable features. It's very user-friendly and it has high availability, so there is comparatively less downtime. During maintenance, there is no shutdown procedure, so you can directly power off the Array and manage the shutdown process without any data loss, which is a unique feature. Managing replication and data migration is also very easy."

    PeerSpot user Jason D., a cloud solutions architect at a tech services company, notes three features that make this solution valuable when he writes, "We've had different types of storage, and three things of this solution are valuable. The first one is its outstanding performance. The second one is its stability. In the about three years that we've had it, we've had component failures, but we never had a service interruption or any data loss. The third one, which is really critical, is that it is super easy to use in terms of provisioning, storage, and managing the arrays. I'm able to maintain a multi-site environment with a couple of dozen arrays with a single mid-level storage admin."

    OceanStor Dorado V3 is the industry's first all-flash storage that puts NVMe into commercial use. It is specially designed for enterprises' mission-critical businesses, meeting the most-demanding performance and reliability requirements of databases, VDI, server virtualization, and SAP HANA.

    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.

    Sample Customers
    Nielsen, Lamar Advertising, LinkedIn, Betfair, UT-Dallas
    Piraeus, Clinique Univeritaires Saint-Luc
    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
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm19%
    Healthcare Company12%
    Manufacturing Company10%
    Computer Software Company8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization31%
    Computer Software Company12%
    Manufacturing Company8%
    Financial Services Firm8%
    REVIEWERS
    Manufacturing Company22%
    Recreational Facilities/Services Company17%
    Computer Software Company17%
    Comms Service Provider17%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company15%
    Financial Services Firm13%
    Comms Service Provider10%
    Manufacturing Company9%
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm28%
    Computer Software Company12%
    Government8%
    Comms Service Provider8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company18%
    Financial Services Firm11%
    Manufacturing Company8%
    Comms Service Provider8%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business27%
    Midsize Enterprise16%
    Large Enterprise57%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business18%
    Midsize Enterprise40%
    Large Enterprise42%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business67%
    Midsize Enterprise21%
    Large Enterprise12%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business22%
    Midsize Enterprise17%
    Large Enterprise61%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business38%
    Midsize Enterprise15%
    Large Enterprise48%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business29%
    Midsize Enterprise16%
    Large Enterprise55%
    Buyer's Guide
    Huawei OceanStor vs. IBM FlashSystem
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Huawei OceanStor vs. IBM FlashSystem and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
    769,599 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Huawei OceanStor is ranked 12th in All-Flash Storage with 31 reviews while IBM FlashSystem is ranked 6th in All-Flash Storage with 106 reviews. Huawei OceanStor is rated 8.4, while IBM FlashSystem is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of Huawei OceanStor writes "User-friendly and robust storage solution with good performance and easy setup". On the other hand, the top reviewer of IBM FlashSystem writes "An easy GUI and simple provisioning but our model does not support compression". Huawei OceanStor is most compared with Huawei OceanStor Dorado, NetApp AFF, Dell PowerStore, Dell Unity XT and DDN SFA7990X, whereas IBM FlashSystem is most compared with Dell PowerStore, Dell Unity XT, NetApp AFF and Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform. See our Huawei OceanStor vs. IBM FlashSystem report.

    See our list of best All-Flash Storage vendors.

    We monitor all All-Flash Storage reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.