We performed a comparison between IBM FlashSystem and IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe based on our users’ reviews in four categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Comparison Results: Based on the parameters we compared, IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe comes out ahead of IBM FlashSystem. Both products have good technical support, but IBM FlashSystem’s price is high and it has a complex initial setup process.
"Provides fast access and is user-friendly."
"Support has been helpful."
"The code upgrades are very smooth."
"Most of the problems that we had in the past with the performance in IOPS have disappeared. It has been a great improvement for our customers' services."
"We were actually able to do multiple upgrades, including head upgrades and moving between the platforms, M20 and M50, over the years. We have never once lost a ping and have never had an outage due to an OS upgrade or a complete head upgrade."
"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."
"The solution is very reliable."
"At this point, I don't know anything that they could provide in a better way."
"The ability to create LUNs and modify them are the most valuable features of this solution."
"The most valuable features are deduplication and compression."
"The solution allows for easy migrations from previous products or vendors via its embedded storage virtualization function."
"The solution is scalable and has varying degrees of scalability."
"High availability and enhanced security; Proven dependability; Data compression with hardware acceleration; Advanced copy services features are all in this product."
"IBM FlashSystem is a stable solution."
"The most valuable features are, of course, the virtualization of the storage, the performance, and the compression."
"The pricing is reasonable."
"The most valuable feature is the speed."
"The most valuable features of IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe are its steady performance and usefulness in high-traffic environments."
"What I like about the product are its high availability, maximum efficiency in performance, and its ability to handle a high level of I/O operations."
"The high performance and high availability improved our overall processes."
"Good performance with a user-friendly UI."
"IBM FlashSystem provides the same software on each box, including virtualized solutions."
"It's easy to use, has good stability, and many features."
"IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe is easy to use and comes with good performance."
"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."
"The product should improve its response time. I have also encountered issues with its configuration."
"I would like to see more cloud integration."
"The only time that we had problems with it was that there was a bug in the VVol implementation but, outside of that, it has been flawless."
"I had to contact customer support when a drive failed as I was doing a couple of OS upgrades."
"We haven't seen ROI."
"Its price needs improvement. Its price is almost double than any other flash storage solution."
"I would rate this solution an eight. To make it a ten it would have to be a little cheaper."
"It could be easier to implement."
"The basic setup can be challenging when it comes to certain IP addresses and the configuration of the IP. You have to go in to different menus to makes changes and ensure it is stable."
"The Data Reduction Pools (DRP) support could be better."
"The technical support in my region is satisfactory but it could improve. Support is very important for customers and downtime is very critical for us. We would like onsite or complete technical support which can help us to minimize our downtime or if problems occur."
"The solution's pricing is a bit high so there is room for improvement."
"The GUI for monitoring performance metrics could provide better visibility. For example, it doesn't let me segregate the IOPS per volume."
"I think the only thing the developers can look at, is that it is limited to 25 gigabytes currently. In the next release they might want to increase that."
"The initial setup is complex."
"The efficacy of the GUI in IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe could be enhanced, and it would be beneficial to include a feature that can prevent ransomware attacks."
"There could be a possibility of not requiring to buy a new box while upgrading to a newer version."
"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.""
"I would like to see IBM products become more affordable because they can be quite expensive, which limits their accessibility to a broader customer base."
"IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe is currently at the end of its lifespan and will soon become obsolete in the markets."
"The solution's compression feature could be better."
"Deduplication and compression should be improved."
"The storage system itself should have built-in capabilities for different ransomware attacks."
IBM FlashSystem is ranked 6th in All-Flash Storage with 106 reviews while IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe is ranked 13th in All-Flash Storage with 19 reviews. IBM FlashSystem is rated 8.2, while IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe is rated 8.8. The top reviewer of IBM FlashSystem writes "An easy GUI and simple provisioning but our model does not support compression". On the other hand, the top reviewer of IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe writes "Steady performance, responsive support, and high availability". IBM FlashSystem is most compared with Dell PowerStore, Dell Unity XT, NetApp AFF, Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform and HPE Nimble Storage, whereas IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe is most compared with Dell PowerStore, Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform, HPE Primera and Dell PowerMax NVMe. See our IBM FlashSystem vs. IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe report.
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