IBM FlashSystem vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series comparison

Cancel
You must select at least 2 products to compare!
Pure Storage Logo
18,745 views|9,975 comparisons
99% willing to recommend
IBM Logo
10,681 views|8,171 comparisons
91% willing to recommend
Lenovo Logo
3,181 views|2,744 comparisons
100% willing to recommend
Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between IBM FlashSystem and Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two All-Flash Storage solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.
To learn more, read our detailed IBM FlashSystem vs. Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series Report (Updated: March 2024).
769,630 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
"The back-end data reporting for Pure Storage is phenomenal. The data that you can see on the performance of your customers' array, so you can be proactive about upgrades or enhancements, and is a phenomenal tool to have access to as a partner. I haven't seen this type of stuff out of anything of the other storage systems.""It does efficient work of storing data while still delivering the performance that you would normally expect from a higher priced solution.""The data reduction technology part of the scalability has been impressive, like its ability to host additional workloads, volumes of data, and databases.""The performance of the storage is just unbelievable.""Non-disruptive upgrades: You can upgrade at anytime without worry.""Their technical support is excellent. It's the best out of any of the vendors we work with.""The top-tier support and reliable storage are the most valuable features of this solution.""It has good stability for our company."

More Pure Storage FlashArray Pros →

"IBM FlashSystem is flexible, quick, and has a solid design.""The solution is scalable and has varying degrees of scalability.""Ability to manage third-party arrays and virtualise them: One screen to control multiple arrays. Simplified administration.""The valuable features are high availability, compression, and a failover mechanism. It's a very highly available storage solution.""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 feature I find most valuable, is the deduplication, because the nature of the data that we are using in our current environment, has a lot of replicated data.""At the FlashSystem level, customers are especially fond of multi-tier and distributed rate systems, particularly the dynamic rate six arrays.""The Flash core models offer amazing performance."

More IBM FlashSystem Pros →

"The solution's initial setup process is easy.""The solution is very easy to troubleshoot. It's one of the most valuable features. It also doesn't take long to deploy and normally it comes with a three-year warranty.""This solution is good for virtualization and meets the need for CPU and RAM requirements.""Fewer features is not necessarily a negative as it leads to simpler operation and lower price.""We have been working with the solution for around a year and so far it has shown itself to be stable.""Its initial setup process is easy.""Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series is quite an elementary box, no frills. It does not have all the functionality of the DM but it is acceptable, it does its task. It integrates pretty well.""Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series is simple to use"

More Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series Pros →

Cons
"It is a bit expensive.""The price of the solution can improve.""It is way in excess of what we need. If anything, we could see a bit more speed. I'm just comparing it with what some of my colleagues who are implementing their own systems do.""The one major gripe I have is that there is no snapshotting enabled by default on the SAN.""I would like to see data tiering to AWS.""The solution could improve by having a multi-tenant feature.""In the next release, I would like to see file-level encryption.""I would rate this solution an eight. There's always room for improvement, nobody is perfect to get a ten out of ten. They do what they do well. It's not cheap but we it's for uses that we needed."

More Pure Storage FlashArray Cons →

"This solution needs a management console where we are alerted to issues and can report them, or escalate them through email or another method.""Their technical support needs improvement in terms of reachability for the clients and response times. They should be more responsive and have more online platforms for support. They should make more technical information available online. There could be some kind of documentation community.""The initial setup is complex.""A big area for improvement is that the data reduction pool feature is not recommended for use in a production environment because it has stability and performance issues.""The interface of this solution could be improved.""I have looked at a few pages of a report I download and I saw a graph there regarding software-defined vendors. IBM is not in a good position on this graph. I know that they are working very hard on this, to make it much better and to get to a level where it's not only hardware but also software to provide a complete solution.""Our model does not support compression or deduplication.""I would like to have a larger disk. Right now, you can get 57 terabytes in a shelf. Once they get the larger disk and you get larger capacities, it'll be even better."

More IBM FlashSystem Cons →

"Improvements can be made to the product's performance.""Its performance could be faster.""The solution could be more scalable, although it suits our present needs.""In the next release, I would like to see more functionality. But, again, it is an entry-level product.""It would be useful to have structured solutions replicated to other sites.""There could be a snapshot feature in the solution.""ThinkSystem could be better integrated with backup software like Commvault, Veritas, or Symantec.""The difficult part comes when dealing with the host. You have to enable multi-pathing and other aspects that are needed for proper configuration. I don't know if there is room for a more hyper-conversion structure to work with, but this would be easier."

More Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series 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 →

  • "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 →

  • "The pricing for this solution is good compared to HP or Dell EMC."
  • "The pricing is fair and low compared to other products in this category."
  • "We have a five-year contract for providing support."
  • "All of the features are bundled together, and you can renew the bundle with all of the features included."
  • "The best thing about this solution is its price, which reduces our costs."
  • "The price of the Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series is a one-time purchase. There is a global price list available to find the price of the solution."
  • "It is an expensive solution."
  • "The solution's price could be better."
  • More Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series Pricing and Cost Advice →

    report
    Use our free recommendation engine to learn which All-Flash Storage solutions are best for your needs.
    769,630 professionals have used our research since 2012.
    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: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
    IBM Storwize
    ThinkSystem DE Series
    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."

    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.

    The DE All-Flash Series delivers the performance of more than 2,000 15k rpm HDDs, yet requires only 2% of the rack space, power, and cooling. Because it consumes 98% less space and power, DE Series can significantly improve the overall efficiency of your IT operations while continuing to meet your performance requirements.

    Sample Customers
    Nielsen, Lamar Advertising, LinkedIn, Betfair, UT-Dallas
    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
    Information Not Available
    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
    Financial Services Firm28%
    Computer Software Company12%
    Comms Service Provider8%
    Government8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company18%
    Financial Services Firm11%
    Manufacturing Company8%
    Comms Service Provider8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company21%
    Manufacturing Company9%
    Government7%
    Comms Service Provider7%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business27%
    Midsize Enterprise16%
    Large Enterprise57%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business18%
    Midsize Enterprise40%
    Large Enterprise42%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business38%
    Midsize Enterprise15%
    Large Enterprise48%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business29%
    Midsize Enterprise16%
    Large Enterprise55%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business73%
    Midsize Enterprise27%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business34%
    Midsize Enterprise19%
    Large Enterprise47%
    Buyer's Guide
    IBM FlashSystem vs. Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about IBM FlashSystem vs. Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
    769,630 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    IBM FlashSystem is ranked 6th in All-Flash Storage with 106 reviews while Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series is ranked 20th in All-Flash Storage with 11 reviews. IBM FlashSystem is rated 8.2, while Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series is rated 8.6. 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 Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series writes "Provides good stability and is reliable in terms of performance". IBM FlashSystem is most compared with Dell PowerStore, Dell Unity XT, NetApp AFF, Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform and NetApp FAS Series, whereas Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series is most compared with Dell PowerStore, NetApp AFF, Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series, Dell Unity XT and HPE Nimble Storage. See our IBM FlashSystem vs. Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series 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.