We performed a comparison between IBM FlashSystem and SolidFire 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."The initial setup was very straightforward and very quick. It was up and running in our data center within 24 hours of receiving it."
"For us, the most valuable feature is the compression and deduplication. Being able to deploy a three to one ratio for storage is absolutely critical in today's world with the growing need for storage and the growing need for more space."
"Data deduplication is one feature I found to be the most valuable in the tool...Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"The most valuable feature of Pure Storage FlashArray is its high stability level."
"My rating of Pure Storage is a ten out of ten because of the price for performance and footprint - the overall value."
"The initial setup was straightforward in the way that it was a database vacuum storage."
"It's simple, powerful, and ready to use."
"It has good stability for our company."
"The performance monitoring feature is useful as it can report in 15 minute intervals by hour, day, week, month, or by a custom date range."
"This solution is very stable."
"The initial setup was really straightforward. It was not complex. Deployment took one month, due to the data migration duration."
"The compression and deduplication features are the most valuable."
"The storage system is one of the best in the world."
"Data deduplication is one of the most valuable features of this solution."
"We are a 100% satisfied with the stability of the solution."
"Ability to manage third-party arrays and virtualise them: One screen to control multiple arrays. Simplified administration."
"The square footage for doing development is at a premium when dealing with government networks. To be able to put a lot of IOPS in a lot of high-speed performing drives in a very small location which requires very little HVAC with very little power, it is very valuable to us."
"The system efficiency is excellent overall."
"The quality of service for minimum iOS, to maximum iOS in a multi-terminal environment is very powerful. The SQL service feature is the best part of SolidFire."
"We can just buy them, scale them as we need on demand, and we don't have to spend so many front end cycles on designing the architecture."
"SolidFire provides seamless performance across your storage system when you need to scale up. Other storage systems do not do that."
"Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"The scalability and being able to implement it quickly."
"It's a very compact device. For a medium-sized business, it's very helpful because the device is efficient and very fast."
"A year ago they promised that they would be able to read through the database encryption with more metric and they have not delivered on that patch, which is significant because it gives us back so much more storage room. We want to be able to read through the encryption."
"The time-to-market could be better at times, but I think that's true for all vendors of hardware."
"I want to learn more about command line usage which I have not explored much yet. However, there are many automated solutions for repetitive tasks. I would like to see additional features like performance monitoring, configuring of alerts, and the customization of alert thresholds in the next release."
"A three wave application or multi wave application synchronization would be an improvement."
"In the configuration, which we brought in or tested it in, it has a very limited config as far as the array goes. That said, it still did more than our anticipation."
"Storage. There could be better storage."
"We would like to be able to connect to data tape for backup, specifically to the LTO backups."
"We haven't seen ROI."
"The GUI for monitoring performance metrics could provide better visibility. For example, it doesn't let me segregate the IOPS per volume."
"Our customers have raised concerns about the limitations of the FlashSystem 5200 and 7300, which only offer a 32-gigabyte connection."
"The solution's infrastructure technology level could be PCI Express 5 instead of PCI Express 4 for the next version."
"With regards to the IBM V7000 storage system, where we have multiple tiers of storage, a heat map would show I/O distribution across the tiers of storage."
"It could be easier to implement."
"The interface could improve in IBM FlashSystem."
"The support could improve by allowing you to speak to someone when you call rather than them calling you back. However, once we do have contact with one of their technicians they are excellent."
"When you provision a datastore auto-format takes a long time"
"Though it is a stable solution, its users may face some security issues at times...The security provided by the solution is one area that can be improved."
"We had some false positives, power supplies failing, and that's really been about it. We had a couple of glitches during some upgrade processes but nothing that was really concerning to us."
"This solution would be improved if it were made to be more compatible with other products."
"SolidFire should start from two nodes instead of the four nodes. That's the only thing. In a lot of solutions, we have to use four nodes, that's the better thing. But as a starting point, two is better. That's why their starting point is expensive."
"The scalability of HCI or SolidFire as such isn't a concern, but when you compare it to PowerMax or NetApp AFF series devices, scalability is a concern because it's only the drives that are connected to the nodes. We don't have any shelf connectivity."
"It would be good to provide administrative access at the root level to be able to do things with the system, if need be."
"The upgrade process could be better."
"So feature-wise, I would say more reporting tools that could be merged into it."
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.
IBM FlashSystem is ranked 6th in All-Flash Storage with 105 reviews while SolidFire is ranked 19th in All-Flash Storage with 33 reviews. IBM FlashSystem is rated 8.2, while SolidFire is rated 8.4. 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 SolidFire writes "A versatile storage solution suitable for various workloads in cloud environments providing scalable architecture, granular Quality of Service and consistent performance". IBM FlashSystem is most compared with Dell PowerStore, NetApp AFF, Dell Unity XT, Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform and HPE Nimble Storage, whereas SolidFire is most compared with NetApp AFF, Dell PowerStore and VMware vSAN. See our IBM FlashSystem vs. SolidFire report.
See our list of best All-Flash Storage vendors.
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