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Dell Unity XT Unified Storage vs. IBM Storage FlashSystem

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Dell Unity XT Unified Storage

    Score10 out of 10
    N/ADell Unity XT hybrid flash arrays are storage systems for running general purpose workloads that do not require the low latencies and speed of all flash/NVMe architectures. Unity XT hybrid flash arrays balance performance, efficiency, features or outcomes.N/A

    IBM Storage FlashSystem

    Score9.6 out of 10
    N/AIBM Storage FlashSystem, an all-flash storage array, delivers ~2 PB of effective capacity per single rack unit. Engineered with unique FlashCore Modules, it offloads data services including compression, encryption, deduplication, and ransomware threat detection ensuring optimum performance and resiliency.

    $14,200

    Pricing
    Dell Unity XT Unified StorageIBM Storage FlashSystem
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Dell Unity XT Unified StorageIBM Storage FlashSystem
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details—Entry-Level IBM Storage FlashSystem: For any organization looking for an all-flash array with features that are both enterprise conducive and budget friendly, the small to entry level offering prices from IBM begin at $18,400. Mid-Range IBM Storage FlashSystem: For businesses wanting to take advantage of an enterprise-quality flash array for critical workloads (such as SQL databases, SAP, ERP, CRM, etc.), list prices start at $104,600. High-Performance IBM Storage FlashSystem: Organizations seeking a storage array with the ability to run multiple instances of critical applications that are both performance intensive and capacity sensitive, can find IBM prices starting at $368,500. Contact IBM for configuration and pricing details.
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Dell Unity XT Unified StorageIBM Storage FlashSystem
    Considered Both Products
    Dell Technologies
    Chose Dell Unity XT Unified Storage
    From my experience, Dell EMC belongs to the second class of storage arrays due to less popularity and performance compared to "the big heads".
    Incentivized
    Chose Dell Unity XT Unified Storage
    I was instructed to buy these arrays, but I was not given the opportunity to evaluate other arrays. We evaluated other products in the market that competed with Unity and found that the younger array built from scratch had far better features, software, and ease of use. The …
    Incentivized
    IBM
    Chose IBM Storage FlashSystem
    IBM Storage FlashSystem outperformed all the other storage systems we tested.
    It also needs less rack space, and uses much less power.
    Incentivized
    Chose IBM Storage FlashSystem
    Like I already commented before. IBM Storage FlashSystems are more reliable, much easier to setup and operate and available at a much better price point as the competitor.
    So our experience is that the competition is going to "no bid" if IBM Storage FlashSystems are entering …
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    93%
    Would buy again
    14 Answers
    100%
    Would buy again
    19 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    93%
    Delivers good value for the price
    13 Answers
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    19 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    15 Answers
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    19 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    10 Answers
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    15 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    12 Answers
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    14 Answers
    Features
    Dell Unity XT Unified StorageIBM Storage FlashSystem
    Enterprise Flash Array Storage
    Comparison of Enterprise Flash Array Storage features of Dell Unity XT Unified Storage and IBM Storage FlashSystem
    Feature
    Dell Unity XT Unified Storage
    9.3
    15 Ratings
    4% above category average
    IBM Storage FlashSystem
    8.5
    120 Ratings
    5% below category average
    Flash Array Performance9.413 Ratings9.5117 Ratings
    Flash Array Integration9.413 Ratings9.3117 Ratings
    Data Compression9.712 Ratings8.8116 Ratings
    Non-Intrusive Upgrades8.815 Ratings8.6112 Ratings
    Simplicity9.115 Ratings7.6119 Ratings
    Power Savings9.614 Ratings7.0114 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Dell Unity XT Unified StorageIBM Storage FlashSystem
    Small Businesses
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Medium-sized Companies
    Dell Compellent (discontinued)
    Score8 out of 10
    Dell Compellent (discontinued)
    Score8 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Pure Storage FlashArray
    Score10 out of 10
    Pure Storage FlashArray
    Score10 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Dell Unity XT Unified StorageIBM Storage FlashSystem
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.9
    (20 ratings)
    8.8
    (131 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.4
    (4 ratings)
    Usability
    7.0
    (3 ratings)
    8.8
    (20 ratings)
    Performance
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.4
    (20 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.0
    (6 ratings)
    9.0
    (4 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (2 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Dell Unity XT Unified StorageIBM Storage FlashSystem
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Dell Technologies
    Dell EMC Unity is an easy system and very flexible component and very easy to navigate while providing effective services and management of multiple project information management and the data pulling from the supported third-party platform is easy and quick. Excellent reporting features and easy to use and the analytics tools are amazing.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    IBM
    IBM Storage FlashSystems are well suited as VDI storage for Citrix XenServer environments. Our Xen VDIs are much more responsive with the fast IBM storage attached. With the low latency, the users are experiencing much less lag while working in their Windows VDIs hosted on the XenServers. There's also less graphic fragmentation that occurs since moving to the IBM Storage FlashSystem.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Dell Technologies
    • Enables you to create multiple copies of any database.
    • Data savings feature with compression.
    • Integrity with VMWare, RHEL, Oracle.
    • The best option is a midrange unified storage array in a customer environment.
    • Some models support NMMe.
    • Copy Data Management (iCDM), Data-At-Rest-Encryption (D@RE).
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    IBM
    • Data Replication over long distances using Policy-Based Replication and maintaining the RPO.
    • We use snapshot technology heavily and these snaps are easy to create/automate and instantly available.
    • Upgrades/Updates are deployed to the system without loss of data or services.
    • Sub-millisecond latency is maintained and spikes are handled and absorbed by the system during peaks.
    • When connected to the internet via Storage Insights and Cloud Call Home it makes for proactive problem alerting, monitoring and resolution.
    • The fact that Replication and snapshot stuff are hidden under the covers and we no longer have to create mirror pairs or flashcopy pairs ourselves. It does it within the cluster or partnership.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Dell Technologies
    • Alerting: receiving an alert when an issue occurs. That is good to know. However, if the alert is cleared, or somehow no longer in alarm, no email is received. At times I will receive the email alert on weekends, not knowing if the issue is resolved or not until Monday when I can access the unit. I have learned in most instances, the alert is a false alarm, which could be a problem.
    • The alerting itself is sometimes not clear. For example, it tells me the link is down, we reset the connection, the link is still down, a tech was dispatched, he troubleshot, and finally the alarm cleared. This incident took almost a week. It went back into alarm after he left, then suddenly it cleared on its own.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    IBM
    • The flexiblity of upgrading the flash modules for a higher capcity needs to be allowed
    • The user interface for the management console is sometimes a bit confusing
    • the configuration of call home can only be done to a specific IP address but not a dns name
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Dell Technologies
    No answers on this topic
    IBM
    As flash technology evolves rapidly, vendors should [adapt] to the changes and onboard them in their products. IBM is a bit slow in adopting advanced technology in [its] portfolio. Even though the current product is good, my decision is purely based on how the transformation of the product [is] being produced and supplied to [the] end-user.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Dell Technologies
    Very cumbersome compared to other vendors in the same marketplace.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    IBM
    I have found the system to very user friendly. We are currently using it for on premises storage only and have not had the need to leverage any of the cloud extensions. Being able to directly connect up to 8 hosts with dual controller fiber channel is a very nice feature for such a low cost SAN, which saved up quite a bit of money by not having to purchase fabric switches. This also keeps maintenance and power costs down and saves room in the rack.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Dell Technologies
    No answers on this topic
    IBM
    IBM Flashsystems is always available for me, it is fiberchannel storage without the fuzz of what iscsi brings. It is a very reliable storage system, I have almost never issues with this system. The only things which go wrong are the updates because the old updates which have been staged on the disks are not properly cleaned in my opinion.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Performance
    Dell Technologies
    No answers on this topic
    IBM
    Under normal conditions the performance of the storages is very good, the only thing that can vary the performance is when we use pools with data reduction and the stored space of the pool exceeds 90%, in these cases the performance is very bad
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Dell Technologies
    Not only support for Unity, but for any Dell product, whether for companies or for the end consumer. Support is agile, helpful, and always focused on solving the problem. To date, there has been no problem that Dell's support has failed to resolve and help us with.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    IBM
    Sometimes the knowledge of the support agent is quite limited and the support always has to route through the level 1 agent to screen all the informtion provided. Then its esclated to the next level support with the all collected data . The logs are always uploaded along wiht the case but still its reviewed at the lower level and then escalated / handed over to the next level if its complex issue to solve.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Online Training
    Dell Technologies
    No answers on this topic
    IBM
    THe training is often selfpaced and easy to follow if you have worked previously with other storage products. The content is clear and contains all the information needed for an admin to learn. However the troubleshooting part is not always included and this is dependent on forums or other sources where the information is not accessible very easily.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Dell Technologies
    No answers on this topic
    IBM
    I was amazed by the way IBM Flash storage provides a huge amount of storage within the limited footprint, it helped us to replace big fat storage arrays, which aided in the process of moving towards lower hardware, carbon, and energy consumption footprint. We can comfortably say that Flash helped us to host applications fast with a blazing speed and user transactions are quite quick.
    Incentivized
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    Alternatives Considered
    Dell Technologies
    I was instructed to buy these arrays, but I was not given the opportunity to evaluate other arrays. We evaluated other products in the market that competed with Unity and found that the younger array built from scratch had far better features, software, and ease of use. The Unity system has a unique way of storing the data when compared with other systems.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    IBM
    For the past six months, we have been utilizing this technology in our projects to manage a massive workload and produce swift business outcomes on a crucial production database. The IBM FlashSystem 7200, which offers high performance and compression, has so far been a great experience for us. The results and functionality of this product have delighted our consumers.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Scalability
    Dell Technologies
    No answers on this topic
    IBM
    We have been able to scale this storage system whenever there has been requirement for additional capacity and performance. with the help of deduplication we have been able to build quite a robust environment.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Dell Technologies
    • Less business downtime and reliability is a major business concern. DELL EMC UNITY addresses this concern well and provides robust storage.
    • Investing in UNITY system is less expensive than all-flash storage systems.
    • Managing and provisioning VMware disks became simpler from a single interface in the Vcenter
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    IBM
    • Easy of use is a key aspect, as we do not have dedicated storage staff.
    • Our RPO has lowered near to Zero, using PBR as replication and this is key for us.
    • DR plan testing has become easier and less time-consuming, allowing us to conduct tests more frequently.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    IBM Storage FlashSystem Screenshots

    Screenshot of IBM FlashSystem 5300Screenshot of IBM FlashSystem 9500Screenshot of IBM FlashSystem 7300Screenshot of IBM FlashSystem 5000