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IBM Storage FlashSystem vs. NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    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

    NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays

    Score9.3 out of 10
    N/AThe NetApp® EF-Series is a family of entry-level and midrange all-flash storage arrays that accelerate organizations' access to data and help derive value from it. These systems offer NVMe flash storage and provide more affordable to extreme IOPS, boasting response times under 100 microseconds and bandwidth up to 44GBps.N/A
    Pricing
    IBM Storage FlashSystemNetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    IBM Storage FlashSystemNetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays
    Free Trial
    YesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional DetailsEntry-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
    IBM Storage FlashSystemNetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays
    Considered Both Products
    IBM
    No answer on this topic
    NetApp
    Chose NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays
    NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays provide high IOP's , data protection and other features which makes this storage different from other storage in the enterprise segment , I also worked on IBM DS8K storage and IBM flash storage , But If i compare both of them on basis of …
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    100%
    Would buy again
    19 Answers
    100%
    Would buy again
    5 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    19 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    19 Answers
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    5 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    15 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    14 Answers
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    5 Answers
    Features
    IBM Storage FlashSystemNetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays
    Enterprise Flash Array Storage
    Comparison of Enterprise Flash Array Storage features of IBM Storage FlashSystem and NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays
    Feature
    IBM Storage FlashSystem
    8.5
    120 Ratings
    5% below category average
    NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays
    8.9
    5 Ratings
    1% below category average
    Flash Array Performance9.5117 Ratings9.35 Ratings
    Flash Array Integration9.3117 Ratings9.65 Ratings
    Data Compression8.8116 Ratings9.34 Ratings
    Non-Intrusive Upgrades8.6112 Ratings8.15 Ratings
    Simplicity7.6119 Ratings9.45 Ratings
    Power Savings7.0114 Ratings7.95 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    IBM Storage FlashSystemNetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays
    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
    IBM Storage FlashSystemNetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.8
    (131 ratings)
    9.2
    (5 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    7.4
    (4 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Usability
    8.8
    (20 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Performance
    9.5
    (20 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.0
    (4 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    8.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    IBM Storage FlashSystemNetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays
    Likelihood to Recommend
    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.
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    NetApp
    NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays is useful for the application that required high badwidth , IOP's like Video surveillance, analytics (hadoop), online transaction processing applications, fast data backup and restore. NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays is less appropriate for the application that required low/medium IOP's . i.e log collection application server, snapshot collection ... etc.
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    Pros
    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.
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    NetApp
    • Storage pooling with thin provisioning
    • Solution of MetroCluster in Cluster-Mode known as MCC
    • very good solution for more than 500 users per cluster
    • impressive IOPS, microsecond response times
    • Faster database application
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    Cons
    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
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    NetApp
    • NetApp EF-Series All Flash Array need to perform the additional configuration for multipathing
    • Experienced are required to manage this storage
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    Likelihood to Renew
    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.
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    NetApp
    No answers on this topic
    Usability
    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.
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    NetApp
    HW and SW of NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays are easy to use, with very good support.
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    Reliability and Availability
    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.
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    NetApp
    No answers on this topic
    Performance
    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
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    NetApp
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    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.
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    NetApp
    No answers on this topic
    Online Training
    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.
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    NetApp
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation Rating
    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.
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    NetApp
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    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.
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    NetApp
    I have not been able to work with such a great platform in my career experience. Data storage and networking of all databases have been a great achievement of this platform. The user interface is simple and the dashboard shows clear trends in data infrastructure. There are backup storage systems on our cloud servers in case we lose any data. It has an automated update system that keeps our applications up to date.
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    Scalability
    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.
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    NetApp
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    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.
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    NetApp
    • High dedupe ratio
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    ScreenShots

    IBM Storage FlashSystem Screenshots

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