Item: IBM Storage FlashSystem
Rating: 9
Author: Dana Rafiee

Overall Satisfaction with IBM FlashSystem

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

IBM FlashSystem is currently in use by our clients. We recommended it and have it as part of our reference architecture to support advanced analytics. It has performed well over the past several years. All clients continue to upgrade their systems as we go from SCSI to the new NVMe-oF capabilities.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Sequential read writes
Full Table Scans from a database
Long lasting storage that rarely fails
Workspace use for temporary tables

Cons

IBM FlashSystem needs to better differentiate itself from commodity SSDs as clients do not typically understand the difference.
IBM's software stack needs to be better marketed as clients do not understand the benefits of the stack combined with the hardware.
IBM should explain to clients the difference between the V7000 Gen 3 and the FS 9100 series. Currently, it is confusing to clients.

Alternatives Considered

IBM and other vendors are creating NVMe-oF devices that are either less customized on the hardware end and are bundled with software, or are more proprietary in the hardware. HPE, Vexata, EMC, and others were analyzed. We found the combination of high quality design by IBM and their knowledgeable personnel around workloads makes a big difference.

Likelihood to Recommend

IBM FlashSystem is well suited for heavy analytic workloads created by applications such as SAS Institute software. It is a great candidate where large amounts of data need to be analyzed and scanned. It is also well suited for use with Power 9 systems that can handle the extra throughput. When used with x86/x64 style Intel systems, it will remove all latency from disk, which will flood the Intel CPUs with data, which may require upgrading the Intel systems.

IBM Storage FlashSystem Feature Ratings

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FlashSystem Viewpoints from Destiny Corporation