DDN IntelliFlash vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series comparison

DataDirect Networks and Lenovo are both solutions in the All-Flash Storage category. DataDirect Networks is ranked #26 with an average rating of 9.0, while Lenovo is ranked #22 with an average rating of 9.0. DataDirect Networks holds a 0.8% mindshare in AFS, compared to Lenovo’s 2.0% mindshare. Additionally, 87% of DataDirect Networks users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 60% of Lenovo users who would recommend it.

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 18, 2024

DDN IntelliFlash and Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series are two competing storage solutions. Despite the mixed feedback on some aspects of DDN IntelliFlash, Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series is considered the superior product due to its features and higher long-term return on investment.

Features: DDN IntelliFlash focuses on high-performance metrics, efficient data management capabilities, and cost-effectiveness. Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series impresses with robust scalability, advanced data protection features, and enhanced performance. Both products bring valuable offerings, but Lenovo's advanced capabilities give it an edge.

Room for Improvement: DDN IntelliFlash users report limitations in scalability, a need for more comprehensive analytics tools, and mixed customer service reliability. Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series could benefit from a more intuitive setup process, improved documentation, and a simpler deployment model. Lenovo's areas for improvement are generally less critical.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: DDN IntelliFlash has a straightforward deployment model but mixed feedback on customer service. Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series requires a steeper learning curve for deployment but has consistently strong customer service support.

Pricing and ROI: DDN IntelliFlash has competitive setup costs, making it budget-friendly. Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series demands a higher upfront investment but offers better long-term ROI through enhanced performance and scalability. Lenovo's pricing is justified by its superior benefits, despite the initial costs.

To learn more, read our detailed DDN IntelliFlash vs. Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

DDN IntelliFlash vs. Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series

December 2025

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the All-Flash Storage category, the mindshare of Pure FlashArray X NVMe is 1.4%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of DDN IntelliFlash is 0.8%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series is 2.0%, down from 2.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

All-Flash Storage Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Pure FlashArray X NVMe	1.4%
Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series	2.0%
DDN IntelliFlash	0.8%
Other	95.8%

All-Flash Storage

Featured Reviews

Jaehoon Oh

Chief Technology Officer at Lambda256

Supports efficient storage management through volume snapshots and offers reliable non-disruptive upgrades

I have no specific improvements to suggest for Pure FlashArray X NVMe at this time. The performance statistics could be enhanced. I can see the performance statistics in the Pure Storage console, but it does not show the performance by 4K byte unit. It displays IOPS and bandwidth, but IOPS is about real use, and I want to know how many IOPS are currently running in 4K byte units. I cannot see that IOPS because most storage systems report their performance by 4K byte unit. I want to see Pure Storage performance by 4K byte unit to compare with other storage or other internal NVMe SSD.

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Anil Rahulwar

Storage Engineer at Movate

Good customer service and support and suitable for large environments

It is very easy to install. Users don't need to remember anything while deploying IntelliFlash because everything will be taken care of by tech support. They can easily modify the installation or change the password with the help of the tech support. It is very easy to integrate IntelliFlash with other solutions. We have plugins that can be integrated with other solutions. It will require maintenance. It is the same as any other storage solution: updates and upgrades, firmware upgrades, and drive upgrades.

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Augustine Gracious

Service manager at Crescent Technologies

Complicated deployment and poor support persist, affecting overall satisfaction

The deployment process of Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series is very complicated compared to previous GUI systems. Many customers have lost data while configuring it, indicating a need for improvement. The after-sales service is also very poor. Furthermore, it does not offer basic features like deduplication, and the service is generally considered to be very bad.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"We're able to get higher-density workloads on the same infrastructure, and we have a smaller physical footprint. The performance is excellent – during our test the bottlenecks are never on the X array, it just keeps picking up the pace to match what you need. The real-time visibility is a differentiator in my opinion."

"It has benefited my organization because it has reduced time to insights."

"The solution is very straightforward to set up."

"The initial setup was extremely simple and straightforward."

"The solution uses newer technology for deduplication and compression."

"On a scale of one to ten, I rate Pure FlashArray as ten."

"Pure Storage has signature security technology, which cannot be deleted, even if you are an administrator."

"I appreciate the performance."

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe pros

"High performance and ease-of-management are the most valuable features."

"It provides a combination of all the protocols that you need, without losing deduplication and compression."

"It has reduced our electricity usage by reducing the amount of disks needed for the virtual environment."

"The initial setup is straightforward."

"We use IntelliFlash products for larger environments, like Qatar Airways."

"It's very fast. We were seeing read latencies of less than one millisecond. It is robust."

"It performed great originally, and when it performed great, it was awesome."

"EasyTier/hotcaching: Valuable because it allows greater performance than standard SAS disks"

More DDN IntelliFlash pros

"It has been a perfect fit for the workload that our customer is doing."

"Ability to cluster two storages together with HA availability."

"The most valuable feature of the Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series is its ability to store data well."

"One of the most valuable features of Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series is the snapshot feature."

"The servers are fast and affordable."

"The solution offers very good reliable systems and storage for our clients."

"The FlexClone feature is the solution's most valuable aspect."

"The price of this solution is good."

More Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series pros

Cons

"There is room for improvement in the pricing of the product."

"Managing data isn't difficult for me. The performance is usually perfect, but we sometimes have capacity problems."

"It is on the expensive side."

"Maybe the price can be reduced since the solution is very expensive."

"We've seen that when we create a POD in synchronous mode, it increases the latency."

"The UI for this solution needs to be improved."

"I would like to see replication and DR features in the next release of this solution."

"Adding some functions to the product would be beneficial."

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe cons

"Technical support is bad. It'd grade them at 30% or 40%. The response time is terrible."

"Snapshots are not as easy to access as on a NetApp device."

"It only keeps one hour of real-time data without the ability to do deep analysis of each element."

"They need to offer better integration for a virtual platform to enable you to create hyper-converged solution."

"It's somewhat scalable, but maybe not so much as some of the competition."

"In the proxy section you can’t choose a user account and password, so it is not allowed at the moment to go out, if customer has such constellation."

"In future releases, I look forward to more AI features."

"Performance is horrible now. Our original intent was to buy new storage in about two years. But since it became a critical urgency for us, we decided to purchase a new one in two or three months."

More DDN IntelliFlash cons

"Lenovo could have a wider variety of storage solutions in the NAS space."

"The tool's pricing is high."

"This is an expensive solution."

"The solution should change the licensing model and allow customers to choose features based on their requirements."

"The Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series was very hard to configure. Installation of the product was very hard. These are its areas for improvement."

"Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series is not stable. If I have sold fifty boxes, about fifty percent of them experienced failure."

"I would rate the support of Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series a four out of five."

"I would like Lenovo to add a feature like IBM Easy Tier to DM Series. This is a crucial feature for the customers."

More Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The licensing is on a yearly basis."

"The tool is an investment that we've budgeted for. While the prices may be higher than those of other vendors, we see it as a market leader with benefits. We don't regret purchasing it."

"With Pure Storage, we would like to continue seeing price reductions with flash storage. I don't think we're any different than anybody else when we continue to look to the industry for price reductions of both NVMe and traditional SSD storage. We would like to see these prices continue to decline and erode, even displacing large spinning disks."

"We pay approximately $50,000 USD per year in licensing fees."

"The support cost per array is about $20,000 a year for 24/7 support."

"Its price could be better. It is not too expensive, but it is the high-end cost. It is kind of a Rolls-Royce. You pay a lot, but you get a lot out of it. So, the price pressure on the way down would be great, but at the end of the day, if you need to do the work, you just pay for it."

"As far as the licensing costs, everything is included in the license."

"Pure FlashArray X NVMe’s pricing is cheaper than other products."

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe pricing and cost advice

"I think we pay around 100 grand per year for three arrays or four arrays."

"I recommend the full bundle software in order to have all the functionality. It is more expensive to purchase it one by one."

"Lenovo offers two software tiers for the DM Series: basic and premium. If you need more features like the MetroCluster, you must buy the premium version. You can stick to the basic software if you don't need MetroCluster or features like asynchronous replication. That makes DM Series a little cheaper."

"The solution is highly-priced."

"The solution's pricing is similar to Dell and HPE."

"The price of the Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series is good."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Government

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Healthcare Company

Construction Company

Computer Software Company

21%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Retailer

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	15
Midsize Enterprise	11
Large Enterprise	12

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	8
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	3

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	13
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	2

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Pure FlashArray X NVMe?

Pure FlashArray X NVMe helps to improve our processing speed. It is user-friendly and easy to use.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Pure FlashArray X NVMe?

The price of Pure FlashArray X NVMe is very expensive, though I do not know the actual price because I am using the E...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Pure FlashArray X NVMe?

I have no specific improvements to suggest for Pure FlashArray X NVMe at this time. The performance statistics could ...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IntelliFlash?

It is a bit cheaper than other products, 10% to 20% cheaper.

See all answers

What needs improvement with IntelliFlash?

DDN IntelliFlash should improve in terms of sales. In future releases, I look forward to more features about AI and M...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for IntelliFlash?

We use IntelliFlash products for larger environments, like Qatar Airways. They have large scalability and use more th...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series?

There are extra expenses beyond the standard licensing fee for features such as replication and deduplication, which ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series?

The deployment process of Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series is very complicated compared to previous GUI systems. Many cus...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series?

My primary use case for Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series ( /products/lenovo-thinksystem-dm-series-reviews ) is for storag...

See all answers

Comparisons

Dell PowerStore vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 18% of the time

Dell PowerMax vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 12% of the time

HPE Alletra Storage vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 10% of the time

TrueNAS R-Series vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 9% of the time

Pure Storage FlashBlade vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 8% of the time

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe Competitors

VAST Data vs DDN IntelliFlash

Compared 28% of the time

NetApp AFF vs DDN IntelliFlash

Compared 10% of the time

Tintri VMstore T7000 vs DDN IntelliFlash

Compared 8% of the time

NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays vs DDN IntelliFlash

Compared 8% of the time

Dell PowerMax vs DDN IntelliFlash

Compared 8% of the time

More DDN IntelliFlash Competitors

NetApp AFF vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series

Compared 32% of the time

NetApp FAS Series vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series

Compared 15% of the time

Dell PowerStore vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series

Compared 12% of the time

Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series

Compared 9% of the time

HPE Alletra Storage vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series

Compared 5% of the time

More Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Pure FlashArray X NVMe

January 2026

Download Pure FlashArray X NVMe product report

Buyer's Guide

DDN IntelliFlash

January 2026

Download DDN IntelliFlash product report

Buyer's Guide

All-Flash Storage

January 2026

Download Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series product report

Also Known As

Pure FlashArray//X NVMe, Pure FlashArray//X, FlashArray//X

Tegile, IntelliFlash N-Series, IntelliFlash T-Series, IntelliFlash HD-Series

ThinkSystem DM Series

Overview

Pure Storage FlashArray//X is the world’s first enterprise-class, all-NVMe flash storage array. It represents a new class of storage – shared accelerated storage, which is a term coined by Gartner – that delivers major breakthroughs in performance, simplicity, and consolidation.

Pure Storage

Western Digital through its IntelliFlash arrays delivers high-performance storage with a complete range of features and connectivity options, including inline compression and deduplication, application and VM consistent snapshots, replication, RAID, data encryption, VMware vCenter integration, and multi-protocol support for SAN (FC, iSCSI) and NAS (NFS, SMBv3). IntelliFlash arrays deliver high availability through dualredundant and hot-swappable components, active/active or active/passive controllers, non-disruptive software upgrades, eMLC flash, and proactive cloud-based monitoring, analytics, and intelligence. A RESTful API provides scripted or programmatic control.

DataDirect Networks

To meet enterprise storage requirements, ThinkSystem All-Flash DM Series systems provide high performance, superior flexibility, and best-in-class data management. DM Series runs on ONTAP data management software, which gives customers unified storage across block-and-file workloads. It accelerates your business while improving the efficiency, flexibility, and reliability of your IT operations.

Lenovo

Sample Customers

Fremont Bank, Judson ISD, The Nielsen Company

Bank of Stockton, Barnsley College, Boyes Turner, Brigham Young University

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

DDN IntelliFlash vs. Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series

December 2025

Free Report: DDN IntelliFlash vs. Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series

Find out what your peers are saying about DDN IntelliFlash vs. Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.

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