Dell XtremIO vs Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Dell XtremIO and Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform 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.
To learn more, read our detailed Dell XtremIO vs. Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform Report (Updated: March 2024).
765,234 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Q&A Highlights
Question: Dell EMC XtremIO Flash Storage OR Hitachi Virtual Storage F Series
Answer: I would personally take a look at Nimble Storage. It is all processor and memory based. You can get the same performance out of a Hybrid array from Nimble. They offer all flash as well, but performance is not based on disk I/O. Very cool technology.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"On a scale of one to ten, where ten is the most comfortable pricing, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.""Having an intuitive user interface to get things running is great.""I like FlashArray's ActiveCluster as well as its snapshot and cloning capabilities.""It is fast and reliable. It works.""The console is simple to use. It has good performance. It is easy to install, understand, and manage, with a good ratio of deduplication and compression. It is doing its job.""Its array houses our entire production environment.""Support has been helpful.""It is an SSD array that has awesome performance, low submillisecond latency, and does what it is supposed to do. It just works, which is difficult for things to do anymore."

More Pure Storage FlashArray Pros →

"The most valuable features are: complete performance and ease of use.""We mostly use it for backup, because we cannot measure anything, and we are afraid to use it for surveillance systems. We were planning to use it for mostly for surveillance systems.""I like the deduplication and auto-tiering features.""XtremIO is very stable.""The solution's most valuable feature is its high performance.""The most valuable features are that it is fast and reliable.""Deduplication and cloning capability""Linear performance – The XtremIO wasn’t the fastest in all tests against other all flash arrays, but even with a massive workload, the response time and user experience were absolutely predictable with no sharp drop-offs."

More Dell XtremIO Pros →

"It's best features are its reliability and stability.""This is one of the most stable, high-end solutions in this area.""The active-active option seemed to be working well and overall, it was a solid product.""Hitachi's technical support is perfect.""One of the features, for us, that is important is the monitoring platform integrated into the solution. It has all the elements that we need to see, at all times, to be sure the platform is working right.""The product has great data storage performance with a 100% data security and availability guarantee.""The performance is very good.""It is very flexible, and it is very useful when you want to virtualize different storage from different vendors."

More Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform Pros →

Cons
"I recognize it's a difficult challenge, but I would like to see them make the pricing more reasonable.""Storage. There could be better storage.""It was not proactive communication.""Most of our upgrades have not been as smooth as they should have been.""The price of the solution can improve.""FlashArray's capacity for forecasting should be improved because it needs to be a bit more current. I think it's bundled with the deduplication and other compression factors. We need more user interfaces for forecasting in this software and more interfaces need to be integrated with this array management tool.""On a couple of occasions, the waiting time for an upgrade has been pretty substantial.""The technical support is okay, but could be improved."

More Pure Storage FlashArray Cons →

"XtremIO needs to be lower priced. It also needs better endpoints and scalability.""I am not too impressed with XtremeIO because we had a major failure.""Scalability is something that can be improved because there is an issue when it comes to mixing versions.""The GUI could be modified more in terms of how the different components are linked to each other.""XtremIO is coming to its end of life.""If you are looking at flash storage solutions, XtremIO doesn't offer any unique features. Most of my customers are migrating their workload from XtremIO to other formats because of this.""In some cases where we don’t need the flexibility of the virtualization layer, we could free up resources on the VPLEX by using the storage replication.""The implementation isn't exactly complex, but the solution should have some enhancements in it to make the process more centralized."

More Dell XtremIO Cons →

"The embedded management for installation feature has neither simplified nor complicated the management process, therefore, there is room for improvement.""In terms of new features, I would be interested to see deduplication added in their next release.""We moved away from this product because we were looking for an all-flash solution, and with our G1500 at the time, perhaps two years ago, they were just proposing more of the same technology.""One improvement I am hoping for in the next release is unified storage.""It seemed like every time we turned around it was a statement of work and we'd have to pay for something that our previous vendors would not have billed us for.""The initial setup was difficult, as we don't have access to assistance. We had some issues around configuration. We needed to know things like what kind of rate is the best, or what kind of replication is ideal. We had to seek out answers online to get the information we needed.""The solution is stable. However, there have been some software crashes where we had to restart the system. They could improve the hardware to prevent this type of issue.""I would like the fan noise to be automatically adjusted based on the drive's current workload."

More Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "We feel that the pricing is fair and the licensing process was easy for both."
  • "There is always room for negotiation."
  • "The price was slightly higher than others, but competitive, if you consider all the other features that you get from it."
  • "It is a more expensive solution, but it is worth it. You are getting what you paid for."
  • "For pricing, you have to take into account their performance on deduplication and compression in a $/GB comparison."
  • "We have seen a reduction in total cost of ownership (TCO)."
  • "It is a cheaper solution."
  • "Pure Storage is all-flash, so this sometimes tends to make it a bit more expensive in the beginning."
  • More Pure Storage FlashArray Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "Pricing and licensing are in line with other products from other manufacturers. You get what you pay for."
  • "This is the best flash array on the market for high-end workloads, so expect to pay for that. But the support subscription cost is fixed for seven years, which made it easier for us to plan on the maintenance costs."
  • "It's not cheap, but it absolutely gets the job done. I don't have any real comment regarding licensing specifically."
  • "It is great when a product can deliver high-end performance capabilities while offering a very competitive price point."
  • "XtremIO is pretty straightforward about pricing. However, you need to look at your data so you can estimate, with the advice of DEL EMC, what data reduction ratio you will reach. In our case, a 3:1 reduction ration gave us a positive case compared to other storage arrays."
  • "Don’t buy this array. You’re paying for loads of magic beans, since it’s mediocre at best for a platform in a rapidly growing field. Look instead at Pure Storage or something with variable block deduplication. You’ll end up spending less and getting a better product with actual support."
  • "It is costly but worth it."
  • "With some workloads that benefit from compression and deduplication, costs are actually better than some tier 2 subsystems (while latency remains <1ms)."
  • More Dell XtremIO Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "The pricing we get is very competitive when compared to other vendors. Hitachi is working on their licensing model and it is improving but can be irksome when many different items are not bundled or enterprise size."
  • "Our main issue with the Hitachi G-Series is what we consider to be an archaic software licensing scheme and high maintenance costs."
  • "It is a little expensive."
  • "I would like to see better pricing and more discounts."
  • "Pricing could be better, because the cost is very high."
  • "This solution is cheaper than Dell EMC VMAX. When you are looking for a high-end solution, price matters, but availability and stability are more important than the price."
  • "This is an expensive solution."
  • "When you are looking for high-end solutions such as this, price is less important than stability and availability."
  • More Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Comparison Review
    Anonymous User
    Leading up to EMC World 2015, IT Central Station asked how I would compare EMC XtremIO and HP 3PAR. Until recently, the flash storage conversation in my organization and many others has centered on XtremIO and Pure Storage, the leaders of the all-flash array (AFA) space. To that end, I've written a few posts already. In 2015, though, the HP giant began to rouse and challenge the mainstream status quo with its 3PAR offering. Quantifying 3PAR's platform is different from XtremIO and Pure, though, as it can seem amorphous given the many ways it can be quoted. Are you asking for all flash? 3PAR will give you that and lay claim to the best-of-breed title. Oh, but you want some mass storage akin to archival or virtual tape, too? 3PAR changes jerseys and shouts, "I'm it!" Is it, though? Let's put 3PAR against XtremIO and see how they measure up! Define the Conversation  The hard part about these comparisons and competitive analyses is that we aren't talking about products of the same species or specialization. I struggle to put it properly, but consider it this way. In pre-AFA days (the age of traditional spinners like NetApp FAS3040, EMC CLARiiON or VNX, and even last-gen 3PAR), the contest was like pitting a Toyota Camry against a Nissan Altima. They did most of the same things with minor strengths, weaknesses, and preferences. Talking about XtremIO versus 3PAR 74xx is more of a discussion about construction-grade, heavy-duty cranes versus massive earth movers. They are in the… Read more →
    Answers from the Community
    Anonymous User
    reviewer357684 - PeerSpot reviewerreviewer357684 (Technical Architect at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees)
    Real User

    When we compare EMC XtremIO with HDS VSP F, there are quite a few things to be kept in the back of the mind:

    1. The EMC XtremIO is an AFA that provides only block storage. It is a scale out system and works in terms of X-Bricks. The system can scale from 1-8 X-Bricks.
    2. In terms of the benefits, the array is extremely simple to administer and support inline data efficiencies (de-dupe/compression etc).
    3. While native replication wasn’t initially available, I believe it is there now as is integration with Recoverpoint.
    4. In terms of positioning, we need to remember that, while it is an enterprise grade AFA and has been used to address Tier-0/1 requirements, it is still not the upper most echelon in the EMC hierarchy. The EMC VMAX all flash would be that.
    5. The array relies on standard eMLC disks and there have been mentions of integration with NVMe.
    6. If you are looking for metro clustering, you will need to rely on the VPLEX which can virtualize the XtremIO behind it. But this is a huge add on cost.

    1. The HDS VSP F is a Tier-1 storage array that is intended for the most demanding of apps. Additionally it is among a few arrays that support mainframe connectivity (FICON).
    2. HDS does not use standard eMLC drives but instead relies on HDS’s proprietary FMD drives which are pretty much similar to standard SSDs
    3. The VSP F conforms to standard VSP architecture and is part of the redesigned portfolio of newer VSP systems (G600, 800 and 1000).
    4. It supports enterprise grade replication, metro clustering (Global Active Device) natively.
    5. HDS offers standard data efficiency features
    6. HDS offers a data availability guarantee.

    Comparison:

    1. The selection would come down to what you are looking for. The XtremIO would probably be the less expensive option.
    2. With HDS, the product has a proven stability/reliability record. The same is true to a great deal with XtremIO.
    3. VSP F is treated as a tier-1 enterprise array that can deliver 6 ‘9’ availability which is not the case with XtremIO
    4. HDS management interface is still pretty pathetic in comparison with EMC and HDS has never taken that seriously
    5. Support is also not a huge differentiator with both EMC and HDS having global support
    6. HDS is historically known for being very rigid in terms of what they allow you to do. Typically expansions, add on configs are handled by their own people which is actually not bad but generally at an add on cost.
    7. In terms of market numbers, while XtremIO was EMC’s primary bread winner for the last 2-3 years, those numbers have come down and right now, the VMAX is dominating. HDS has been continuously losing market share and has not been innovating. These are things to consider.
    8. In short, think about the use case, data criticality, capabilities you are looking for, level of availability, expansion etc. That should cut it. On the EMC side, do remember that, XtremIO integrates with ViPR and also with vRA. You may want to explore the VMAX option. You can start small on the VMAX and it would be a better buy in the longer run.

    Conclusion:

    1. For a company of around ~500 employees, I believe the XtremIO would suffice. Think about capacity and growth. The VSP would probably be an overkill unless you have a need for such capabilities.

    it_user681915 - PeerSpot reviewerit_user681915 (Specialist with 51-200 employees)
    Vendor

    Hello,

    After trying and talking to various different NAS vendors (NetApp, EMC, Nimble, etc.)

    We decided to go with PureStorage FlashBlades and we couldn’t be happier with faster I/O’s, better latency and overall very steady performance plus very low management on the IT side.

    Huseyin Yildirim - PeerSpot reviewerHuseyin Yildirim
    Real User

    Alfred Morgan Jones did a very good job comparing EMC XtremIO and Hitachi Virtual Storage F series above. I recommend everyone to read his analysis. If someone must really make a choice between EMC XtremIO and Hitachi F series in terms of technology, reliability and support, then Hitachi F series is clear winner. Of course the nature of app. and data may change this based on whatever the criteria is. And finally money matters as well :)

    it_user627144 - PeerSpot reviewerit_user627144 (Senior Consultant)
    User

    Imho both Vendor´s have their pro´s and con´s. For our last Projects we do some POC´s with Pure with excellent results. So give them a try. POC with Pure is really easy to manage.

    it_user649044 - PeerSpot reviewerit_user649044 (Chief Information, Facility, Purchasing and Services Manager at Roma Metropolitane S.r.l.)
    Real User

    I’ve tested EMC XtremeIO two years ago, I don’t know Hitachi, but there are two things that push me to buy a Pure Storage, first is an EMC low performance with words more than 16 Kbits and the second is the design, I don’t want a big UPS in the middle of the more expensive/important storage.

    it_user454725 - PeerSpot reviewerit_user454725 (Works at a tech company with 10,001+ employees)
    Vendor

    Hi

    Have you looked at the IBM V9000, has virtualisation software, with
    microlatency modules instead of SSD drives which everyone else uses, SSD
    can also be used, other disk can also be virtualised to ensure smooth
    migration

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyEc1eLk1to

    https://www-01.ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi-bin/ssialias?htmlfid=TSD03189USEN

    it_user425220 - PeerSpot reviewerit_user425220 (IT Architect with 1,001-5,000 employees)
    User

    I would recommend Hitachi.

    it_user651321 - PeerSpot reviewerit_user651321 (Principal System Engineer at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees)
    Vendor

    I would consider Pure Storage, //m or //x. EMC X2 ridged upgrade policy and where it should have been 2 years ago. No upgrade path from X1 - X2 so will the same be true off X2 - X3?

    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:Both are great platforms, but if you are considering all flash solutions, I would recommend you to consider Pure… more »
    Top Answer:We consume less physical storage because of the solution’s deduplication and compression.
    Top Answer:We have customers who use a three-year or five-year license. We also have customers who use Evergreen.
    Top Answer:Initially, we faced numerous issues with our analytical systems. However, we saw performance improvement after the… more »
    Top Answer:The license for XtremIO is in the box, so you don't have to buy anything.
    Top Answer:Dell XtremIO needs to provide better performance to keep up with new products.
    Top Answer:The deduplication is useful for us because we don't have that much money for our lab infrastructure. Deduplication means… more »
    Top Answer:One problem is that there are too many management tools for the F Series and for all the other Hitachi storage systems… more »
    Top Answer:We're only using the F Series in our lab for hosting lab infrastructure for all our colleagues. We needed fast storage.
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    Dell EMC XtremIO Flash, Dell EMC XtremIO X2, XtremIO, XtremIO X2
    Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform F Series, Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform 5000 Series, Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform E Series, Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform N Series, Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform G Series
    Learn More
    Overview

    Pure Storage FlashArray is the world’s first enterprise-class storage array that runs exclusively on the nonvolatile memory express (NVMe) protocol for memory access and storage. It represents a totally state-of-the-art type of storage technology. It offers users shared accelerated storage that delivers cutting-edge features in the realms of performance, simplicity, and consolidation. Pure Storage is fresh and modern today and will be for the next decade. Without forklift upgrades or planned downtime, Pure Storage takes the work out of storage ownership and delivers unprecedented customer satisfaction.

    Pure Storage FlashArray is built with simplicity and reliability in mind. The solution can be implemented and optimized in hours, as opposed to other similar solutions that can take days. It has no moving parts, which removes areas where it could potentially be vulnerable to suffering errors. It is highly stable and gives users the ability to manage system shutdowns in a way that  prevents data loss.

    Benefits of Pure Storage FlashArray

    Some of the benefits of using Pure Storage FlashArray include:

    • A much higher level of speed than similar pieces of technology. Pure Storage FlashArray maximizes the speed at which data can be transferred while at the same time minimizing system latencies that might slow the transfer down. Additionally, it offers users quick memory read and data access speeds.

    • A higher bang for your buck in terms of the storage capabilities you get for the money you pay. They are smaller in size than more standard storage technologies, but they offer flash memory, which enables users to store larger amounts of data than the current standard.

    Reviews from Real Users

    Pure Storage FlashArray is a highly effective piece of storage technology which stands out among its competitors for a number of reasons. Two major ones are its overall robustness and the value that it offers by way of its reliability and ease of use. It provides users with many valuable features that allow them to maximize what they can do with this solution. Pure Storage FlashArray’s reliability and ease of use make it a highly valuable solution. 

    PeerSpot user Prabakaran K., a technical consultant at Injazat Data Systems, notes the robustness of this solution when he writes, "FlashArray has many valuable features. It's very user-friendly and it has high availability, so there is comparatively less downtime. During maintenance, there is no shutdown procedure, so you can directly power off the Array and manage the shutdown process without any data loss, which is a unique feature. Managing replication and data migration is also very easy."

    PeerSpot user Jason D., a cloud solutions architect at a tech services company, notes three features that make this solution valuable when he writes, "We've had different types of storage, and three things of this solution are valuable. The first one is its outstanding performance. The second one is its stability. In the about three years that we've had it, we've had component failures, but we never had a service interruption or any data loss. The third one, which is really critical, is that it is super easy to use in terms of provisioning, storage, and managing the arrays. I'm able to maintain a multi-site environment with a couple of dozen arrays with a single mid-level storage admin."

    Bring all-flash, scale-out storage to your enterprise applications with EMC XtremIO. Purpose-built for flash, XtremIO storage arrays are amazingly fast. Delivering high IOPS at less than 1 millisecond latency is just the start. EMC XtremIO helps you harness the power of flash storage by building in innovations like content-based data placement and dual-stage metadata.

    RETHINK YOUR DEFINITION OF SPEED AND PERFORMANCE

    With adaptive, guaranteed data reduction and a 100% data-availability guarantee, Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform F series helps you tackle complicated business challenges. Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) VSP F series delivers up to 4.8M IOPS with sub-millisecond response times.
    Featuring legendary Hitachi reliability, VSP F series arrays are backed by the industries only 100% availability guarantee. For these reasons, 80% of the Fortune 500 choose Hitachi all-flash arrays to accelerate the performance of mission-critical applications like Oracle, SAP, Virtualization, Microsoft apps etc. With over 350 patents in flash technology, Hitachi’s innovative mix of flash hardware and software accelerates ROI with enterprise-class reliability and performance.

    Sample Customers
    Nielsen, Lamar Advertising, LinkedIn, Betfair, UT-Dallas
    Raiffeisen Bank Bulgaria, Wentworth-Douglas Hospital
    Turkcell, Owens Corning, Region Nord, Net Credit Financial Group (NFC Group), Russian Railways
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm19%
    Healthcare Company12%
    Manufacturing Company10%
    Computer Software Company8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization32%
    Computer Software Company12%
    Manufacturing Company8%
    Financial Services Firm8%
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm29%
    Healthcare Company14%
    Insurance Company11%
    Manufacturing Company11%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Financial Services Firm17%
    Computer Software Company15%
    Manufacturing Company11%
    Healthcare Company6%
    REVIEWERS
    Comms Service Provider21%
    Financial Services Firm21%
    Government14%
    Computer Software Company11%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company20%
    Financial Services Firm14%
    Manufacturing Company8%
    Government7%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business27%
    Midsize Enterprise16%
    Large Enterprise57%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business17%
    Midsize Enterprise41%
    Large Enterprise42%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business27%
    Midsize Enterprise17%
    Large Enterprise56%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business22%
    Midsize Enterprise10%
    Large Enterprise68%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business33%
    Midsize Enterprise24%
    Large Enterprise43%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business25%
    Midsize Enterprise18%
    Large Enterprise58%
    Buyer's Guide
    Dell XtremIO vs. Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Dell XtremIO vs. Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
    765,234 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Dell XtremIO is ranked 25th in All-Flash Storage with 48 reviews while Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform is ranked 8th in All-Flash Storage with 47 reviews. Dell XtremIO is rated 7.6, while Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform is rated 8.4. The top reviewer of Dell XtremIO writes "Suitable for high IOPS and helps get backup in ten minutes ". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform writes "It's a high-performing solution with strong architecture". Dell XtremIO is most compared with Dell PowerStore, Dell PowerMax NVMe, Dell Unity XT, NetApp AFF and INFINIDAT InfiniBox, whereas Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform is most compared with IBM FlashSystem, Dell PowerStore, NetApp AFF, Dell Unity XT and NetApp FAS Series. See our Dell XtremIO vs. Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform report.

    See our list of best All-Flash Storage vendors.

    We monitor all All-Flash Storage reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.