Dell XtremIO vs IBM FlashSystem comparison

Dell Technologies and IBM are both solutions in the All-Flash Storage category. Dell Technologies is ranked #22 with an average rating of 8.0, while IBM is ranked #13 with an average rating of 8.5. Dell Technologies holds a 0.8% mindshare in AFS, compared to IBM’s 6.6% mindshare. Additionally, 80% of Dell Technologies users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 91% of IBM users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 18, 2024

Dell XtremIO and IBM FlashSystem are two leading storage solutions in the market. IBM FlashSystem has a competitive edge with its superior features despite higher costs, while Dell XtremIO is noted for its ease of deployment and cost efficiency.

Features: Dell XtremIO is praised for its inline data reduction, scalability, and performance. IBM FlashSystem stands out with its comprehensive data protection, high availability, and seamless integration capabilities.

Room for Improvement: Users suggest Dell XtremIO could improve in areas like NAS support, analytics, and adding more functionalities. IBM FlashSystem could benefit from more intuitive management tools, clearer upgrade paths, and enhancements in usability.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Dell XtremIO is noted for its straightforward deployment process and effective troubleshooting support. IBM FlashSystem, while praised for deployment, occasionally receives feedback about complex setup steps. Dell's customer service is seen as more responsive and user-friendly.

Pricing and ROI: Dell XtremIO offers lower initial setup costs and faster ROI, appealing to budget-conscious buyers. IBM FlashSystem, despite higher costs, provides a return on investment through exceptional performance and long-term reliability. Users are generally satisfied with the value provided by both, but IBM's ROI is noted for its high performance.

To learn more, read our detailed Dell XtremIO vs. IBM FlashSystem Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Dell XtremIO vs. IBM FlashSystem

April 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 May 2025, in the All-Flash Storage category, the mindshare of Pure FlashArray X NVMe is 0.8%, down from 0.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Dell XtremIO is 0.8%, down from 1.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM FlashSystem is 6.6%, down from 6.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

All-Flash Storage

Featured Reviews

Eugene Hemphill

Sales Manager at Multicomputos PR

Helps to save money and resources with the data compression feature

One point I'd like to improve is that the tool should start selling small boxes again. It discontinued some products and is focusing on bigger, more capable boxes, neglecting the SMB market. Even though it's not a big market, it shouldn't have removed them. One way to improve the product is to add an operational assistant that doesn't depend on VMware. It could also establish more alliances with other operational systems.

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Stanislaw Jagielski

Trainer, Storage Consultant at Oxon

Efficient and straightforward setup boosts data management capabilities

Scalability is a significant feature of Dell XtremIO, as it is easy to expand and manage. It provides a lot of features suited for complex systems, such as scalability and the ability to define multi-domain systems, which are beneficial for data management and storage separation. It is efficient from the customer's point of view, offering deduplication at both the volume and file levels. The configuration and setup are straightforward, provided one has knowledge in setting up network infrastructure like VLANs. It is easy to install, use, and configure, making it a reliable product.

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Raanan Sitton

Vice President Sales at BELOCAL LTD

Offers cost-effective storage for small companies with budget constraints

IBM FlashSystem 5300 is offered at a very low cost in Israel, which is advantageous for small companies. However, other features like deduplication and compression do not perform effectively. The price sensitivity makes it a viable option for clients with budgetary constraints, as it allows us to secure deals based on the cost rather than advanced performance.

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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

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

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

"The latency is good."

"The system allows for seamless learning experiences, facilitating quick and easy cloning of environments within minutes."

"We are satisfied with the performance as it is significantly faster compared to traditional storage options."

"Pure FlashArray X NVMe has low latency and high Ops. It is an evergreen model."

"What I really like about this program, is that it is easy to use and easy to configurate."

"The tool's valuable features are speed, security, data compression, and reliability. Its data compression feature is the best that we have ever seen. It helps us to save money and resources."

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe pros

"Xtrem10's features are more simple to implement. The integration and interface are also good."

"Deduplication and cloning capability"

"The most valuable features include the easy manageability of snapshots and its excellent performance in large-scale workloads."

"It is great for applications like Microsoft Exchange, ERP, SQL and VDI; basically saved the VDI buy-in from users, as now performance was seamless in comparison to a physical PC."

"The solution's most valuable feature is its high performance."

"Initially, we faced numerous issues with our analytical systems. However, we saw performance improvement after the implementation of the solution."

"The solution's most valuable features are the inline data reduction and deduplication."

"Ease of management, aside from the serious performance, is the best feature."

More Dell XtremIO pros

"The solution is scalable and has varying degrees of scalability."

"The valuable features are high availability, compression, and a failover mechanism. It's a very highly available storage solution."

"Ability to manage third-party arrays and virtualise them: One screen to control multiple arrays. Simplified administration."

"The most valuable features in IBM FlashSystem are IOPS, performance, duplication, and compression."

"The most valuable features of IBM FlashSystem are performance and security."

"The initial setup was really straightforward. It was not complex. Deployment took one month, due to the data migration duration."

"The most valuable feature is that is supports a high IOPS rate."

"The most valuable features are, of course, the virtualization of the storage, the performance, and the compression."

More IBM FlashSystem pros

Cons

"I'd like to see the product implement active replication for vehicles such as VMware."

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

"You cannot tag a LUN with a description, and that should be improved. What I like on the Unity side is that when I expand LUNs or do things, there is an information field on the LUN. This is the Information field that you can tag on your LUNs to let yourself know, "Hey, I've added this much space on this date". Pure lacks that ability. So, you don't have a mechanism that's friendly for tracking your data expansions on the LUN and for adding any additional information. That's a downside for me."

"We need better data deduplication."

"We would like to see more visibility into garbage collection and CPU performance in the GUI."

"There are some challenges with data encryption and reduction."

"Our use cases require more multi-tenant capabilities and additional VLAN interfaces for separating different customers. We currently use it to provide storage, sometimes shared storage, to different customers, but it is less flexible in comparison to a dedicated solution."

"I want to see Pure Storage not only be for fast storage, but I want to see it be for the entire data center."

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe cons

"The product could be improved by reducing the pricing and having better organization in their technical support team."

"The product is highly expensive."

"The interface could be simplified for beginners to ease the configuration of special objects in the system."

"Scalability could be better."

"Ease of use is key in the converged and hyper-converged world that requires administrators to have both hypervisor and storage skills."

"It is very expensive to scale. You have to buy an additional system to extend from one disc, for instance. It is scalable, but extremely expensive to do so."

"Dell's technical support could be better."

"In the next release, the solution could have better integration and if we can host assets on the cloud, such as NetApp has the NetApp volumes, which we can host on the cloud directly called NetApp CVO (cloud volume ONTAP). Dell EMC should come up with something purely on the cloud rather than manage services."

More Dell XtremIO cons

"We use some open-source tools for monitoring, such as Grafana and it should be bundled along with IBM FlashSystem."

"Our customers have raised concerns about the limitations of the FlashSystem 5200 and 7300, which only offer a 32-gigabyte connection."

"The Data Reduction Pools (DRP) support could be better."

"I would like to see an improvement in the handling of large amounts of rights."

"This product lacks some of the options we wanted. For example, expansion was difficult and it required a lot of patching to be done."

"The interface could improve in IBM FlashSystem."

"In IBM FlashSystem, data reduction is an area with shortcomings where improvements can be made in the future."

"The product needs to improve their scalability."

More IBM FlashSystem cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The tool's pricing is cheap; I rate it a six to seven out of ten. Most of our sales are not subscription-based. We sell the hardware, and customers keep using it. They only renew the service part annually. The support can be a bit pricey, but the solution is more cost-effective than anything else out there."

"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."

"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."

"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."

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

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

"With VMware, we pay $300,000 annually."

"Given its price, Pure is not the first option."

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe pricing and cost advice

"It is costly but worth it."

"This solution is a little bit pricey."

"There are costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."

"Pricing and licensing are in line with other products from other manufacturers. You get what you pay for."

"XtremIO is an all-flash array, which means it's a costly solution. When compared with general mid-range storage solutions, this is more expensive. As far as I know, there are no additional costs besides the license."

"Too high priced for the Brazil market."

"The initial purchase price was good but when you need to upgrade, it's a different story."

"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 total storage capacity vs price is still quite high for the IBM Flash Array."

"I find the pricing of the solution to be very reasonable."

"This is an expensive product and if the price were reduced it would be better."

"We have no issues with the price as it is very competitive."

"The cost is pretty high in terms of licensing. We pay at least $100,000 USD in licensing fees for the storage."

"The pricing is reasonable."

"The tool is cost-efficient."

"I'd rate the basic licensing and the Virtualize software a ten out of ten, and the extra Spectrum and other an eight out of ten."

More IBM FlashSystem pricing and cost advice

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Comparison Review

it_user182013

Federal Civ/Intel Engineering Lead at Rubrik

May 1, 2015

Measuring Up: EMC XtremIO and HP 3PAR

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…

Read full review

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Government

Financial Services Firm

17%

Computer Software Company

16%

Manufacturing Company

Retailer

Computer Software Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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?

I am an engineer and am not aware of the setup cost.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Pure FlashArray X NVMe?

Adding some functions to the product would be beneficial. Storage replication should be essential, and the analytics ...

See all answers

What do you like most about Dell EMC XtremIO?

The feature I like most about Dell Xtremio is its hardware quality compared to other vendors. It's clear they're cont...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell XtremIO?

Pricing is hard to determine as it depends on the given configuration. XtremIO offers features that justify a potenti...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Dell XtremIO?

The interface could be simplified for beginners to ease the configuration of special objects in the system. While the...

See all answers

What do you like most about IBM FlashSystem?

It is simple to make an update.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM FlashSystem?

Many factors affect purchasing directly from IBM, often involving a multi-step process. Customers, especially in bank...

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM FlashSystem?

The GUI needs some improvement. An additional function that could be helpful is reducing the time it takes to delete ...

See all answers

Comparisons

Dell PowerStore vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 30% of the time

TrueNAS R-Series vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 17% of the time

Pure Storage FlashBlade vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 15% of the time

HPE Alletra Storage vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 8% of the time

Dell Unity XT vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 7% of the time

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe Competitors

Dell PowerStore vs Dell XtremIO

Compared 28% of the time

Dell PowerMax NVMe vs Dell XtremIO

Compared 16% of the time

Dell Unity XT vs Dell XtremIO

Compared 10% of the time

VAST Data vs Dell XtremIO

Compared 8% of the time

NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays vs Dell XtremIO

Compared 7% of the time

More Dell XtremIO Competitors

Dell PowerStore vs IBM FlashSystem

Compared 23% of the time

Huawei OceanStor Dorado vs IBM FlashSystem

Compared 8% of the time

Pure Storage FlashArray vs IBM FlashSystem

Compared 8% of the time

HPE Alletra Storage vs IBM FlashSystem

Compared 8% of the time

More IBM FlashSystem Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Pure FlashArray X NVMe

April 2025

Download Pure FlashArray X NVMe product report

Buyer's Guide

Dell XtremIO

April 2025

Download Dell XtremIO product report

Buyer's Guide

IBM FlashSystem

April 2025

Download IBM FlashSystem product report

Also Known As

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

Dell EMC XtremIO Flash, Dell EMC XtremIO X2, XtremIO, XtremIO X2

IBM Storwize

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

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.

Dell Technologies

IBM FlashSystem products are enterprise computer data storage systems that store data on flash memory chips. Unlike storage systems that use standard solid-state drives, IBM FlashSystem products incorporate custom hardware based on technology from the 2012 acquisition of Texas Memory Systems. This hardware provides performance, reliability, and efficiency benefits versus competitive offerings.

IBM

Sample Customers

Fremont Bank, Judson ISD, The Nielsen Company

Raiffeisen Bank Bulgaria, Wentworth-Douglas Hospital

Celero, Friedhelm Loh Group, Clarks, Mingkang Natregro Health Food Group, Sofia, Etisalat Fights Fraud, UF Health Shands Hospital, Generali, Elecon Engineering Company Limited, Ventiv , Technology, CPFL Energia, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., SciQuest, Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated, Paddy Power, Kelsey-Seybold Clinic, Interconnect Services, Severstal IP-Only AB, PVU Group GmbH

Buyer's Guide

Dell XtremIO vs. IBM FlashSystem

April 2025

Free Report: Dell XtremIO vs. IBM FlashSystem

Find out what your peers are saying about Dell XtremIO vs. IBM FlashSystem and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.

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