HPE MSA vs IBM XIV comparison

Hewlett Packard Enterprise and IBM are both solutions in the Modular SAN (Storage Area Network) category. Hewlett Packard Enterprise is ranked #5 with an average rating of 7.8, while IBM is ranked #10. Hewlett Packard Enterprise holds a 19.7% mindshare in MS, compared to IBM’s 1.2% mindshare. Additionally, 91% of Hewlett Packard Enterprise users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 85% of IBM users who would recommend it.

HPE MSA

Read 25 HPE MSA reviews

1,385 Views
149 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

IBM XIV

Read 6 IBM XIV reviews

156 Views
28 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

HPE MSA

IBM XIV

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 2, 2025

IBM XIV and HPE MSA are competing products in the enterprise storage market. HPE MSA appears to have the upper hand in terms of features, making it a compelling choice despite the advantages IBM XIV might have in pricing and support.

Features: IBM XIV provides robust cloud integration, automatic tiering, and seamless scalability. HPE MSA emphasizes simplicity, high-efficiency performance, and advanced data services like snapshots and replication.

Room for Improvement: IBM XIV could enhance its user-friendly interface and simplify its deployment process. A broader range of performance management tools would also be beneficial. HPE MSA might improve by expanding its feature set, particularly in high-end data services, and refining its support infrastructure for specialized queries.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: HPE MSA ensures straightforward deployment with comprehensive customer support, emphasizing quick setup and effective assistance. IBM XIV, while providing strong support through documentation and resources, has a more complex deployment process.

Pricing and ROI: IBM XIV demands a higher initial setup cost but offers a promising long-term ROI with its robust feature set. HPE MSA's pricing model is more accessible, delivering faster ROI due to its efficient design and lower upfront costs.

To learn more, read our detailed HPE MSA vs. IBM XIV Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

HPE MSA vs. IBM XIV

June 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

HPE MSA

Ranking in Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)

5th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

IBM XIV

Ranking in Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)

10th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

5.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Modular SAN (Storage Area Network) category, the mindshare of HPE MSA is 19.7%, up from 16.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM XIV is 1.2%, down from 1.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)

Featured Reviews

Pragnesh Sachania

Deputy Manager IT at La Gajjar

Scalable, easy to manage, and used for virtualization environments

We didn't face any issues with the technical functionality. However, we faced a lot of challenges with our custom configuration. The HPE support person who did the installation was very technical. He answered all the queries, and we resolved the entire setup. We set up the storage as per our requirements. We previously used a physical server instead of virtualization. With the help of an HPE engineer and partners, we prepared a strategy for migrating the entire physical servers to our virtualization infrastructure. It took two days to deploy the solution. Six people were involved in the solution's deployment, including two from HPE and four from our IT team.

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Ajith Kandaramage

IT Operation Engineer at HNB

Good value for money but issues with modular scaling

IBM XIV's most valuable features are NVME, especially when it comes to de-duplication, compression, and responsiveness I've been using IBM XIV for two and a half years. IBM XIV is stable. IBM XIV's scalability is adequate for our requirements, but because it's modular, you can't scale to larger…

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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

"The speed and performance of HPE MSA are admirable."

"The solution is very easy to use, it is not really complex for any user, such as non-technical individuals."

"MSA performs exceptionally well, particularly in regions with frequent power outages."

"The most valuable feature for customers is the autonomic tiering, which enhances their storage scalability as easily as possible."

"I like StorageWorks' snapshots for our backup system. We had a pool of SSD and traditional drives. StorageWorks has a feature that transfers the hot data to high-performing drives."

"The most valuable feature of HPE StorageWorks MSA is its flexibility."

"HPE StorageWorks MSA is an entry-level, cost-effective solution for SMB customers."

"Monitoring is a very big thing. Other great features include block storage; volume creation and the data reliability scalability, which makes the solution really good."

More HPE MSA pros

"As it spreads, a chuck of 1MB across the board means using all available spindles on the backend."

"Installation is amazingly easy."

"Hands down, this is the easiest storage platform on the market to manage."

"Very easy to produce reporting data (Snaps). Very easy and fast for provisioning devices and Remote mirroring."

"IBM XIV's most valuable features are NVME, especially when it comes to de-duplication, compression, and responsiveness."

"The performance and robustness of the systems are very good."

Cons

"The solution could improve by adding configuration tools."

"This product is getting a little bit older, so new features like deduplication are not included."

"We faced a lot of challenges with our custom configuration during installation."

"It should show more options for cloud backup support."

"I rate HPE support four out of 10. I'm not happy with them. We purchased mission-critical support, and we're supposed to get a response in four hours. Instead, I'm waiting days for them to replace the drive. They asked me to send back the failed one, and I don't know the address. After I sent it back, they told me they haven't received it. It's a nightmare."

"Data security features are more important to me than anything else, and I think HPE MSA lacks in this area."

"Some clients have suggested room for improvement in expanding storage capacity beyond the base traces."

"The platform’s monitoring capabilities could be enhanced."

More HPE MSA cons

"Until the drive is replaced, the pool_resizing is locked."

"I would rather have a web GUI served directly from the unit, and a CLI accessible directly through SSH."

"IBM XIV's scalability is adequate for our requirements, but because it's modular, you can't scale to larger requirements."

"This product was not a good fit for our organization as we have a ton of latency sensitive applications and XIV was not able to keep up with IO + latency demand."

"I encountered stability (performance) issues during enclosure or disk rebuild. Also some power supply issues due to malfunctions of circuits. Sometimes "internal" Snap sessions hang and consume pool capacity."

"The change form synchronous mirroring to asynchronous (and vice versa) without reconfiguration from scratch would be helpful."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"This solution is quite expensive; they should lower the cost."

"The price of the solution is a little high and they should provide more competitive pricing. If you want to increases the storage size there are additional fees."

"The solution’s pricing is reasonable."

"This solution involves a one-time CapEx payment, followed by warranty extensions."

"The solution can be a bit expensive."

"When we bought this solution it was very reasonably priced and they were willing to deal."

"I would rate the pricing as nine out of ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive."

"HPE StorageWorks MSA's licensing is perpetual and not integrated."

"We have a five-year total cost of ownership where we pay an initial amount and then annually for maintenance."

"If you are going to use the product behind an SVC, IBM will price the units lower, since you are likely not to use any of the advanced copy services."

"Licensing is straightforward."

"No-license-required policy, unlike others where you need a license for everything. Just pay once and forget about licenses."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

15%

Computer Software Company

14%

Construction Company

Government

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about HPE StorageWorks MSA?

The most valuable feature of HPE StorageWorks MSA is its flexibility.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HPE StorageWorks MSA?

The pricing of HPE MSA is not deemed reasonable, though their licensing costs compare similarly to other brands. The initial cost is where differences are more apparent.

See all answers

What needs improvement with HPE StorageWorks MSA?

If it could be a hybrid with SSDs and hard disks, then it would be more economical and efficient.

See all answers

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Dell EqualLogic PS series vs HPE MSA

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

HPE MSA

June 2025

Download HPE MSA product report

Buyer's Guide

Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)

May 2025

Download IBM XIV product report

Also Known As

HP StorageWorks MSA

XIV

Overview

Whether you need best-in-class performance or are looking to get the most capacity for your investment, MSA has a fast, affordable solution for you. And every MSA comes with an intuitive setup and management interface anyone can master.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

IBM XIV is a high-end, grid-scale storage system that excels in tuning-free consistent performance, ease of use and exceptional data economics, including inline, and IBM Real-time Compression. IBM XIV is ideal for hybrid cloud, offering predictable service levels for dynamic workloads, simplified scale management, including in multi-tenant environments, flexible consumption models — and robust cloud automation and orchestration through OpenStack, RESTful API and VMware. It offers security and data protection through hot encryption, advanced mirroring and self-healing and investment protection with perpetual licensing.

IBM

Sample Customers

Femsa CSC, TTX, Rabobank

Celero, NaviSite, Technische Universit_t Mªnchen, Netflix Inc., Muhr und Bender KG, Pelephone Communications

Buyer's Guide

HPE MSA vs. IBM XIV

June 2025

Free Report: HPE MSA vs. IBM XIV

Find out what your peers are saying about HPE MSA vs. IBM XIV and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.

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