HPE StoreVirtual vs IBM Spectrum Virtualize comparison

Hewlett Packard Enterprise and IBM are both solutions in the Software Defined Storage (SDS) category. Hewlett Packard Enterprise is ranked #21, while IBM is ranked #14 with an average rating of 8.7. Hewlett Packard Enterprise holds a 1.3% mindshare in SDS, compared to IBM’s 1.5% mindshare. Additionally, 94% of Hewlett Packard Enterprise users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 91% of IBM users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 5, 2024

HPE StoreVirtual and IBM Spectrum Virtualize compete in the storage virtualization market. IBM Spectrum Virtualize has the upper hand with its advanced features and flexibility in licensing, catering to both entry-level and high-end configurations effectively.

Features: HPE StoreVirtual provides seamless storage management, high availability, and comprehensive integration with existing hardware. It simplifies the configuration process and ensures storage redundancy, making it a fit for straightforward deployments. IBM Spectrum Virtualize, on the other hand, offers powerful data migration capabilities, flexible operational management, and a unified view across different storage systems, enhancing appeal with its versatility and advanced disaster recovery features.

Room for Improvement: HPE StoreVirtual could improve in reducing latency issues and simplifying management, especially during firmware updates. The solution also requires better SSD integration. IBM Spectrum Virtualize could benefit from enhanced scalability and management intricacies, with improved reporting and cloud integration for advanced utilization.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Both systems offer robust on-premises capabilities. HPE StoreVirtual is noted for its easy deployment and generally effective technical support, though experiences with support vary. IBM Spectrum Virtualize is recognized for its technical competence and helpful support team, ensuring a smooth deployment process.

Pricing and ROI: HPE StoreVirtual is valued for its affordable high availability, with pricing that includes all features but is often critiqued for its complex licensing. It is particularly attractive to SMBs due to its cost-effectiveness. IBM Spectrum Virtualize offers cost-efficient bundled licensing and broad scalability, being competitive in high-end configurations. It offers significant ROI potential through its flexible and comprehensive suite, being economically favorable in certain scenarios.

To learn more, read our detailed HPE StoreVirtual vs. IBM Spectrum Virtualize Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

HPE StoreVirtual vs. IBM Spectrum Virtualize

July 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 Storage FlashBlade

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Software Defined Storage (SDS) category, the mindshare of Pure Storage FlashBlade is 4.2%, down from 4.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HPE StoreVirtual is 1.3%, down from 1.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Spectrum Virtualize is 1.5%, up from 1.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Software Defined Storage (SDS)

Featured Reviews

Eric Black

Solutions Architect at Recovery Point Systems

The ability to leverage multi-tenancy along with immutability is a huge benefit for us

The only thing I feel FlashBlade is missing is the SOS API. If it had SOS API, that would put it well over the top. Veeam Backup specifically has started to streamline their API, and they are doing that with SOS API. They have optimized it. Any of the S3 devices out there that support this SOS API can have far more API calls at once. On our side, that translates to better restoration. With SOS API, it can leverage far more restorations at a single given time or read from the device in simple terms. That results in maximizing the output and throughput from the device itself.

Read full review

Vebjorn Nergaard

Senior IT Engineer at Guard Automation AS

Reliable with helpful support and good replication

The setup is okay, however, it comes with a moderate amount of difficulty. If you are new to the product, it is difficult. You do get used to the process over time and it gets easier. A company just needs one person to maintain the solution as it just runs. You don't need any support staff. It's very, very hands-off except when you do updates. The product is living its own life.

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MD.Faisal Alam

Manager, Technical Services, IBM Storage & Backup Solutions. at Thakral

Built-in compression enhances data management efficiency

I have noticed that the technical support for software issues, such as with Spectrum Protect, needs improvement. The case logging process is efficient, but resolving software problems takes too much time. This delay can hinder customers and strain vendor relationships. For hardware issues, IBM handles them efficiently, but software-related support requires enhancement. Overall improvement in support for software cases is necessary.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution is able to handle workloads and is easy to use. It allows us to actually manage the boxes in less time."

"The tool's most valuable feature is its fast performance, especially in handling snapshots. It helps during power outages when we need to quickly move data between different data centers. It ensures efficient replication and helps maintain our data centers' uptime."

"The ease of deployment and management has helped us simplify our storage. We also do not have to worry about capacity management as much. A lot of these things are native to Pure Storage."

"It uses the same platform for connectivity so integration is seamless."

"Among its most appealing features are its ease of handling and minimal maintenance requirements."

"I like its size. It is smaller than the other competitors. We can plug in many blades, and we can have data up to one terabyte."

"Speed and ease of use are the two most valuable features."

"It performs well and it is also very fast."

More Pure Storage FlashBlade pros

"StoreVirtual is that it is our software-defined solution and it's everywhere."

"Data is stored in two different places, leveraging more security and availability. Therefore, network problems are having less affect on iSCSI."

"It's very stable and it's easy to use."

"It appears to be very stable and very robust."

"It allows compute and storage to operate separately, and has the ability to take SAN nodes out of production for maintenance with little effort and zero downtime."

"The initial setup is straightforward, not a complex procedure."

"A company can scale it easily."

"All of the administrative tasks are easy and everything is centralized."

More HPE StoreVirtual pros

"We can failover easily, because a lot of our data is replicated from family to the second replication."

"The biggest benefits of IBM Spectrum Virtualize are its stability, data security, and customer support."

"Although the GUI from the XIV was used (in my view), IBM has polished and refined the GUI providing a pleasant and easy to navigate GUI experience."

"The scalability is very good. It can handle anywhere from very small to large enterprise class."

"IBM provides exceptional technical support, which I rate as the best along with Cisco."

"The ease of management, the simplicity of the CLI, the speed of that interface, and the well-architected design of the product in general are valuable features."

"It has the ability to seamlessly move hardware in and out as we refresh technology."

"The abstraction flair and the abstraction layer. We had a mixture of different storage arrays, and the wonderful thing about SVC is is that it normalizes all it into a single driver. A single view that all hosts see simultaneously."

More IBM Spectrum Virtualize pros

Cons

"I would also like to see better support for CIFS workloads."

"It usually comes down to just what you hit and the value you're getting when you spend the money and license the products. I would always go, "If you want to make things better, lower your price and make your licensing simpler." There's always an opportunity around that."

"It would be beneficial if the layer could support the S3 protocol and be container ready in the next release."

"We initially encountered challenges with the assembly process due to issues with the documentation required during setup, an area where Pure Storage needs improvement."

"We haven't been able to use much of the cloud area of Pure Storage. We have a storage server and it would be better if it could integrate with other cloud features of this solution."

"I would like to see more deduplication."

"Compared to, for example, Hitachi NAS, the solution is not mature at all. It's just in its infancy as far as technology goes."

"Its configuration should be easier."

More Pure Storage FlashBlade cons

"In our country, Qatar, most of the industry isn't using too much HP. StoreVirtual doesn't move fast. It's not a popular product."

"User interface could be improved."

"The GUI is a bit old-fashioned. It should be updated."

"Product looks like it is in the end of development."

"It is a costly solution."

"One of the areas that need improvement is the consolidated management platform, to manage all of the nodes from one place and the licensing around that."

"The penalty for the availability is performance. So, you have to balance or choose between the availability and the performance."

"f you're doing the 10Gb adapters, SFPs don't come with it, but it doesn't say that. It might say that somewhere else, but it's not clear."

More HPE StoreVirtual cons

"IBM could improve IBM Spectrum Virtualize by bundling Storage Scale and Storage Virtualize into a single appliance. This would provide a more appealing and cost-effective solution."

"t is limited in terms of a single system to eight nodes or four, what they call IO groups."

"I would like to see more baseline replication and integration with the operating system between Vmware and IBMI."

"The Storwize port is not so stable."

"I would like to see them provide a unified platform that offers block, file, and object-based protocol access."

"NBME support and support for a higher Fibre Channel lengths could be improved, but those are already on the roadmap."

"I already discussed possible improvements with some of the guys from Hearnsley. One of our frustrations is when you go to expand volumes in a global mirror environment, you have to stop everything in order to expand. So that's one of the things."

"The training program could be improved."

More IBM Spectrum Virtualize cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of this solution could be made more affordable."

"The pricing is relatively expensive due to the FlashBlade technology. However, for companies needing quick and reliable data access, the cost is justified."

"Support is a separate line item. Support is a different cost, but whatever your support is now, that's what you're going to pay forever. If your support's $100 today, six years from now it's $100. It doesn't fluctuate unless you upgrade it, or change it, etc."

"It's a costly solution, but Pure Storage FlashBlade doesn't require additional licenses. All of the software is combined into one bundle."

"Our licensing is renewed annually."

"Our customers have seen a reduction in TCO."

"Pure Storage FlashBlade is a hardware appliance, and it's very expensive if you compare its price with other solutions. You can get the same features and benefits from its competitor, VAST Data, but for half the price of Pure Storage FlashBlade."

"The price is a little high."

More Pure Storage FlashBlade pricing and cost advice

"It costs less than $10,000 for one machine. If it costs more than 15% higher than this, then the customer may change to another solution."

"Licensing is not exactly straightforward, but not the worst I have ever seen."

"For our organization, I believe the cost is 16,000 Euros for a three-year license. It costs a bit more to do the maintenance on our servers as well. It's also on an HP ProLiant server and an organization will need to do the maintenance there also. I believe the price for that is around 2000 Euros a year."

"The prices are OK, so we don't have much difficulty selling HPE in Brazil."

"If you buy a five-year license, not only does the technical support expire after five years, but you also lose the ability to change and expand the VSA, and the systems won't go down."

"One of the key features about it is that when you buy either a VSA license or a StoreVirtual appliance, all your software's included."

"The entry point of pricing for this product is the most amazing price ever in the industry."

"It has a lot of advanced functions for a reasonable price."

"Do a proof of concept, if you are not comfortable jumping in, but do it."

"I think it is a good value for the price."

"We would like the CPU cycle to save more on the licensing costs for us."

"We have struggled with Pure Storage, but people are understanding that much of Pure has been consumer grade SSDs. Therefore, when the customer is really understands what they are getting, they realize that IBM presents the same sort of value as existing vendors."

"I am very happy with the pricing. There is no comparison when it comes to pricing. I have looked at all solutions from EMC, Veritas, Hitachi, Dell, etc. None of them compares to IBM when it comes to pricing. I get great pricing from them."

"This solution came as an additional cost for the TSM package we chose."

More IBM Spectrum Virtualize pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Government

Computer Software Company

20%

Manufacturing Company

16%

Government

13%

Comms Service Provider

Computer Software Company

16%

Performing Arts

13%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Pure Storage FlashBlade?

The tool's most valuable feature is its fast performance, especially in handling snapshots. It helps during power out...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Pure Storage FlashBlade?

The pricing of Pure Storage FlashBlade is expensive compared to other products I used from other companies in the pas...

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What needs improvement with Pure Storage FlashBlade?

I believe there is not much improvement needed because they have everything we need, but the interface is a little bi...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Spectrum Virtualize?

IBM Spectrum Virtualize is not an expensive product. It offers flexibility with different flavors, whether appliance-...

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What needs improvement with IBM Spectrum Virtualize?

IBM could improve IBM Spectrum Virtualize by bundling Storage Scale and Storage Virtualize into a single appliance. T...

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What is your primary use case for IBM Spectrum Virtualize?

I primarily use IBM Spectrum Virtualize ( /products/ibm-spectrum-virtualize-reviews ) when I have different hardware ...

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Comparisons

Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs Pure Storage FlashBlade

Compared 19% of the time

Red Hat Ceph Storage vs Pure Storage FlashBlade

Compared 11% of the time

MinIO vs Pure Storage FlashBlade

Compared 10% of the time

Pure Storage FlashArray vs Pure Storage FlashBlade

Compared 10% of the time

VAST Data vs Pure Storage FlashBlade

Compared 9% of the time

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Red Hat Ceph Storage vs HPE StoreVirtual

Compared 52% of the time

VMware vSAN vs HPE StoreVirtual

Compared 48% of the time

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VxRail vs IBM Spectrum Virtualize

Compared 30% of the time

Dell VPLEX vs IBM Spectrum Virtualize

Compared 28% of the time

IBM Spectrum Scale vs IBM Spectrum Virtualize

Compared 23% of the time

VMware vSAN vs IBM Spectrum Virtualize

Compared 19% of the time

More IBM Spectrum Virtualize Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Pure Storage FlashBlade

July 2025

Download Pure Storage FlashBlade product report

Buyer's Guide

HPE StoreVirtual

July 2025

Download HPE StoreVirtual product report

Buyer's Guide

IBM Spectrum Virtualize

July 2025

Download IBM Spectrum Virtualize product report

Also Known As

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HPE StoreVirtual, HPE VSA

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Overview

FlashBlade is the industry’s most advanced scale-out storage for unstructured data, powered by a modern, massively parallel architecture to consolidate complex data silos (like backup appliances and data lakes) and accelerate tomorrow’s discoveries and insights.

Pure Storage

HPE StoreVirtual storage ensures that organisations can optimise the benefits of server virtualisation with cost-effective high availability and disaster recovery. The iSCSI-based, scale-out storage platform is easy to manage and change – meeting ongoing business demands without creating IT bottlenecks or application downtime. Overcoming the cost and management limitations of traditional storage area networks (SANs), HPE StoreVirtual nodes use storage clustering to form a single pool of resources that enable organisations to buy only what they need today, scaling non-disruptively to meet requirements in the future.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

IBM Spectrum Virtualize is a dependable solution that improves data value, security, and simplicity for new and existing storage infrastructure. Proven over 12 years in thousands of deployments, its innovative virtualization capabilities help organizations achieve better data economics by supporting new workloads that are critical to their success. IBM Spectrum Virtualize software helps make new and existing storage more effective and standardizes functions traditionally deployed separately in disk systems for greater flexibility and potentially lower costs.

IBM

Sample Customers

ServiceNow, Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport, Dominos, Man AHL

NBrIX, WIND Telecom, Netrics

Pelephone, Sprint IT Enterprise Services

Buyer's Guide

HPE StoreVirtual vs. IBM Spectrum Virtualize

July 2025

Free Report: HPE StoreVirtual vs. IBM Spectrum Virtualize

Find out what your peers are saying about HPE StoreVirtual vs. IBM Spectrum Virtualize and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.

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