IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series comparison

IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe vs. Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series

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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 June 2025, in the All-Flash Storage category, the mindshare of Pure FlashArray X NVMe is 0.8%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe is 0.5%, down from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series is 2.5%, down from 2.7% 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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MohammedIsmail

Datacenter Manager at Tracker Connect

Enhanced storage performance and an easy setup with compression challenges

We use IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe as a storage device in the IT industry The features I find most valuable include its use for storage and performance. The solution's compression needs to be improved, as it's not the best. Furthermore, support from the partner could also be improved as it's been…

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Gastone Canali

IT Consultant at Effegibi

Provides good stability and is reliable in terms of performance

The solution is reliable in terms of performance They should include a snapshot feature for the solution. We have been using the solution for two to three years. The solution is stable. We have 60 solution users in our organization. The solution's initial setup process is easy. It takes three…

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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 latency is good."

"It offers competitive performance, and the Evergreen storage model of Pure fits well with my organization."

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

"It has good, reliable, fast storage."

"It is very easy to install and configure. It has got excellent diagnostics. If you really need to see how the box is performing, the console gives you a lot of information. You can set thresholds as well as alerts based on the thresholds, which is a very powerful functionality. They are very proactive. They know how to monitor and manage the systems. They see a problem, and they are all over it before us. They see the problem before we see it, which is very good."

"The solution is scalable."

"Everything, especially the VMs inside, is pretty fast."

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

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe pros

"IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe is one of the leading storage systems in the world...I rate the solution's stability a ten out of ten."

"The solution is more available for IOPS warehousing, resolving issues, and reporting than other products."

"The storage serves the virtual environment. Most of our applications run in the virtual environment, and it serves nearly 30% of the bank's capacity."

"The features I find most valuable include its use for storage and performance."

"It's easy to use, has good stability, and many features."

"The most valuable feature of the solution is its upgrades, as we don't have to do much homework because of its different controllers."

"It is a very stable product. Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten because we did not face any issues in the last three years."

"It is a very stable solution."

More IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe pros

"This solution is good for virtualization and meets the need for CPU and RAM requirements."

"Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series is simple to use"

"Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series is highly reliable, especially for block-level storage. It is stable, with minimal downtime and no issues beyond user errors."

"I would rate the stability of Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series as a ten."

"The solution's initial setup process is easy."

"ThinkSystem's storage performs well, and the price per gigabyte is good, especially on SSD solutions. It's also easy to use."

"Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series is quite an elementary box, no frills. It does not have all the functionality of the DM but it is acceptable, it does its task. It integrates pretty well."

"The most valuable features of the Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series are the dual controllers, available installation documentation, and the option of multiple host bus adapter interfaces."

More Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series pros

Cons

"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."

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

"Right now, the box itself is just strictly working as a backend storage system. It would be fantastic if we could access it directly like a NAS device through network access or SIS drives. I think they have an interface, but I am not sure how good it is. If we could address a box directly on the network without having to go through a server, it would be great. The replication schemas could be improved. We are not using replication on the storage level right now. We use a different type of replication. If their replication would be as good as the one that we have, I would probably run the replication schema because it might be faster, but I don't know that for a fact. So, I cannot say that they have good replication. All I can say is that they need to inform us better."

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

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

"Many options to check performance, like read, writes, random writes, and random reads, are missing in Pure FlashArray X NVMe."

"Adding some functions to the product would be beneficial. Storage replication should be essential, and the analytics should not incur extra charges."

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

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe cons

"I would like to have replication functionality built directly in the product, rather than having to use a separate device for this."

"I'd like to be able to connect to tape drives behind the storage device to back up the tape if need be. We have all of our storage running in all-flash, and we make a copy on tape. Currently, when we want to hook up tape drives, we have to add some extra equipment, which is a little bit complex. We want IBM to add a feature where we could install a tape into the storage so that we can connect it through a single pane of glass. We'd like to have a feature in the IBM flash storage system so that we can connect backup tape drives through the IBM storage system and we can manage the backup tape from the storage system."

"There is a tool provided by IBM for repairing batteries which can only be utilized by those who have an IBM technical advisor under service contract. However, for individuals who do not have such a contract, the tool can be difficult to use and requires a zip file copy. I believe that it would be greatly beneficial if the tool were made more user-friendly and accessible for all individuals who need to repair batteries."

"IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe is currently at the end of its lifespan and will soon become obsolete in the markets."

"The solution's compression needs to be improved, as it's not the best."

"The solution's compression feature could be better."

"IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe is an expensive solution, and its pricing could be improved."

"The tool's architecture is complex. It also needs to add data utilization reports."

More IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe cons

"Improvements can be made to the product's performance."

"In the next release, I would like to see more functionality. But, again, it is an entry-level product."

"There could be a snapshot feature in the solution."

"Usually, when a part fails, we have to replace it and it takes a while. It would be better if the part could be available locally here in Kenya so we don't have to wait so long to repair the solution."

"The features are limited."

"It would be useful to have structured solutions replicated to other sites."

"The product could support advanced software integrations."

"The difficult part comes when dealing with the host. You have to enable multi-pathing and other aspects that are needed for proper configuration. I don't know if there is room for a more hyper-conversion structure to work with, but this would be easier."

More Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Pretty much everything that you need is licensed when you buy the product. Licensing to me is different than the maintenance cost, but they can bleed into one another. We buy the product, and we expect three years of support bundled into what we negotiate on our storage arrays. I would start to see maintenance costs going into the fourth year, but we're not there yet."

"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."

"They can tout the functionality and cutting edge technology that they have, but that's where the price tag comes in. The cost is high, but I think as they grow their business and get more customers that it will probably go down a little bit."

"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 licensing is on a yearly basis."

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

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

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

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe pricing and cost advice

"The product has an average cost."

"There are pricing options from the mid-rand to the high-range, of which the suitability depends upon the requirements."

"Compared to other solutions, the cost of IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe is reasonable, with a one-time payment of around $70,000. However, additional support is available for $25,000 for three years. The overall maintenance cost is steep."

"The tool's pricing is competitive."

"The price of IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe is less than Dell. For upgrades, the Dell solutions are more expensive."

"The solution is priced well."

"The solution's price is competitive."

"It's a lot less costly than cloud storage. People get surprised by the cost of cloud storage, which is extremely expensive and four or five times the cost of storage on-premises. People don't realize what they're spending on storage until they start getting bills from Amazon, Microsoft, and others. This is a good way to reduce your cloud storage expenses."

More IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe pricing and cost advice

"We have a five-year contract for providing support."

"It is an expensive solution."

"The price of the Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series is a one-time purchase. There is a global price list available to find the price of the solution."

"The solution's price could be better."

"All of the features are bundled together, and you can renew the bundle with all of the features included."

"The pricing is fair and low compared to other products in this category."

"The best thing about this solution is its price, which reduces our costs."

"For an all-flash setup, the cost is around $20,000 for a decent configuration."

More Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series pricing and cost advice

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859,438 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Government

Computer Software Company

19%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Healthcare Company

Computer Software Company

17%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

University

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.

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.

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 ...

What do you like most about IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe?

The storage serves the virtual environment. Most of our applications run in the virtual environment, and it serves ne...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe?

The tool is expensive, though I do not know the specific licensing costs.

What needs improvement with IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe?

The solution's compression needs to be improved, as it's not the best. Furthermore, support from the partner could al...

What do you like most about Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series?

The solution's initial setup process is easy.

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

The price of Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series is very good. We chose this type of storage for the performance and the price.

What needs improvement with Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series?

The type of connection that is used in Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series should be improved.

Dell PowerStore vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Comparisons

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HPE Alletra Storage vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

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Dell PowerStore vs IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe

Compared 23% of the time

Dell PowerMax vs IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe

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Hitachi VSP E Series vs IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe

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Pure Storage FlashArray vs IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe

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Dell PowerStore vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series

Compared 30% of the time

NetApp AFF vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series

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IBM FlashSystem vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series

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Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series

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HPE Alletra Storage vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series

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Product Reports

Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Download Pure FlashArray X NVMe product report

IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe

Download IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe product report

All-Flash Storage

Download Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series product report

Also Known As

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

IBM FlashSystem 9100, FlashSystem 9100

ThinkSystem DE 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

IBM FlashSystem 9100 combines the performance of flash and Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) end-to-end with the reliability and innovation of IBM FlashCore technology and the rich features of IBM Spectrum Virtualize - all in a powerful 2U enterprise-class storage system. Providing intensive data driven multicloud storage capacity, FlashSystem 9100 is deeply integrated with the software defined capabilities of IBM Spectrum Storage allowing you to easily add in the multicloud solutions that best support your business.

IBM

The DE All-Flash Series delivers the performance of more than 2,000 15k rpm HDDs, yet requires only 2% of the rack space, power, and cooling. Because it consumes 98% less space and power, DE Series can significantly improve the overall efficiency of your IT operations while continuing to meet your performance requirements.

Lenovo

Sample Customers

Fremont Bank, Judson ISD, The Nielsen Company

Information Not Available

IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe vs. Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series