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IBM Spectrum Virtualize pros and cons

Vendor: IBM
4.4 out of 5

Pros & Cons summary

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Prominent pros & cons

PROS

IBM Spectrum Virtualize offers advanced storage virtualization, enabling seamless migration without disrupting users.
It enhances scalability, accommodating everything from small environments to large enterprise setups.
Reliability and flexibility are standout features, saving time and resources.
The software's ability to efficiently manage and optimize performance autonomously sets it apart.
IBM Spectrum Virtualize excels in customer support and technical assistance, ensuring excellent service.

CONS

Integration with multiple sites needs improvement due to challenges with large-scale environments.
Expanding volumes in a global mirror environment requires stopping operations, leading to frustrations.
NBME support and support for higher Fibre Channel lengths need enhancement, although plans exist.
Adding disks to existing arrays is a high-demand feature yet not feasible due to current restrictions.
Improvements are necessary for tighter integration with cloud storage as a target for various use cases.
 

IBM Spectrum Virtualize Pros review quotes

it_user672417 - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical analyst 3 at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees
May 25, 2017
It's got full features, so we can compress volumes. We can do thin volumes and we can change them on the fly.
it_user672432 - PeerSpot reviewer
Media Storage Services Manager at a media company with 5,001-10,000 employees
May 25, 2017
Using SBC, a valuable feature is the mirroring, which is the virtualization of the disk between disparate places.
it_user672441 - PeerSpot reviewer
Storage Chief Architect at Unisys
May 25, 2017
One of the main features of Spectrum Virtualize is it virtualizes the servers from the storage. We have a very large infrastructure. A major advantage is when you get the aged storage arrays and you have to replace all of those.
Learn what your peers think about IBM Spectrum Virtualize. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2025.
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it_user672333 - PeerSpot reviewer
Storage Admin Analyst at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
May 25, 2017
The most valuable feature is its reliability.
CO
Storage/SAN Administrator at a insurance company with 1,001-5,000 employees
May 29, 2017
The most valuable features are the simplicity of use, the flexibility, and the options included. I mean, it's just a big time saver.
it_user694704 - PeerSpot reviewer
Principal Specialist and Solution Consultant at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
Jun 30, 2017
Migration from configurations where servers have storage provisioned from older SAN disk systems to newer storage systems is almost seamless using image mode migration techniques, with only a short outage of the servers.
it_user187272 - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager of Infrastructure at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Jul 14, 2017
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.
KV
Systems Engineer at a energy/utilities company with 1,001-5,000 employees
May 3, 2018
We can failover easily, because a lot of our data is replicated from family to the second replication.
it_user868239 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Storage Engineer at ADT Corporation
May 6, 2018
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.
it_user868257 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
May 6, 2018
When we add storage behind it, the product is good for the customers because their customers do not notice that anything is happening due to the virtualization.
 

IBM Spectrum Virtualize Cons review quotes

it_user672417 - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical analyst 3 at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees
May 25, 2017
The integration would be an option that we would like, but I understand that's not how it's going to be implemented.
it_user672432 - PeerSpot reviewer
Media Storage Services Manager at a media company with 5,001-10,000 employees
May 25, 2017
For improvement considerations, I would probably say multiple sites.
it_user672441 - PeerSpot reviewer
Storage Chief Architect at Unisys
May 25, 2017
There are things that occur when you get to this size and capacity. We're very large, i.e., petabytes. When you get to that sheer volume of the numbers of things, it is too big for people to keep track of.
Learn what your peers think about IBM Spectrum Virtualize. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2025.
879,853 professionals have used our research since 2012.
it_user672333 - PeerSpot reviewer
Storage Admin Analyst at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
May 25, 2017
They are actually working on one bug we found, which was with flash restore. This was the user interface design for virtual environments.
CO
Storage/SAN Administrator at a insurance company with 1,001-5,000 employees
May 29, 2017
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.
it_user694704 - PeerSpot reviewer
Principal Specialist and Solution Consultant at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
Jun 30, 2017
Adding features for data deduplication is one area of improvement.
it_user187272 - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager of Infrastructure at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Jul 14, 2017
GUI should be developed in HTML5 as opposed to Java.
KV
Systems Engineer at a energy/utilities company with 1,001-5,000 employees
May 3, 2018
Anything which improves performance and the ability of our systems would be a nice.
it_user868239 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Storage Engineer at ADT Corporation
May 6, 2018
NBME support and support for a higher Fibre Channel lengths could be improved, but those are already on the roadmap.
it_user868257 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
May 6, 2018
The Storwize port is not so stable.