Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series comparison

Hitachi Vantara and Lenovo are both solutions in the All-Flash Storage category. Hitachi Vantara is ranked #8 with an average rating of 8.1, while Lenovo is ranked #21 with an average rating of 10.0. Hitachi Vantara holds a 3.7% mindshare in AFS, compared to Lenovo’s 2.1% mindshare. Additionally, 96% of Hitachi Vantara users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Lenovo users who would recommend it.

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 18, 2024

Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform and Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series are strong competitors in storage solutions. Users are more satisfied with the performance and support of Hitachi, while Lenovo is favored for its cost-effectiveness and comprehensive features.

Features: Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform is praised for its high availability, scalability, and advanced data management. Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series is noted for its ease of use, reliable performance, and integration with other Lenovo solutions. The primary difference is that Hitachi offers more advanced data management features, while Lenovo provides better integration and ease of use.

Room for Improvement: Users suggest improvements in Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform's initial setup complexity and cost. Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series users point out the need for enhanced features in data protection and performance analytics. Hitachi needs to simplify its setup, while Lenovo should focus on adding more advanced features.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform's deployment is more complex but supported by strong customer service. Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series is easier to deploy, with moderate customer service support. Deployment is straightforward with Lenovo but more supported with Hitachi.

Pricing and ROI: Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform has higher setup costs but offers a high ROI due to its performance and features. Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series offers competitive pricing and a good ROI, favored for cost-conscious buyers. Hitachi users pay more upfront but gain more value over time, whereas Lenovo users benefit from lower costs and good returns.

To learn more, read our detailed Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform vs. Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform vs. Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series

December 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 January 2026, in the All-Flash Storage category, the mindshare of Pure FlashArray X NVMe is 1.4%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform is 3.7%, up from 3.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series is 2.1%, down from 2.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

All-Flash Storage Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform	3.7%
Pure FlashArray X NVMe	1.4%
Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series	2.1%
Other	92.8%

All-Flash Storage

Featured Reviews

Jaehoon Oh

Chief Technology Officer at Lambda256

Supports efficient storage management through volume snapshots and offers reliable non-disruptive upgrades

I have no specific improvements to suggest for Pure FlashArray X NVMe at this time. The performance statistics could be enhanced. I can see the performance statistics in the Pure Storage console, but it does not show the performance by 4K byte unit. It displays IOPS and bandwidth, but IOPS is about real use, and I want to know how many IOPS are currently running in 4K byte units. I cannot see that IOPS because most storage systems report their performance by 4K byte unit. I want to see Pure Storage performance by 4K byte unit to compare with other storage or other internal NVMe SSD.

Read full review

ANAND V

Associate Vice President at Federal Bank Ltd

Reliable and secure storage solution supports core banking operations effectively

The replication technology that Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform uses is quite older, and the replication methodology they employ for data between the data center and the production and standby database shows no significant improvement in that particular field. With respect to storage administration, I'd like to see more clarity on the encryption side; data being stored in an encrypted manner is essential, but the customer or end-user doesn't understand which encryption is being used and doesn't have a direct view stating that their data is encrypted using AES 256 or DES, or whatever standard they follow. This lack of transparency may not be acceptable during audits.

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Giorgio Pozzi

System Administrator at PORTGUARDIAN.COM SRL

Performance and cost-effectiveness are maximized with seamless setup and significant ROI

I use Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series to replace the old storage in our infrastructure. Additionally, I use it in customer infrastructures to migrate from the old storage to the new one On the M storage, I find the best features to be deduplication and compression. On the DE storage, the most…

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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 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."

"It's incredibly easy to use and greatly simplified our ability to both deploy and manage our storage subsystems."

"It's helped us because we've changed fundamentally what we talk about. We don't talk about storage and different tiers of storage anymore nor do we talk about servers. We talk now about applications and how applications impact the business and end users."

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

"The Pure1 component is most valuable at this point in time when comparing it with EMC. Pure1 is where you can have your diagnostics in the cloud, so you can look at things from your mobile phone."

"The solution uses newer technology for deduplication and compression."

"The most valuable feature of this solution is reliability."

"The high availability of the product is the most valuable feature."

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe pros

"The product provides a good storage space."

"This is one of the most stable, high-end solutions in this area."

"It is a very stable solution. Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."

"The active-active option seemed to be working well and overall, it was a solid product."

"The most valuable features are external storage virtualization and the 100 percent data guaranteed availability."

"The most valuable feature is that it has 'eight nines' availability, 99.999999 percent of the time. That is the main selling point."

"Storage is the most valuable feature."

"The high performance of flash storage is especially valuable to us."

More Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform pros

"We have been working with the solution for around a year and so far it has shown itself to be stable."

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

"Fewer features is not necessarily a negative as it leads to simpler operation and lower price."

"The solution is very easy to set up."

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

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

"Its initial setup process is easy."

"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

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

"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."

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

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

"We have run into a couple of instances recently where we are running out of space. So we have had to buy some more packs for it and they have deployed fine and it has increased smoothly."

"In the next release, I would like to see real-time analytics for further insight into consumption models."

"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."

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

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe cons

"The controllers in the product do not provide options for scalability."

"One problem is that there are too many management tools for the F Series and for all the other Hitachi storage systems. There are four or five such solutions. Maybe these could be combined in the future."

"The initial deployment was somewhat complex when it came to the installation because of the network connectivity. It was more difficult, in this specific case, than with other platforms."

"Not just anyone can do the deployment. So, the person needs a basic understanding and work experience."

"Its usability can be improved. It can have more management features. Its management tools lack features."

"The embedded management for installation feature has neither simplified nor complicated the management process, therefore, there is room for improvement."

"Hitachi Vantara has invested heavily in improving their management interface, however, they still have a way to go to catch up with many of their competitors."

"We have not been able to procure more discs for upcoming projects and this has been a problem for us. Not having additional storage is going to be an issue. The solution is at its end of life and will be replaced soon."

More Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform cons

"Its performance could be faster."

"The solution could be more scalable, although it suits our present needs."

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

"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."

"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."

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

More Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is expensive."

"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."

"The licensing is on a yearly basis."

"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."

"Our licensing fees are $500,000+ USD."

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

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

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

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe pricing and cost advice

"Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform G Series tools are highly specialized, such as management and performance tools and the overall solution is expensive. If customers want to have a lot of data in their hands, they need to purchase several solutions."

"The price per gigabyte is good and it is low when it comes to terabytes."

"Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform is a very expensive product."

"The licensing cost of Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform G Series, whether it would be high or more affordable, would depend on location. For example, here in Brazil, Hitachi charges in dollars and this means my company still needs to convert that into local currency. Sometimes, my company also needs to discuss the pricing with the Hitachi sales team and request for a discount. At the moment, pricing for Hitachi is high, but my team can have some global funding or global accounts that would help reach the price my company is aiming for."

"A drawback of Hitachi storage systems is that they are expensive. The upfront cost is very high compared to others. But when you compare the IOPS at the same price, Hitachi gives you better business value..."

"The price of the solution is reasonable. However, I have not done extensive comparative research on the price. If you want to upgrade the size of the disc you will need to purchase a license that accounts for the size."

"Considering the solution's price, it is very competitive compared to the other competitors in the market. I rate the product price a nine out of ten."

"This is an expensive solution."

More Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform pricing and cost advice

"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 pricing for this solution is good compared to HP or Dell EMC."

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

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

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

"The solution's price could be better."

"It is an expensive solution."

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

More Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Government

Financial Services Firm

17%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

16%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

University

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	15
Midsize Enterprise	11
Large Enterprise	12

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	19
Midsize Enterprise	15
Large Enterprise	28

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	10
Midsize Enterprise	3

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?

The price of Pure FlashArray X NVMe is very expensive, though I do not know the actual price because I am using the E...

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What needs improvement with Pure FlashArray X NVMe?

I have no specific improvements to suggest for Pure FlashArray X NVMe at this time. The performance statistics could ...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform?

The cost of Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform is reasonable compared to competitors, but it is dependent on the custom...

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What do you like most about Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform E990?

The product's reliability has been crucial for our company's operations.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform E990?

The centralized management console in Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform is not very comfortable and user-friendly. How...

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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.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series?

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

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series?

I use Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series to replace the old storage in our infrastructure. Additionally, I use it in custom...

See all answers

Comparisons

Dell PowerStore vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 18% of the time

Dell PowerMax vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 12% of the time

HPE Alletra Storage vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 10% of the time

TrueNAS R-Series vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 9% of the time

Pure Storage FlashArray vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 3% of the time

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Dell PowerStore vs Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform

Compared 10% of the time

NetApp AFF vs Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform

Compared 9% of the time

IBM FlashSystem vs Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform

Compared 8% of the time

HPE Alletra Storage vs Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform

Compared 7% of the time

Pure Storage FlashArray vs Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform

Compared 6% of the time

More Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform Competitors

Dell PowerStore vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series

Compared 23% of the time

IBM FlashSystem vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series

Compared 11% of the time

NetApp AFF vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series

Compared 10% of the time

Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series

Compared 9% of the time

HPE Alletra Storage vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series

Compared 8% of the time

More Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Pure FlashArray X NVMe

January 2026

Download Pure FlashArray X NVMe product report

Buyer's Guide

Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform

January 2026

Download Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform product report

Buyer's Guide

All-Flash Storage

January 2026

Download Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series product report

Also Known As

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

Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform F Series, 5000 Series, E Series, N Series, G Series

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

RETHINK YOUR DEFINITION OF SPEED AND PERFORMANCE

With adaptive, guaranteed data reduction and a 100% data-availability guarantee, Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform F series helps you tackle complicated business challenges. Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) VSP F series delivers up to 4.8M IOPS with sub-millisecond response times.
Featuring legendary Hitachi reliability, VSP F series arrays are backed by the industries only 100% availability guarantee. For these reasons, 80% of the Fortune 500 choose Hitachi all-flash arrays to accelerate the performance of mission-critical applications like Oracle, SAP, Virtualization, Microsoft apps etc. With over 350 patents in flash technology, Hitachi’s innovative mix of flash hardware and software accelerates ROI with enterprise-class reliability and performance.

Hitachi Vantara

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

Turkcell, Owens Corning, Region Nord, Net Credit Financial Group (NFC Group), Russian Railways

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform vs. Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series

December 2025

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