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 3.8% mindshare in AFS, compared to Lenovo’s 2.0% 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

Download the report

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: February 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform vs. Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series

February 2026

Download the complete report

Helped 881,757 peers since 2012

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 February 2026, in the All-Flash Storage category, the mindshare of Pure FlashArray X NVMe is 1.5%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform is 3.8%, up from 3.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series is 2.0%, 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	3.8%
Pure FlashArray X NVMe	1.5%
Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series	2.0%
Other	92.7%

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.

Read full review

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…

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 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 duplication algorithm allows us to get a lot more use out of less storage. We're running a five terabyte array right now and we're running probably about 30 terabytes on it. So the duplication rate is pretty phenomenal, without a cost to performance. It still runs pretty smoothly."

"The best features of Pure FlashArray X NVMe include the volume snapshot capabilities, which allow us to save most of the storage space by volume snapshots periodically."

"Overall stability is very good. It is a very stable solution."

"I appreciate the performance."

"The solution is very straightforward to set up."

"Offers excellent features like efficient data reduction, a reliable SafeMode, and a great support model for continuous assistance and updates."

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

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe pros

"There are no significant challenges in terms of scalability, and it can accommodate larger storage capacities compared to other storage solutions."

"The Hitachi VSP has significantly improved data storage scalability by addressing various issues. Through their research and development efforts, they've incorporated customer feedback regarding deployment speed and performance requirements."

"The valuable features for data management include deduplication and compression without performance impact, and the ability to virtualize old storage, making migration seamless."

"The product has great data storage performance with a 100% data security and availability guarantee."

"Storage is the most valuable feature."

"The setup is very easy to manage and configure. The initial setup and takes one hour more or less."

"The performance is very good."

"The deduplication is useful for us because we don't have that much money for our lab infrastructure. Deduplication means we have more storage available. And the IOPS are really fast."

More Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform pros

"Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series is simple to use"

"Its initial setup process is easy."

"The solution is very easy to set up."

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

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

"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."

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

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

More Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series pros

Cons

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

"It's more multi-tenant functionality in their Pure1 manage portal that is lacking."

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

"In the future, I would like to see integration with enterprise backup systems."

"The UI for this solution needs to be improved."

"The tool's portfolio is minimal. It is expensive."

"There is room for improvement in catering to midrange storage needs, especially for customers seeking Enterprise-class features."

"In terms of what needs improvement, the dashboard and management could be simplified."

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe cons

"The solution is stable. However, there have been some software crashes where we had to restart the system. They could improve the hardware to prevent this type of issue."

"The distributor needs more knowledgeable resources for technical support. It would be better to connect directly to the vendor in case of queries."

"In the next version I would like to see additional features like artificial intelligence and an increase in the amount of data it can store."

"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 life-cycle of the Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform G Series is too short. We only had approximately four or five years out of the solution before it was rendered its end of life."

"The interface should be simplified and made easier to use."

"The software has always been lagging a bit compared to the newer features. It usually takes a cycle for it to catch up."

"The user experience is pretty bad in Hitachi. A lot of mandatory tasks take a long time to work through."

More Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform cons

"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 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."

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

"The features are limited."

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

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

"ThinkSystem could be better integrated with backup software like Commvault, Veritas, or Symantec."

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

More Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The tool's pricing is cheap; I rate it a six to seven out of ten. Most of our sales are not subscription-based. We sell the hardware, and customers keep using it. They only renew the service part annually. The support can be a bit pricey, but the solution is more cost-effective than anything else out there."

"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."

"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."

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

"The product is expensive."

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

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

"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."

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe pricing and cost advice

"It is a little expensive."

"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."

"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."

"I give the price of Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform a nine out of ten."

"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..."

"I find Hitachi to be cheaper by five to ten percent when compared to Dell and HP's costs, but the features in Dell are better than Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform."

"The pricing is very competitive compared to other vendors. It really depends on the type of media we're using, like SaaS, SSP, or NVMe."

"Pricing could be better, because the cost is very high."

More Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform pricing and cost advice

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

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

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

"It is an expensive solution."

"The solution's price could be better."

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

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

"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."

More Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which All-Flash Storage solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

881,757 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Government

Financial Services Firm

18%

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

16%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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 16% 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

TrueNAS X-Series vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 5% of the time

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe Competitors

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 22% of the time

IBM FlashSystem vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series

Compared 11% of the time

NetApp AFF vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series

Compared 9% 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

February 2026

Free Report: Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform vs. Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series

Find out what your peers are saying about Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform vs. Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series and other solutions. Updated: February 2026.

DOWNLOAD NOW

881,757 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform vs. Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series report.

See our list of best All-Flash Storage vendors.

We monitor all All-Flash Storage reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.