Hitachi VSP E Series vs IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe comparison

Hitachi Vantara and IBM are both solutions in the NVMe All-Flash Storage Arrays category. Hitachi Vantara is ranked #10 with an average rating of 8.5, while IBM is ranked #11 with an average rating of 8.3. Hitachi Vantara holds a 2.5% mindshare in N, compared to IBM’s 1.5% mindshare. Additionally, 83% of Hitachi Vantara users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of IBM users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 5, 2024

IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe and Hitachi VSP E Series are competitive within the storage solutions category. IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe is seen as superior due to its advanced features and potential for higher ROI.

Features: IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe is distinguished by its high-performance NVMe interface, AI-enhanced storage optimization, and flexible scalability options. Hitachi VSP E Series is known for its strong data encryption, comprehensive data protection, and robust storage virtualization capabilities.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Hitachi VSP E Series offers simplified deployment with strong integration capabilities and comprehensive customer service. IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe provides more complex integration options requiring technical expertise but benefits from IBM’s extensive customer support.

Pricing and ROI: IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe generally requires a higher initial setup cost with the promise of greater long-term ROI. Hitachi VSP E Series offers a more cost-effective initial investment with dependable ROI from efficient storage management and lower total cost of ownership.

To learn more, read our detailed Hitachi VSP E Series vs. IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Hitachi VSP E Series vs. IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe

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 February 2026, in the NVMe All-Flash Storage Arrays category, the mindshare of Pure FlashArray X NVMe is 4.2%, up from 2.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Hitachi VSP E Series is 2.5%, up from 2.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe is 1.5%, down from 1.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

NVMe All-Flash Storage Arrays Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Pure FlashArray X NVMe	4.2%
Hitachi VSP E Series	2.5%
IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe	1.5%
Other	91.8%

NVMe All-Flash Storage Arrays

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.

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Bilal Munir

Technical Architect at ASG Group

Enhanced speed and integration benefit hybrid environments but cost remains a concern

The Hitachi VSP E Series is all-flash storage, so it is fast. It is quite good for databases, and clients who are familiar with Hitachi prefer to use it. Clients with hybrid environments generally look for something like a single glass view, where they can integrate all their different systems and view everything on one screen or desktop.

Read full review

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…

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 standout features for us in Pure FlashArray X NVMe are its robust DDoS protection, seamless transparent failover, and failback capabilities ensuring high availability."

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

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

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

"The most valuable features of this solution are its ease of use and performance."

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

"Pure FlashArray X NVMe helps to improve our processing speed. It is user-friendly and easy to use."

"The solution is scalable."

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe pros

"I rate Hitachi VSP series nine out of ten for a transactional workload requiring no compromise on availability and performance."

"Its user-friendly configuration and maintenance processes contribute to its reputation for being straightforward and easily manageable."

"The most valuable features of Hitachi VSP series include its high performance and availability."

"Hitachi VSP handles large volumes of transactions with ease, and we often support customers in this direction when we have Oracle in the middle."

"We are using the Hitachi VSP E Series for high IOPS."

"The product is generally quite stable."

"It offers good file sharing."

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

"The most valuable feature of IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe is the snapshot. We use it daily for all of the storage units."

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

"IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe is easy to use and comes with good performance."

"A key feature is that compared to storage systems that we've been familiar with over decades, IBM simply does not fail. The reason is that IBM is the only manufacturer that engineers its own flash module, and there is a key architectural difference from everything else that we have seen in the market. The difference is that the flash module has the computational capability, which allows reliability and capacity enhancements to be uploaded from the main controllers and run in each module. So, each of the flash drives becomes its own little storage system, and that is extremely effective architecture. In this field, with this type of system, IBM has made a statement. They've never had one of these modules cause an outage. So, the failure rates on these things are just in a whole different universe from what we were accustomed to."

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

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

"The most valuable feature is the speed."

More IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe pros

Cons

"Maybe the price can be reduced since the solution is very expensive."

"Adding some functions to the product would be beneficial."

"There is room for improvement in the pricing of the product."

"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."

"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."

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

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

"The tool's pricing is higher than competitors."

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe cons

"There is room for improvement in simplifying the overall complexity of the environment."

"Hitachi should work on unified storage platforms."

"Hitachi is quite expensive, and small to medium-sized organizations usually do not purchase it."

"Hitachi should work on unified storage platforms."

"The solution's support duration or end-of-support life is very short."

"The graphical user interface is somewhat outdated, lacking some of the modern features found in other solutions."

"Deduplication and compression should be improved."

"The support could be better."

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

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

"Other vendors have included a block and file system. IBM doesn't include a file system. And yet, it's very necessary for all organizations' networks to have file systems. We have other systems for the file system, however, ideally, we would like to have one system with these features."

"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."

"The storage system itself should have built-in capabilities for different ransomware attacks."

"I would like to see IBM products become more affordable because they can be quite expensive, which limits their accessibility to a broader customer base."

More IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

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

"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."

"The support cost per array is about $20,000 a year for 24/7 support."

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

"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."

"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."

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe pricing and cost advice

"The pricing is fair, with additional costs for support services."

"Hitachi VSP E Series is an expensive solution."

"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."

"The tool's pricing is competitive."

"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 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."

"The price of IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMele can be considered affordable when taking into account the operating system that is required for it to function properly. This operating system, which is licensed by IBM, may carry a higher cost, but it is worth the investment for larger corporate entities, such as insurance companies, Fortune Five companies, and banks, who make up a significant portion of their target market. The FlashSystems are designed for larger corporations and multinational enterprises, and may not be the most cost-effective solution for smaller businesses."

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

More IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe 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

Computer Software Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Educational Organization

Healthcare Company

Marketing Services Firm

11%

Government

Computer Software Company

Recreational Facilities/Services Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	8
Midsize Enterprise	8
Large Enterprise	5

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 VSP E Series?

The solution is expensive, which can be considered a con.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Hitachi VSP E Series?

Hitachi needs to work on the marketing side because communication is a problem, as many customers do not know what th...

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering Hitachi VSP E Series?

Currently, we are not approaching the virtual storage. We are working with Hitachi and Pure Storage; in some cases, w...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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.

See all answers

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...

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

NetApp AFF vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 8% of the time

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe Competitors

Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform vs Hitachi VSP E Series

Compared 21% of the time

Dell PowerStore vs Hitachi VSP E Series

Compared 19% of the time

NetApp ASA vs Hitachi VSP E Series

Compared 13% of the time

NetApp AFF vs Hitachi VSP E Series

Compared 11% of the time

Hitachi VSP 5000 Series vs Hitachi VSP E Series

Compared 9% of the time

More Hitachi VSP E Series Competitors

Dell PowerMax vs IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe

Compared 24% of the time

Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform vs IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe

Compared 17% of the time

HPE Alletra Storage vs IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe

Compared 15% of the time

Dell PowerStore vs IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe

Compared 14% of the time

Pure Storage FlashArray vs IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe

Compared 11% of the time

More IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Pure FlashArray X NVMe

January 2026

Download Pure FlashArray X NVMe product report

Buyer's Guide

NVMe All-Flash Storage Arrays

January 2026

Download Hitachi VSP E Series product report

Buyer's Guide

IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe

January 2026

Download IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe product report

Also Known As

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

No data available

IBM FlashSystem 9100, FlashSystem 9100

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

Hitachi VSP E Series offers an advanced storage solution designed for enterprises seeking scalability and performance. It is suitable for a range of applications, providing reliability and efficiency to meet demanding IT environments.

Hitachi VSP E Series is designed to enhance storage capabilities with robust features catering to needs such as data management, storage optimization, and system versatility. This series integrates seamlessly within IT infrastructures, offering improved data protection and resource management. Its enhanced storage architecture ensures data integrity while supporting high data loads efficiently, making it a go-to choice for enterprises requiring high-performance storage systems.

What are the most valuable features of Hitachi VSP E Series?

Scalability: Enables seamless expansion as data requirements grow, ensuring continued performance without disruption.
Reliability: Provides consistent uptime and data protection, minimizing risks associated with data loss.
High Performance: Delivers fast data processing speeds to support demanding applications.
Data Management: Offers advanced data management tools for streamlined operations and efficiency.
Energy Efficiency: Designed to reduce power consumption while maintaining optimal performance.

What benefits and ROI should be considered?

Cost-Effectiveness: Benefits from lower operational costs due to efficient data handling and energy use.
Operational Efficiency: Enhances work productivity by optimizing data processes, leading to better resource allocation.
Flexibility: Supports various deployment scenarios, allowing adaptation to different business needs.
Data Security: Enhances data protection mechanisms to prevent unauthorized access and data breaches.

Hitachi VSP E Series is widely implemented in industries such as finance, healthcare, and manufacturing, where data integrity and speed are crucial. Its ability to integrate with existing IT frameworks makes it a valuable addition to businesses aiming to streamline data processes while maintaining high standards of data protection and system reliability.

Hitachi Vantara

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

Sample Customers

Fremont Bank, Judson ISD, The Nielsen Company

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

Hitachi VSP E Series vs. IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe

December 2025

Free Report: Hitachi VSP E Series vs. IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe

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