HPE MSA vs IBM FlashSystem comparison

Hewlett Packard Enterprise and IBM are both solutions in the Modular SAN (Storage Area Network) category. Hewlett Packard Enterprise is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.0, while IBM is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.5. Hewlett Packard Enterprise holds a 19.9% mindshare in MS, compared to IBM’s 19.8% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of Hewlett Packard Enterprise users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 91% of IBM users who would recommend it.

HPE MSA

Read 23 HPE MSA reviews

1,417 Views
1,141 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

IBM FlashSystem

Read 110 IBM FlashSystem reviews

1,461 Views
1,109 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

HPE MSA

IBM FlashSystem

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 2, 2025

IBM FlashSystem and HPE MSA compete in the data storage solutions category. IBM FlashSystem has the upper hand in terms of performance and features for demanding workloads, whereas HPE MSA provides a more budget-friendly option with essential features suitable for simpler storage needs.

Features: IBM FlashSystem is known for its high performance, low latency, and strong virtualization capabilities. It is suited for demanding workloads requiring robust performance and efficiency. HPE MSA, categorized as entry-level, offers solid stability with features such as dual controllers, tiering, and the ability to provide shared storage solutions without high complexity.

Room for Improvement: IBM FlashSystem users have pointed out the need for enhanced scalability, code stability, and more detailed GUI reporting. There is also a call for improved cloud service integration. For HPE MSA, users have noted the need for better scalability and more modern features like deduplication, as well as enhanced cloud integration options.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Both IBM FlashSystem and HPE MSA are primarily installed on-premises. Some IBM users also manage hybrid or private cloud deployments. IBM FlashSystem receives mixed reviews regarding technical support, with some users praising their experience and others calling for improvement. HPE MSA is generally appreciated for responsive customer service but lacks in supporting new features.

Pricing and ROI: IBM FlashSystem is often perceived as a more expensive option, necessitating careful budget planning, yet offering significant ROI through comprehensive features and performance benefits. HPE MSA, while cost-effective, may still pose financial challenges for smaller businesses, providing a positive ROI as a budget-friendly solution, albeit with fewer advanced features compared to IBM FlashSystem.

To learn more, read our detailed HPE MSA vs. IBM FlashSystem Report (Updated: March 2025).

Buyer's Guide

HPE MSA vs. IBM FlashSystem

March 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

HPE MSA

Ranking in Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)

5th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

IBM FlashSystem

Ranking in Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)

4th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

110

Ranking in other categories

NAS (4th), All-Flash Storage (13th)

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Modular SAN (Storage Area Network) category, the mindshare of HPE MSA is 19.9%, up from 17.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM FlashSystem is 19.8%, up from 16.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)

Featured Reviews

Pragnesh Sachania

Deputy Manager IT at La Gajjar

Scalable, easy to manage, and used for virtualization environments

We didn't face any issues with the technical functionality. However, we faced a lot of challenges with our custom configuration. The HPE support person who did the installation was very technical. He answered all the queries, and we resolved the entire setup. We set up the storage as per our requirements. We previously used a physical server instead of virtualization. With the help of an HPE engineer and partners, we prepared a strategy for migrating the entire physical servers to our virtualization infrastructure. It took two days to deploy the solution. Six people were involved in the solution's deployment, including two from HPE and four from our IT team.

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Raanan Sitton

Vice President Sales at BELOCAL LTD

Offers cost-effective storage for small companies with budget constraints

IBM FlashSystem 5300 is offered at a very low cost in Israel, which is advantageous for small companies. However, other features like deduplication and compression do not perform effectively. The price sensitivity makes it a viable option for clients with budgetary constraints, as it allows us to secure deals based on the cost rather than advanced performance.

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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 product is very easy to deploy."

"Monitoring is a very big thing. Other great features include block storage; volume creation and the data reliability scalability, which makes the solution really good."

"The cost to performance for HPE StorageWorks MSA is good."

"The most valuable feature for customers is the autonomic tiering, which enhances their storage scalability as easily as possible."

"I like StorageWorks' snapshots for our backup system. We had a pool of SSD and traditional drives. StorageWorks has a feature that transfers the hot data to high-performing drives."

"The most valuable features were the dual controllers and being able to expand it."

"The solution is pretty transparent and works well."

"The solution is very easy to use, it is not really complex for any user, such as non-technical individuals."

More HPE MSA pros

"IBM FlashSystem is a stable solution."

"IBM FlashSystem has an easy to use GUI, similar to the IBM Storewize family, which make it one of the best flash storage systems in the market."

"The speed of the unit is its best feature. It performs very well."

"It's a mature product. It's like a BMW that evolves consistently."

"The most valuable features in IBM FlashSystem are IOPS, performance, duplication, and compression."

"The performance of the solution is noteworthy."

"It's very easy to manage."

"The most valuable features are flexibility and performance."

More IBM FlashSystem pros

Cons

"HPE StorageWorks MSA could maybe include a pay-top of texture feature or something like job replication."

"There is room for improvement in terms of scalability. There are times when we need to upgrade the device and the firmware. Sometimes, that can be a struggle."

"It would be ideal if there was a better management interface."

"This product is getting a little bit older, so new features like deduplication are not included."

"It should show more options for cloud backup support."

"I rate HPE support four out of 10. I'm not happy with them. We purchased mission-critical support, and we're supposed to get a response in four hours. Instead, I'm waiting days for them to replace the drive. They asked me to send back the failed one, and I don't know the address. After I sent it back, they told me they haven't received it. It's a nightmare."

"It would be beneficial to have an add-on feature to improve analytics or insight capabilities inside the app."

"Some clients have suggested room for improvement in expanding storage capacity beyond the base traces."

More HPE MSA cons

"The initial setup is complex."

"The solution should improve its pricing and the mechanism in the reduction pool."

"There is room for improvement in the troubleshooting part, specifically related to IBM Spectrum for Insight."

"The marketing could be improved."

"The security features can be improved such that the encryption does not affect performance in any way."

"The pricing could be improved, but I think it's getting better and better with each version. IBM needs to implement NAS storage again, as this is a big flaw. Dell EMC is very good at this and if you compared them based on NAS storage, Dell EMC would win right away. IBM's solution for NAS storage is very complicated. We don't have a storage box that provides file sharing from itself, we have to put software on it and go through a whole complicated process. It should be simplified."

"The interface could improve in IBM FlashSystem."

"They can include Amazon file system S3 protocol in the upcoming releases. It is a cloud file system. IBM FlashSystem doesn't have this feature in the box for high-end or mid-range. We have got requests for this from customers because we need to use S3 for EDI application storage. At the beginning of every year, IBM releases firmware. When I find any bugs in the firmware during the year, I am unable to find any information from IBM regarding the bug. I need to open a ticket, and the IBM engineering team makes a patch only for me. This patch is not public. By creating a customized patch for a client, they don't really solve the issue for everyone. If multiple users have the same bug, IBM should upload the patch on the official website so that we can download it. IBM FlashSystem has a monitoring tool in the box, but it is not advanced. I need a more advanced tool for more advanced equations and monitoring. All top three storage vendors, that is, EMC, IBM, and Pure Storage, don't have a powerful monitoring tool. To monitor our box to show the statistics for I/Os and latency, I need to pay for extra software. The built-in monitoring storage is not mature enough to handle all requests and generate all reports that I need. They can include the functionality to stretch a cluster natively without using any additional boxes. In addition, there are some features that EMC has integrated with the box. These features are not available in IBM FlashSystem."

More IBM FlashSystem cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution’s pricing is reasonable."

"HPE StorageWorks MSA's licensing is perpetual and not integrated."

"When we bought this solution it was very reasonably priced and they were willing to deal."

"The price of the solution is a little high and they should provide more competitive pricing. If you want to increases the storage size there are additional fees."

"This solution is quite expensive; they should lower the cost."

"This solution involves a one-time CapEx payment, followed by warranty extensions."

"I would rate the pricing as nine out of ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive."

"The solution can be a bit expensive."

"Pricing can be considered as per market competition."

"The pricing is reasonable."

"For a yearly license, it is about $100,000. There are no additional costs. The entire system is included."

"The pricing has been very competitive for the last few years. IBM got to the point where they changed the pricing model and we feel very comfortable with the pricing. It's very competitive. Over the last two years, IBM has been coming up with all kinds of interesting promos, especially for the SMB systems. That makes it very competitive price-wise and in terms of performance..."

"They've been much more aggressive in the last five, six years than they were before that."

"The tool is cost-efficient."

"The integration is already included in the license cost of IBM FlashSystem. The integration is very easy. You get the IBM storage core with all software, firmware, and upgrades. EMC provides the features in the box, but they are not free for customers. There is a licensing cost for features. We have yearly licensing, but IBM has also provided a new option where you pay as you go. They provide a big box, and I pay, for example, for 10 terabytes. If I exceed 10 terabytes, IBM will charge for the new storage after 10 terabytes. It is a good opportunity in the market for using the storage as a cloud and paying as you go."

"The solution has good pricing, but it is not cheaper."

More IBM FlashSystem pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

16%

Manufacturing Company

14%

Government

Construction Company

Computer Software Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about HPE StorageWorks MSA?

The most valuable feature of HPE StorageWorks MSA is its flexibility.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HPE StorageWorks MSA?

I am not satisfied with the licensing model and pricing.

See all answers

What needs improvement with HPE StorageWorks MSA?

It needs more details on how to integrate with the cloud for backup scenarios. It should show more options for cloud backup support.

See all answers

What do you like most about IBM FlashSystem?

It is simple to make an update.

See all answers

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

Many factors affect purchasing directly from IBM, often involving a multi-step process. Customers, especially in banking, often use the latest devices as they are upgrading, indicating they do not ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM FlashSystem?

The GUI needs some improvement. An additional function that could be helpful is reducing the time it takes to delete volumes, especially if they are compressed or deduplicated.

See all answers

Comparisons

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HPE 3PAR StoreServ vs HPE MSA

Compared 16% of the time

Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform vs HPE MSA

Compared 8% of the time

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Compared 24% of the time

Huawei OceanStor Dorado vs IBM FlashSystem

Compared 8% of the time

Pure Storage FlashArray vs IBM FlashSystem

Compared 8% of the time

HPE Alletra Storage vs IBM FlashSystem

Compared 8% of the time

NetApp FAS Series vs IBM FlashSystem

Compared 3% of the time

More IBM FlashSystem Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

HPE MSA

March 2025

Download HPE MSA product report

Buyer's Guide

IBM FlashSystem

March 2025

Download IBM FlashSystem product report

Also Known As

HP StorageWorks MSA

IBM Storwize

Overview

Whether you need best-in-class performance or are looking to get the most capacity for your investment, MSA has a fast, affordable solution for you. And every MSA comes with an intuitive setup and management interface anyone can master.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

IBM FlashSystem products are enterprise computer data storage systems that store data on flash memory chips. Unlike storage systems that use standard solid-state drives, IBM FlashSystem products incorporate custom hardware based on technology from the 2012 acquisition of Texas Memory Systems. This hardware provides performance, reliability, and efficiency benefits versus competitive offerings.

IBM

Sample Customers

Femsa CSC, TTX, Rabobank

Celero, Friedhelm Loh Group, Clarks, Mingkang Natregro Health Food Group, Sofia, Etisalat Fights Fraud, UF Health Shands Hospital, Generali, Elecon Engineering Company Limited, Ventiv , Technology, CPFL Energia, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., SciQuest, Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated, Paddy Power, Kelsey-Seybold Clinic, Interconnect Services, Severstal IP-Only AB, PVU Group GmbH

Buyer's Guide

HPE MSA vs. IBM FlashSystem

March 2025

Free Report: HPE MSA vs. IBM FlashSystem

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