IBM FlashSystem vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series comparison

IBM and Lenovo are both solutions in the All-Flash Storage category. IBM is ranked #10 with an average rating of 8.0, while Lenovo is ranked #21 with an average rating of 10.0. IBM holds a 5.6% mindshare in AFS, compared to Lenovo’s 2.0% mindshare. Additionally, 91% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Lenovo users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 18, 2024

IBM FlashSystem and Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series are competing storage solutions. Users find Lenovo's feature set and proactive customer service offer the upper hand over IBM's performance, despite cost considerations.

Features: IBM FlashSystem is recognized for high speed, low latency, and efficient data compression. Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series includes multi-protocol support, high-density storage, and flexible scalability options.

Room for Improvement: IBM FlashSystem needs better integration capabilities, cost optimization, and potentially improved management software. Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series could enhance its management software, reduce complexity, and improve initial setup procedures.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM FlashSystem offers a straightforward deployment process and responsive customer service. Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series may have a more complex deployment but is supported by robust, proactive customer service.

Pricing and ROI: IBM FlashSystem is sometimes considered cost-prohibitive but provides good ROI over time. Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series may have higher initial setup costs but delivers faster ROI through advanced features and reliability.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM FlashSystem vs. Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series Report (Updated: February 2026).

Buyer's Guide

IBM FlashSystem vs. Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series

February 2026

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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 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 IBM FlashSystem is 5.6%, down from 6.7% 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 (%)
IBM FlashSystem	5.6%
Pure FlashArray X NVMe	1.5%
Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series	2.0%
Other	90.9%

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.

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OmarIsmail1

Infrastructure Technical Specialist II at Clicks Group

Offers high performance and dependable support for fast storage needs

The most valuable feature of IBM FlashSystem is its robust back code. When integrated properly into the environment and configured according to the guidelines, it provides a very solid infrastructure that does the job on demand. Additionally, IBM FlashSystem offers competitive pricing and reliable performance. The hardware is dependable, ensuring that it functions effectively when the setup is done correctly.

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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

"The most valuable features of Pure FlashArray X NVMe are its superior performance compared to other flash tiers, as well as its ease of use, with an intuitive user interface that is simple to deploy and use."

"The database workloads are pretty fast because I frequently move data from here to there."

"Pure FlashArray X NVMe will quickly overcome all the hurdles you face, including network and latency issues."

"On a scale of one to ten, I rate Pure FlashArray as ten."

"It has benefited my organization because it has reduced time to insights."

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

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

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

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe pros

"The performance of the All-Flash System is very good. There is more enhanced performance and data production in the solution, which I appreciate."

"IBM FlashSystem is a powerful effective storage solution. Additionally, it is user-friendly, anyone can use it."

"The valuable features are high availability, compression, and a failover mechanism. It's a very highly available storage solution."

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

"The solution allows for easy migrations from previous products or vendors via its embedded storage virtualization function."

"The initial customer technical support was efficient and effective."

"IBM FlashSystem is a flexible solution with plenty of features."

"The speed, performance, and stability are the best features of IBM FlashSystem."

More IBM FlashSystem pros

"ThinkSystem's storage performs well, and the price per gigabyte is good, especially on SSD solutions. It's also easy to use."

"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."

"The solution is very easy to troubleshoot. It's one of the most valuable features. It also doesn't take long to deploy and normally it comes with a three-year warranty."

"The solution is very easy to set up."

"Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series is simple to use"

"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."

"Its initial setup process is easy."

More Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series pros

Cons

"Efficiency improvements would always be welcome, but I'm not sure if they could get more efficient."

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

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

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

"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."

"Many options to check performance, like read, writes, random writes, and random reads, are missing in Pure FlashArray X NVMe."

"We would like to see VNC integration or be able to use Pure Storage with VNC."

"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."

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe cons

"They can improve its initial configuration. The initial configuration is currently very difficult. There are multiple choices or alternative ways to configure based on the use case and what you are targeting out of the device, that is, more capacity or more performance. These multiple alternatives cause a lot of confusion. They should increase the processing part of the nodes. Currently, you can cluster up to eight nodes. From my experience and the workload that I am facing in my environment currently, I would like to see either a bigger or stronger node or a larger number of nodes that can be clustered together. We formally communicated to them that we need to see either this or that, and they are working on something."

"I would like to have a larger disk. Right now, you can get 57 terabytes in a shelf. Once they get the larger disk and you get larger capacities, it'll be even better."

"They don't offer subscription-based payments."

"IBM FlashSystems is lagging in optimizing storage technologies."

"We use some open-source tools for monitoring, such as Grafana and it should be bundled along with IBM FlashSystem."

"The basic setup can be challenging when it comes to certain IP addresses and the configuration of the IP. You have to go in to different menus to makes changes and ensure it is stable."

"The array level RAID does not seem available."

"There could be some extra features added."

More IBM FlashSystem cons

"The features are limited."

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

"There could be a snapshot feature in the solution."

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

"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."

"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 product could support advanced software integrations."

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

More Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

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

"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."

"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."

"The licensing is on a yearly basis."

"With Pure Storage, we would like to continue seeing price reductions with flash storage. I don't think we're any different than anybody else when we continue to look to the industry for price reductions of both NVMe and traditional SSD storage. We would like to see these prices continue to decline and erode, even displacing large spinning disks."

"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."

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe pricing and cost advice

"The pricing is competitive in our country."

"Its price is very good."

"This solution is expensive compared to other solutions."

"There are no licensing fees, it is a one-time purchase of the IBM FlashSystem."

"Our customers would like IMB FlashSystem to be less expensive."

"The price of IBM FlashSystem is reasonable."

"It pays to go back and get the best price you can from your supplier. The first offer is not always at the best discount."

"The total storage capacity vs price is still quite high for the IBM Flash Array."

More IBM FlashSystem 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."

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

"The solution's price could be better."

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

"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."

"It is an expensive solution."

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

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

Computer Software Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

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	47
Midsize Enterprise	21
Large Enterprise	59

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 do you like most about IBM FlashSystem?

It is simple to make an update.

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

The pricing is high; storage solutions are always expensive. I do not know if the price needs to be reviewed, but it ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM FlashSystem?

As far as I know, IBM FlashSystem has already improved, but I do not see room for improvement. It is simple to use an...

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

Pavilion HyperParallel Flash Array vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 4% of the time

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe Competitors

Dell PowerStore vs IBM FlashSystem

Compared 18% of the time

NetApp AFF vs IBM FlashSystem

Compared 9% of the time

Pure Storage FlashArray vs IBM FlashSystem

Compared 8% of the time

HPE Alletra Storage vs IBM FlashSystem

Compared 7% of the time

NetApp FAS Series vs IBM FlashSystem

Compared 3% of the time

More IBM FlashSystem Competitors

Dell PowerStore vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series

Compared 22% 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

Dell Unity XT vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series

Compared 6% 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

IBM FlashSystem

January 2026

Download IBM FlashSystem 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

IBM Storwize

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

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

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

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

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

IBM FlashSystem vs. Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series

February 2026

Free Report: IBM FlashSystem vs. Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series

Find out what your peers are saying about IBM FlashSystem vs. Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series and other solutions. Updated: February 2026.

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