IBM Storage Fusion vs. VMware vSAN

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
IBM Storage Fusion
Score 8.5 out of 10
N/A
IBM Storage Fusion is the foundation for container-native applications running on Red Hat OpenShift, which provides enterprise grade data-storage and protection services. This solution includes data services that are critical for global enterprise applications and a data driven Red Hat OpenShift environment. IBM Storage Fusion is built on a technology that provides global access to data to container applications. The application sees the data as another local file…N/A
VMware vSAN
Score 9.1 out of 10
N/A
VMware vSAN is an enterprise-class storage virtualization software that provides a simple path to hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) and multi cloud. VMware vSAN is no longer sold as a standalone product and is now available as a part of VMware Cloud Foundation.N/A
Pricing
IBM Storage FusionVMware vSAN
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
IBM Storage FusionVMware vSAN
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
IBM Storage FusionVMware vSAN
Considered Both Products
IBM Storage Fusion
Chose IBM Storage Fusion
Snowflake and Amazon Redshift
Chose IBM Storage Fusion
Either Hadoop or Cassandra provides better reporting & analytics on multiple data variant but creating required data layer on these platform requires lot of coding or development effort which are easily available in IBM Fusion.
Managing these environments(Cassandra or Hadoop) …
Chose IBM Storage Fusion
VMWARE VSAN has extensive features in comparison to IBM Fusion storage, but it doesn't have the capability of integrating Redhat Openshift with the application. In addition, IBM offering is a cost-effective solution in the market.

Considering the stable IBM storage portfolio …
VMware vSAN
Chose VMware vSAN
Upgrades and maintenance are little difficult in other solutions available. Also, VMware vSAN offers a vast range of features optimizing the CPU and memory to great extent resulting in faster performance . Performance is enhanced with VMware vSAN and support of vSAN is also …
Chose VMware vSAN
VMWare stand out compared to all the products. However, it is worthwhile mentioning the following products can be used to achive similar results. Hitachi Virtual Storage Systems Nutanix Cloud Infrastrucure. In case if we are using Nuatinux at the Hypervisor level then it …
Chose VMware vSAN
We have done the POC with both products to understand the differences, similarities and to select the best option for our purpose.
At this moment in time both products still have their own pro's and con's.
At this time decision was taken to work with both products, in the …
Chose VMware vSAN
I came from environments where we used hosts and a san. The Sans are always very expensive and to add additional resources to the san it's in large amounts. Most of the environments only had a couple of hosts so downtime or outages were always a concern. Being able to spread …
Chose VMware vSAN
Nutanix was the first hyper-converged solution, but it requires its own hardware. hyperflex looks promising, but it's also only working on cisco hardware. in both cases the costs are much higher, compared to building a custom vSAN solution on certified hardware, leveraging …
Chose VMware vSAN
Our VMware solution is built in-house for the organization's private application, we don't want to put our data on cloud premises. Also, vSAN is a cost-effective solution for our environment. We have done the POC with both products to understand the Flexibility, Management, and …
Chose VMware vSAN
Currently[,] we are testing both technologies in a time frame so we [still know] after some years which one is the best, according to our loads' needs. We had VMware before moving to vSAN, one [of] many [reasons] to move to vSAN is the opportunity to make the jump in a …
Chose VMware vSAN
Nutanix and VMware are comparable solutions but VMware ESXi is a leading hypervisor. Nutanix also support ESXi and AHV and other hypervisors. We support both Nutanix and VMware and it is customer choice to choose considering many other things like software, channels and …
Chose VMware vSAN
vSAN was handy to do our testing. It helps to provide plenty of storage performance with a simple interface. It is easy to configure and works just great. VMware software, in general, provides the best performance and reliability for the virtualization platform. It's always …
Chose VMware vSAN
We used HPE Simplivity in the past. HPE Simplivity provided a similar functionality, but it required a virtual controller VM on each host which consumed CPU, RAM, and Storage. Upgrades and maintenance on the HPE Simplivity nodes was more difficult because the controller VMs …
Chose VMware vSAN
VMware vSAN is the only hyper-convergence product we have used, but it replaced multiple dedicated Nimble storage arrays. Nimble had a vCenter plugin which made it much easier to use, but VMware vSAN is baked right into the vCenter. vSAN also really doesn't require much if …
Chose VMware vSAN
HP LeftHand P4000 (Discontinued), HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage, Pure Storage FlashArray and Dell EMC Data Domain
Chose VMware vSAN
vSAN is far more integrated than any other SDS solution running on vSphere. It is also a simpler deployment and management model.
Best Alternatives
IBM Storage FusionVMware vSAN
Small Businesses
StarWind Virtual SAN
StarWind Virtual SAN
Score 9.9 out of 10
StarWind HCA
StarWind HCA
Score 9.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
StarWind Virtual SAN
StarWind Virtual SAN
Score 9.9 out of 10
StarWind HCA
StarWind HCA
Score 9.0 out of 10
Enterprises
IBM Storage Scale
IBM Storage Scale
Score 6.4 out of 10
Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure
Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure
Score 8.3 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
IBM Storage FusionVMware vSAN
Likelihood to Recommend
8.5
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Usability
-
(0 ratings)
9.2
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
-
(0 ratings)
7.5
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
IBM Storage FusionVMware vSAN
Likelihood to Recommend
Every new user has to get hands-on to start utilizing it Optimal. Once user understands to implementing process and technical configuration, the user will get optimal usage of IBM Fusion. Best part of IBM fusion are, easy to connect with DB(different types), Security features, creation of a data layer(as per requirement) on top of application data
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vSAN is well suited for any application that can run in Virtual Environment. vSAN serves better for VDI, NSX, and vSphere on Cloud solutions. vSAN is a good fit for small and medium business companies. vSAN can't be a good solution where you have Oracle Solaris or IBM power systems. vSAN can't provide storage space using FCP protocol.
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Pros
  • Machine learning model training and execution was at ease
  • Performance was good
  • Highly scalable
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  • VMware runs VSAN certification programs to make sure the OEM sells validated nodes. It helps customers to select appropriate certified ready nodes like Lenovo ThinkAgile VX which comes factory configured and easy to set up.
  • Hyperconverged solutions reduce real estate space and networking costs when compare with shared storage. The host overhead also less.
  • Supports All-Flash (SATA and NVMe SSDs) and Hybrid vSAN with HDD and SSD. So customers can choose cost-effective solutions appropriate to their workloads.
  • Supports different storage policies, RAID and duplication, and compression features and it makes a complete storage solution.
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Cons
  • Existing AI models should be able to utilize to other use cases
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  • It would be nice to have fabric-based storage acceptance to disaggregate storage and expand beyond the node concept. The assumption that increased storage needs require increased compute or ram is simply not true.
  • The licensing costs are high but you do get what you pay for.
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Usability
No answers on this topic
Deploying and configuring VSAN is a relatively simple process for people that are already used to working in virtual environments, primarily for those that are familiar with vSphere. The compatibility of those two products is amazing. You shouldn't really encounter any issues and if you do, you surely did something wrong.
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Support Rating
No answers on this topic
Support is (as always forVMware) top notch and easy to work with. The majority of computer companies are outsourcing their tech staff, and it seems they do as well. But their guys know the product well and are quick to respond to your ticket (if the severity is right!).
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Alternatives Considered
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VMWare stand out compared to all the products. However, it is worthwhile mentioning the following products can be used to achive similar results. Hitachi Virtual Storage Systems Nutanix Cloud Infrastrucure. In case if we are using Nuatinux at the Hypervisor level then it would be recommended to use their very own product for storage virtulization even though the vendors say that all their products are cross platform supportable. However, during tests we have found high performance when using same products accross virtualization.
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Return on Investment
  • smoothened the process of developing new features in the existing products after migration as one single plane of console does all the job
  • Reduced the cost in managing a dedicated storage environment
  • On the other side, few licenses like existing backup cann't be used instead we have to rely on IBM offerings
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  • The ROI for VMware vSAN seems very positive. We have yet to need to upgrade since we put it in a few years ago, but without the heavy cost of dedicated storage, we have already seen reduced hardware maintenance costs and reduced management time spent.
  • With the cost of dedicated storage and its separate maintenance costs, all this is rolled back into the hosts. The hosts cost more with drives in them, but not near as much as the separate dedicated storage did.
  • Before VMware vSAN, you had hosts and storage devices aging out, running out of capacity, or underperforming. With vSAN you only have to worry about the hosts.
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ScreenShots