Recently IBM announced the end of life of the DS series, requiring users to move their data to a new storage array when their support coverage ends. IBM asked users to move to the Storwize V3700 storage array. Instead of sticking with IBM and worrying about moving your data again, trust your data to a TrueNAS storage array from iXsystems. In this article we cover six reasons why TrueNAS provides better value than the IBM Storwize V3700.

1. Remarkable Performance Resources

• More CPU/RAM = More Performance (Dual Xeon E5s vs. One Celeron and 64GB vs. 8GB)
• Unified SAN/NAS – IBM is SAN only

2. Exceptional for I/O Intensive Applications

• Blazing performance from TrueCache™ that combines RAM and Flash with HDDs, IBM requires an extra license to get the performance your applications need
• Higher network throughput – TrueNAS has 40Gb Ethernet, IBM only has 10Gb

3. Advanced Protection

• Unlimited, space-efficient snapshots – IBM supports 64, an additional license allows for 2,040
• Better data protection – Up to triple parity – IBM only has single and double parity
• OpenZFS self-healing file system (Learn why you should use OpenZFS)
• Local/Remote encryption included; IBM uses self-encrypting drives for local, remote costs extra

4. Preferred Support

• Unparalleled and award-winning US-based support – IBM outsources many support calls
• Modular architecture with four replaceable parts; with IBM you have more parts to replace

5. All-inclusive Feature Licensing

• File and block protocol support – File protocols not available on the IBM Storwize
• Integrated replication – IBM requires an additional license to add replication
• OpenZFS end-to-end data integrity capabilities – IBM’s block-only architecture depends on the client file system, such as those provided by Windows or Linux, for data integrity protection

6. Outstanding TCO

• Denser than other enterprise arrays¹ – For 40 3.5” drives, TrueNAS consumes 7U, IBM requires 8U
• Replacement of a storage controller is non-disruptive with TrueNAS HA; With IBM you have an outage
• 4x more capacity than IBM – TrueNAS scales up to 3.84PB, IBM Storwize V3700 scales up to 960TB

Learn more about the TrueNAS architecture here. You can also email us at sales@ixsystems.com or call us at 1-855-473-7449 to discuss moving to TrueNAS with one of our consultative account managers.

TrueNAS Team

¹DCIG 2016-2017 Utility Storage Array Buyer’s Guide.

Source: http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/storage/disk/storwize_v3700/index.html