IBM FlashSystem 5300

The IBM FlashSystem 5300 is a high-performing, midrange storage solution that combines the speed and efficiency of all-flash technology with the intelligence and flexibility of IBM Spectrum Virtualize™. Designed for modern enterprises seeking to accelerate workloads, reduce complexity, and enable digital transformation, it delivers enterprise-grade features in a compact, efficient form factor.

Harnessing AI-powered predictive storage management and proactive support via IBM Storage Insights™, the FlashSystem 5300 empowers businesses to maximise uptime, optimise performance, and reduce operational overhead all while preparing for future growth.

Effortless ownership, enterprise-class power

With the FlashSystem 5300, you get powerful NVMe-optimised performance and ultra-low latency in a space-saving design. This system offers scalable capacity and advanced data services including encryption, data reduction pools (compression, deduplication, thin provisioning), and multi-cloud integration making it the ideal platform for demanding workloads in AI, analytics, blockchain, and containerised environments.

Enterprise agility, midrange efficiency

The FlashSystem 5300 provides:

• Blazing performance with end-to-end NVMe and IBM FlashCore® Modules.
• Advanced disaster recovery with multi-site replication, including HyperSwap® for high availability.
• Flexible growth expand from a single system to clustered solutions supporting massive scale-out with no downtime.
• Secure multicloud connectivity — integrate seamlessly with AWS, Azure, IBM Cloud®, and more.

Built for the future

Today’s AI, analytics, and blockchain applications generate and consume massive amounts of data. The FlashSystem 5300 offers the infrastructure performance, security, and flexibility these workloads demand, as well as simple, predictable pay-as-you-grow options through the IBM Storage Utility Offering. This ensures you pay only for the capacity you use, reducing CAPEX while retaining the ability to scale instantly.

Adapt to change without disruption

As your business evolves, the FlashSystem 5300 adapts effortlessly. It is compatible across the IBM FlashSystem family, allowing you to extend award-winning Spectrum Virtualize capabilities to all your systems for a unified, future-ready platform.

From accelerating mission-critical databases to powering next-generation AI initiatives, the IBM FlashSystem 5300 is built to deliver the performance, availability, and cost-efficiency modern enterprises demand without compromise.

Increased performance and scalable capacity

The IBM FlashSystem 5300 combines the latest in all-flash storage architecture with end-to-end NVMe acceleration to deliver lightning-fast response times for mission-critical workloads. Leveraging IBM Spectrum Virtualize™  the industry’s leading software-defined storage (SDS)  it ensures consistent performance, efficient management, and enterprise-grade resiliency. Applications remain online and uninterrupted even as storage infrastructure changes are made.

Built for scalability, the FlashSystem 5300 supports the integration of external storage systems, managed with the same advanced features as internal IBM FlashSystem drives. These include industry-leading NVMe performance, FlashCore® Module (FCM) data compression, encryption, deduplication, thin provisioning, and AI-powered Easy Tier®.

Depending on configuration, Spectrum Virtualize unlocks advanced enterprise capabilities such as:

• IBM HyperSwap® for transparent workload mobility across data centres.
• Support for VMware, Microsoft Hyper-V, and IBM PowerVM virtualised environments.
• Interoperability with over 500 external storage systems from multiple vendors.
• High-efficiency data reduction pools with deduplication, compression, and automated thin provisioning.
• Local and remote replication with FlashCopy and Remote Mirror.
• Seamless hybrid-cloud integration for disaster recovery and workload migration.
• Three-site replication for maximum resiliency and recovery point flexibility.

Extreme availability

The FlashSystem 5300 is engineered for “six nines” (99.9999%) availability, making it ideal for environments where downtime is unacceptable from banking systems to AI-driven analytics pipelines. Its no-single-point-of-failure design, non-disruptive updates, clustering capabilities, and proven control software ensure continuous operation.

It also incorporates multi-site disaster recovery strategies and can replicate across metro, regional, or global distances. With three-site replication support, you gain enhanced security and disaster readiness, combining FlashCopy snapshot technologies with advanced remote-copy features.

Improved productivity and efficiency

IBM FlashCore Modules deliver industry-leading inline compression with consistent 3:1 or better space savings even for performance-sensitive workloads without sacrificing latency. Data reduction pools further expand usable capacity, lowering procurement, energy, and cooling costs, and extending the useful life of your infrastructure.

Key capabilities include:

• Block-level deduplication across all storage in a reduction pool.
• Hardware-driven inline compression via FlashCore Modules.
• SCSI UNMAP support for automatic reclamation of freed storage blocks.

Optimised data placement with AI

AI-powered Easy Tier automatically and intelligently positions data on the most appropriate storage class, whether ultra-high-performance NVMe flash or other tiers, based on real I/O patterns. This eliminates manual workload balancing while maximising performance and cost efficiency.

Advanced data security and cyber resilience

The FlashSystem 5300 delivers encryption both at the hardware array layer and through IBM Spectrum Virtualize’s management interface, helping protect sensitive data from unauthorised access. Designed for cyber-resilience, it supports:

• Immutable and isolated backup copies.
• Cloud-based or offline “air-gapped” recovery options, including WORM tape and immutable object storage.
• Threat detection, anomaly identification, and rapid recovery orchestration.

Container and virtualisation integration

The FlashSystem 5300 seamlessly integrates into modern virtualised and containerised environments, offering persistent enterprise-grade storage for solutions built on Kubernetes, Red Hat OpenShift, and Docker. Through the IBM storage container plug-in framework, organisations can provision storage dynamically, accelerate DevOps workflows, and ensure that even stateful container workloads benefit from enterprise-level performance, availability, and data protection.

Intelligent insights and centralised monitoring

With IBM Storage Insights™, the FlashSystem 5300 provides real-time health monitoring, performance analytics, and capacity forecasting from a unified, cloud-based interface. Storage Insights Pro extends these capabilities with deeper trend analysis, granular reporting, and predictive maintenance recommendations — reducing downtime risk and speeding IT response.

Additional enterprise-class capabilities

• HyperSwap for active-active data centres.
• Seamless data mobility between on-premises and public cloud with IBM Spectrum Virtualize for Public Cloud.
• High-scale clustering capabilities for both scale-up and scale-out growth.
• Support for OpenStack Cinder for automated provisioning and integration into cloud-native frameworks.
• Compact yet powerful design, delivering massive performance in a space-efficient form factor.

Safeguard your top data asset

Maximise protection with advanced data security, enterprise-grade encryption, immutable Safeguarded Copies, and cyber‑resilience features such as cloud snapshots with “air gap” technology. Backed by IBM FlashWatch guarantees, the FlashSystem 5300 delivers the highest assurance that your data is safe, recoverable, and always available.

Maximise Return on Investment (ROI)

Boost ROI by leveraging IBM Spectrum Virtualize to extend powerful enterprise data services including intelligent tiering, data reduction, and hybrid‑cloud replication across both IBM and non‑IBM systems. Consolidate workloads and scale seamlessly to protect and enhance your infrastructure investments.

Maximise storage effectiveness

With AI‑driven IBM Storage Insights, gain predictive analytics to increase utilisation, streamline management, and receive proactive support. FlashCore® Modules with built‑in hardware compression and deduplication ensure you store more in less space without compromising high‑speed NVMe performance.

Hybrid multicloud has been made possible

Empower your business across public, private, and traditional IT environments. Start with the capacity you need, then scale up or out without disruption, extending your hybrid multicloud strategy to support evolving workloads, new markets, and growing customer demands.

Affordable without sacrificing quality

Get uncompromising enterprise features NVMe speed, advanced data reduction, cloud‑based management, and robust high‑availability options — in a cost‑efficient system. The FlashSystem 5300 balances affordability with performance, scalability, and durability to meet midrange enterprise needs.

Sustained uptime of 99.9999%

Support your mission‑critical workloads with industry‑leading “six nines” availability. The FlashSystem 5300’s no‑single‑point‑of‑failure architecture, HyperSwap® capability, and non‑disruptive upgrades ensure continuous operations for your most vital applications.