IBM Refreshes FlashSystem Lineup with Faster 5600, 7600, and 9600 Arrays

Why It Matters

The AI‑driven, higher‑capacity lineup lowers operational overhead and strengthens IBM’s position in the competitive all‑flash SAN market, accelerating the shift toward autonomous storage infrastructures.

Key Takeaways

• 5600‑7600‑9600 replace 5300‑7300‑9500 models.
• 9600 shrinks to 2‑RU, adds 105.6 TB drive.
• AI FlashSystem.ai cuts manual ops up to 90%.
• Gen 5 FlashCore modules double capacity versus Gen 4.
• Read bandwidth drops to 86 GB/s on 9600.

Pulse Analysis

IBM’s latest FlashSystem refresh arrives at a pivotal moment for enterprise storage, as organizations grapple with exploding data volumes and the need for faster, more efficient infrastructure. The 5600, 7600 and 9600 models push IOPS past 6 million, expand raw capacity to 3.3 PB, and introduce Gen 5 FlashCore Modules that double per‑drive capacity compared with the previous generation. By consolidating storage footprints and offering a 2‑RU chassis for the high‑end 9600, IBM directly challenges rivals such as Dell PowerStore, HPE Alletra and Pure Storage, while keeping price‑performance competitive.

Beyond raw performance, IBM’s FlashSystem.ai marks a strategic shift toward autonomous storage management. The AI agent leverages per‑I/O telemetry from FlashCore drives to continuously optimize performance, enforce security policies and detect ransomware patterns within seconds, reducing false positives to under one percent. Routine tasks like multi‑volume provisioning see up to 90 percent less manual effort, and the system can execute thousands of automated decisions daily. This operational efficiency translates into lower staffing costs, faster time‑to‑value for workloads, and stronger compliance support through automated audit evidence collection.

The broader industry impact is clear: AI‑enabled storage is becoming a baseline expectation rather than a differentiator. IBM’s integration of autonomous capabilities positions it to capture enterprises seeking to modernize data‑center operations while maintaining high availability through features like Policy‑based High Availability. As competitors race to embed similar agents, the market will likely see a rapid convergence on AI‑driven storage, accelerating the transition from passive repositories to intent‑aware data services. Early adopters of IBM’s refreshed FlashSystem stand to gain a competitive edge in agility, security and total cost of ownership.

IBM refreshes FlashSystem lineup with faster 5600, 7600, and 9600 arrays

By Sam Werner · February 10, 2026

IBM has updated its all‑flash FlashSystem family, replacing the 5300, 7300, and 9500 products with faster and more capacious 5600, 7600, and 9600 models, and adding a natural‑language FlashSystem.ai admin agent that helps provide autonomous operations.

FlashSystems are classic, dual‑controller storage arrays running the SAN Volume Controller OS and supporting block‑access storage. They are populated with IBM’s proprietary SSDs called FlashCore Modules (FCMs). This is a hotly‑contested market, and the systems compete with Dell PowerStore, Hitachi Vantara VSP One Block, HPE Alletra MP B10000 (scale‑out storage nodes with a disaggregated shared‑everything architecture), NetApp ASA (all‑flash SAN) block‑access‑only systems, Pure Storage FlashArray with 150 TB drives, and VAST Data’s DASE‑architecture block systems.

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AI‑Agent‑Enabled Administration

IBM is focusing on AI‑agent‑enabled administration for the new FlashSystems. Sam Werner, GM of IBM Storage, said:

“The next‑generation IBM FlashSystem elevates storage to an intelligent, always‑available layer, where autonomous AI agents continuously optimize performance, security, and cost without human intervention.”

“The updated portfolio marks the beginning of an autonomous storage era, where FlashSystem becomes a strategic AI partner that can help IT leaders ensure optimal, secure performance for every workload they run.”

The now five‑product family starts with the existing FlashSystem 5000 and archive‑focused C200 and goes through mid‑range 5600 and 7600 variants to the high‑end 9600. Below are the basic specs, with the previous 5300, 7300 and 9500 details included for comparison:

| Model | IOPS (max) | Read Bandwidth | Read Latency | Raw Capacity | Effective Capacity | I/O Ports | FlashCore Module Options |

|-------|------------|----------------|--------------|--------------|--------------------|-----------|--------------------------|

| FlashSystem 5600 | 2.6 M | – | – | – | – | – | 4.8 TB, 9.6 TB, 19.2 TB, 38.4 TB (Gen 4) → 6.6 TB, 13.2 TB, 26.4 TB, 52.8 TB (Gen 5) |

| FlashSystem 7600 | 4.3 M | – | – | – | – | – | Same as above |

| FlashSystem 9600 | 6.3 M | – | – | – | – | – | Same as above, plus 105.6 TB option (9600 only) |

| Legacy 9500 | 6.3 M | 100 GB/s | – | 1.8 PB (raw) | – | 48 | Up to 38.4 TB |

Key observations

• The 4‑RU 9500 is replaced by a physically smaller 2‑RU 9600.

• Max read bandwidth drops from 100 GB/s (9500) to 86 GB/s (9600) as I/O ports fall from 48 to 32.

• Capacity rises from 1.8 PB raw (9500) to 3.3 PB raw (9600) thanks to higher‑capacity FCM drives.

IBM claims that “FlashSystem reduces the required storage footprint by 30‑75 percent, depending on the model, through optimized placement and consolidation, compared to its previous generation.” With the 7600 and 9600, customers “have the option to monitor and visualize system state information physically with new interactive LED bezels.”

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Next‑Generation FlashCore Modules

The Gen 5 FCMs follow on from the Gen 4 products introduced in February 2024, with raw capacities of 4.8, 9.6, 19.2, and 38.4 TB and PCIe Gen 4 bus support. The new Gen 5 modules are available in 6.6, 13.2, 26.4, 52.8, and 105.6 TB capacities; the 105.6 TB drive is exclusive to the 9600. By comparison, the largest FCM for the prior 9500 was 38.4 TB.

Each FCM records statistics for every I/O. The FlashSystem SVC software aggregates these per‑drive stats and passes them to an AI model running in the array. The model checks the drive stats every two seconds against ransomware patterns and raises an alert with IBM Storage Insights Pro if a match is found. IBM says this approach keeps false positives under 1 percent.

“Guaranteed detection of potential risks in under a minute, safeguarding the integrity of an organization’s data and enabling the recovery of secured copies within 60 seconds.”

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FlashSystem.ai Benefits

• Manual‑effort reduction: Up to 90 percent less effort for routine operations such as multi‑volume provisioning via the GUI.

• Automated decision‑making: Thousands of automated decisions per day that previously required human oversight.

• Adaptive behavior: The AI “is built to adapt to application behavior in hours and is designed to be significantly faster than template‑based machines, suggesting performance improvements and explaining reasoning, while incorporating administrator feedback to tailor recommendations.”

• Proactive tuning & placement: Runs client workloads with proactive tuning and intelligent placement for non‑disruptive data mobility across storage devices, including third‑party arrays.

• Audit support: Agents can auto‑assemble evidence of configurations, protection policies, operational history, and risk posture to aid audit preparation.

Overall, IBM says its new FlashSystem transforms storage from a passive repository into an autonomous, intent‑aware data‑services layer. The analyst expects virtually all storage‑array suppliers to add agentic AI management features to their operating systems in the next few months, making it a top‑of‑the‑roadmap tick‑box item.

IBM’s new FlashSystem portfolio will be generally available on March 6, 2026.

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Bootnote

IBM says its FlashSystem Policy‑based High Availability (PBHA) is designed to offer zero RTO and zero RPO for two storage systems in different locations, synchronously replicating data across metro‑area distances, allowing concurrent data access for servers in each data center and providing seamless failover. It can boost disaster recovery over greater distances with asynchronous replication across regions.