Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs Hitachi NAS Platform comparison

Dell Technologies and Hitachi Vantara are both solutions in the NAS category. Dell Technologies is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.8, while Hitachi Vantara is ranked #13 with an average rating of 7.0. Dell Technologies holds a 16.2% mindshare in N, compared to Hitachi Vantara’s 2.5% mindshare. Additionally, 96% of Dell Technologies users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Hitachi Vantara users who would recommend it.

Dell PowerScale (Isilon)

Read 66 Dell PowerScale (Isilon) reviews

10,962 Views
5,262 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Hitachi NAS Platform

Read 12 Hitachi NAS Platform reviews

835 Views
835 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Dell PowerScale (Isilon)

Hitachi NAS Platform

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 7, 2024

Hitachi NAS Platform and Dell PowerScale are competing in the enterprise storage solutions category. Hitachi NAS Platform appears to have the upper hand in pricing and support, whereas Dell PowerScale excels in scalability and performance.

Features: Hitachi NAS Platform is known for its high data throughput, efficient data management, and advanced security features. Dell PowerScale offers seamless integration, comprehensive analytics, and exceptional scalability, making it highly suitable for large-scale deployments.

Room for Improvement: Hitachi NAS Platform could enhance its scalability and integration features to better compete with larger deployments. Improvements in handling mixed workloads and expanding analytics capabilities are also potential areas. Dell PowerScale could benefit from simplifying its deployment process and improving customer support responsiveness. Additionally, it may need to address initial setup costs to appeal more broadly to budget-sensitive enterprises.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Deployment with Hitachi NAS Platform tends to be straightforward, supported by an effective customer service team. Dell PowerScale also provides a good deployment model; however, its support quality may sometimes fall short, which can affect the overall implementation experience.

Pricing and ROI: Hitachi NAS Platform typically presents lower initial setup costs, offering an appealing choice for businesses with budget concerns while still promising satisfactory ROI. Dell PowerScale, though costlier upfront, offers substantial ROI over time with its robust features, appealing to enterprises with strategic long-term investment goals focused on scalability.

To learn more, read our detailed Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs. Hitachi NAS Platform Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs. Hitachi NAS Platform

September 2025

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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

Dell PowerScale (Isilon)

Ranking in NAS

2nd

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

File and Object Storage (3rd)

Hitachi NAS Platform

Ranking in NAS

13th

Average Rating

7.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the NAS category, the mindshare of Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is 16.2%, down from 17.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Hitachi NAS Platform is 2.5%, down from 3.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

NAS Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Dell PowerScale (Isilon)	16.2%
Hitachi NAS Platform	2.5%
Other	81.3%

NAS

Featured Reviews

Scott Taylor

Senior Infrastructure Specialist at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees

Manages large data sets efficiently with hybrid cloud integration

My organization is quite large, with about 30,000 employees. The growth has been substantial in areas such as radiology and genomics. One of the best features we've utilized recently is offload to cloud pools due to capacity constraints on-premise. We didn't want to expand Dell PowerScale (Isilon) straight away, so we utilized cloud pools to offload some data to Azure. That's really saved us in certain areas as we didn't have funding to expand Dell PowerScale (Isilon) until next year, which is why we utilized the cloud pools functionality to offload.

Read full review

Mir Gulzar Ahmed

IT Manager at Synergy Computers

Needs standalone functionality but provides a robust NAS solution for existing SAN environments

I would suggest that Hitachi make a NAS box that can work independently, without relying on SAN connectivity. The current solution only suits customers who already have a Hitachi SAN environment and want to add NAS protocols like NFS and CIFS. It's not suitable for customers without an existing SAN, as they would first need to acquire the SAN infrastructure before adding NAS functionality.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"On a scale of one to ten, with one being worst and ten being best, I would rate Dell PowerScale (Isilon) a ten."

"Isilon is flexible in supporting various data workloads while keeping them protected. Dell continues to release updates and patches which enhance the use of this solution. This includes offering ransomware protection."

"My experience when deploying Dell PowerScale (Isilon) was very straightforward, as we had Dell come on site to do all the actual setup, which was a big help."

"The tool's most valuable features are high density and scalability."

"PowerScale allows us to manage storage without managing RAID groups or migrating volumes between controllers. It has really simplified things. We're not having to worry about the underlying infrastructure. That takes care of itself. We just worry about the data. It's really easy for deploying and managing storage at the petabyte scale."

"The solution has simplified management by consolidating our workloads. Rather than managing all the different workloads on different storage arrays, Windows Servers, etc., we just have one place per data centre where we manage all their unstructured data, saving us time."

"The tool's most valuable features are scalability and stability."

"My experience with Dell as a vendor is pretty good; they are probably one of the best in the industry."

More Dell PowerScale (Isilon) pros

"The product has valuable features for data migration."

"It creates a NAS environment on top of Hitachi SAN, which facilitates customers who need NAS protocols along with their existing SAN portfolio."

"The Hitachi storage platform is highly scalable and highly available."

"Hitachi is reliable with high availability and solid performance. It performs well regardless of the workload."

"Simple and extremely reliable."

"The pricing of this solution is good, which is an advantage that positions this product well."

"The most valuable feature is its ability to handle a high number of users while maintaining both stability and performance."

"There are no other NAS in the current market that can compete with Hitachi in terms of performance."

More Hitachi NAS Platform pros

Cons

"The only thing that I think PowerScale could do better is improving the HTTP data access protocol. At the present, you cannot protect access to data via HTTP or HTTPS the same way that you can secure data access through other protocols like NFS or SMB[...]the Unified Permission Model that would allow a user to authenticate before being able to access a private file, does not apply."

"The tool's support team and the way the cases are handled by the product's technical support team are both areas of concern where improvements are required."

"I would make Dell PowerScale (Isilon) better by improving SmartSync in the graphical user interface. Currently, everything has to be done through the command line, and I prefer having a graphical interface."

"Always, there is room for improvement in terms of cybersecurity, as new challenges are continually emerging in the market."

"Improvements could be made on the object storage side."

"Dell PowerScale needs to reduce its price."

"The solution is expensive. It's quite expensive for the amount of storage we have."

"PowerScale is not suitable for virtual environments."

More Dell PowerScale (Isilon) cons

"For the Hitachi NAS Platform, the tools are basic and don't provide much insight."

"I would suggest that Hitachi make a NAS box that can work independently, without relying on SAN connectivity."

"The Hitachi NAS Platform is too complicated, not simple, and not cost-effective, sometimes being inappropriate for most situations."

"I rated Hitachi NAS a seven out of ten, primarily due to the interface or insufficient improvements in certain areas."

"The monitoring tool is not well developed."

"Hitachi could be more flexible and have a simpler management interface."

"Hitachi NAS Platform's pricing could be reduced. It is high compared to other competitors."

"I do not like Hitachi NAS because it's an old-school NAS solution, compared to the other, newer-type solutions such as Isilon from Dell or Qumulo."

More Hitachi NAS Platform cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is an expensive solution."

"It is an expensive solution."

"The price of the solution is high."

"Dealing with the product costs and licensing areas is getting easier since Dell is simplifying the licensing process and licensing packages offered to users."

"Dell PowerScale is expensive on the start-up side but we can recoup those costs quickly by not having to reapply the savings to other equipment."

"The general cost for a system like this is expensive. The total cost depends on your use case. You need to pay for every additional feature that you use."

"Dell PowerScale is an expensive solution compared to other products like Qumulo."

"The pricing is expensive, but I think it's a fair value because it does manage itself. It definitely is much simpler than any of the other scale-out storage platforms that we've looked at in the past."

More Dell PowerScale (Isilon) pricing and cost advice

"Costs are based on the features and it is a considerable amount."

"It is a highly-priced product."

"This solution is priced well and there are no costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."

"I would rate the solution's pricing six to seven out of ten."

"Hitachi NAS Platform’s price is high and depends on SCSI disc capacity."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

13%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

Healthcare Company

Manufacturing Company

16%

Computer Software Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Educational Organization

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	16
Midsize Enterprise	17
Large Enterprise	36

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	5
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	2

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Dell EMC PowerScale (Isilon)?

The solution provides massive performance, scalability, efficiency, and ease of management.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell EMC PowerScale (Isilon)?

It's considered between mid and high-end regarding. Dell usually knows how to position each model. If the customer wants something inexpensive, there's PowerVault. The system is marketed for mid-ra...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Dell EMC PowerScale (Isilon)?

With every iteration of the OneFS system, new features are being added, and the UI is being updated here and there. So far, the system is adequate as a whole. Perhaps if there was a local chatbot b...

See all answers

What do you like most about Hiachi NAS Platform?

The product has valuable features for data migration.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Hiachi NAS Platform?

The pricing for the Hitachi NAS is higher compared to other NAS solutions since the NAS protocol is provided on top of the existing SAN environment, requiring an additional device for NAS functiona...

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What needs improvement with Hiachi NAS Platform?

See all answers

Comparisons

NetApp FAS Series vs Dell PowerScale (Isilon)

Compared 16% of the time

Pure Storage FlashBlade vs Dell PowerScale (Isilon)

Compared 10% of the time

Dell ObjectScale vs Dell PowerScale (Isilon)

Compared 9% of the time

Qumulo vs Dell PowerScale (Isilon)

Compared 8% of the time

Dell PowerStore vs Dell PowerScale (Isilon)

Compared 2% of the time

More Dell PowerScale (Isilon) Competitors

NetApp FAS Series vs Hitachi NAS Platform

Compared 20% of the time

Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform vs Hitachi NAS Platform

Compared 18% of the time

NetApp Private Storage vs Hitachi NAS Platform

Compared 12% of the time

IBM FlashSystem vs Hitachi NAS Platform

Compared 10% of the time

More Hitachi NAS Platform Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Dell PowerScale (Isilon)

September 2025

Download Dell PowerScale (Isilon) product report

Buyer's Guide

NAS

August 2025

Download Hitachi NAS Platform product report

Also Known As

PowerScale, Dell EMC Isilon

Hitachi NAS

Overview

Dell PowerScale leads in unstructured data management with unified file and object storage, massive scalability, security, and cloud adaptability, enhancing AI, analytics, and enterprise applications with exceptional performance and resilience.

Dell PowerScale Isilon provides a comprehensive platform for unstructured data, excelling in scalability, management, and performance. With features like single-pane management, SyncIQ, and SmartQuotas, it handles large datasets with flexibility and robust security. Its multi-protocol support and seamless expansion improve operational efficiency. While it offers strong data protection, enhancements in cloud integration, cybersecurity, and performance are sought. Users note potential for cost reductions and streamlined configurations and mention desired improvements in object storage handling and NFS support.

What are the key features of Dell PowerScale Isilon?

Single-pane management: Simplifies data control and monitoring through a unified interface.
SyncIQ: Ensures efficient data replication for business continuity.
SmartQuotas: Provides intelligent quota management for optimized storage allocation.
Multi-protocol support: Facilitates cross-platform data access and integration.
Seamless storage expansion: Allows effortless scaling to accommodate growing data needs.

What benefits should users consider when reviewing Dell PowerScale Isilon?

Operational efficiency: Reduces workload with easy management and automation.
Enhanced security: Offers comprehensive data protection and recovery options.
Scalability: Supports large-scale data storage with flexible growth capabilities.
Performance: Delivers high-speed data processing for demanding applications.
Integration flexibility: Adapts to on-prem and hybrid cloud environments for diverse deployment needs.

Organizations across industries utilize Dell PowerScale Isilon for large-scale unstructured storage, supporting applications like video archiving, genomic data storage, and high-resolution imaging. Educational institutions, research centers, and media enterprises rely on its scaled-out storage capabilities, providing centralized, secure storage for diverse applications in hybrid, cloud, and on-prem environments.

Dell Technologies

Hitachi NAS Platforms help you with file sharing, file server consolidation and application storage for Oracle, Microsoft and virtual environments. Deploy the highest performance per node in the industry. Apply capacity efficiencies that let you actually do more, but with a lot less. Realize significant cost savings for your organization.

Hitachi Vantara

Sample Customers

OMRF, University of Utah, Translational Genetics Research Institute, Arcis, Geofizyka Torumn, Cyprus E&P Corporation, Colburn School, Columbia Sportswear, Harvard Medical School, University of Michigan, National Library of France,

Intersect Australia

Buyer's Guide

Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs. Hitachi NAS Platform

September 2025

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