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Cisco MDS Series vs Dell PowerVault comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 2026

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

Cisco MDS Series
Ranking in Enterprise SAN
4th
Average Rating
9.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
10
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Dell PowerVault
Ranking in Enterprise SAN
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
49
Ranking in other categories
Fibre Channel (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Enterprise SAN category, the mindshare of Cisco MDS Series is 10.5%, up from 5.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Dell PowerVault is 11.8%, down from 28.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise SAN Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Dell PowerVault11.8%
Cisco MDS Series10.5%
Other77.7%
Enterprise SAN
 

Featured Reviews

VK
Product Manager at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Reliable storage networking has ensured seamless multi-protocol access and continuous redundancy
Currently, I do not have any major suggestions for improvement as everything is working well without issues. If additional functions could be introduced to simplify usage, I would suggest that AI functionality or better integration capabilities would be advantageous for Cisco MDS Series. Any new AI-related features or functionality added to Cisco MDS Series would represent a positive advancement.
Storage has supported long-term CCTV archiving and improves on-premises application performance
I think it would be good regarding how Dell PowerVault could improve to have, in addition to the excellent support service that exists, some training courses, forums, and a training school for using these tools. Many people specialize only in this kind of equipment, and others have no idea how to configure them or how they work and always end up depending on people who have spent a long time working with these systems and know how to handle them more because of experience than because of information that can be easily obtained about using this equipment. Everything regarding additional aspects that could be improved in Dell PowerVault has already been mentioned.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature of the Cisco MDS Series is security."
"The product is easy to use."
"MDS's reliability is at a high level, the issues with these switches are extremely rare, and the whole product line is very predictable and stable."
"The features I found most valuable are the ease of deployment, it's easy to upgrade, easy to configure and easy to administer. There is no need for vendor professional services which saves project cost. The usage of WebUI for all primary features like hostname, IP address, SNMP traps, zone sets, addition and deletion of zone members or zone sets, backup of switch DB is very simple."
"Cisco MDS 9148 SAN switch model is the best product, highly reliable and low cost, easy to deploy, easy to upgrade, easy to configure, easy to administer, and it gives effective performance when used for SAN switch connectivity between hosts and storage boxes."
"The product is very stable and performs well."
"The most valuable feature of the Cisco MDS Series is its reliability, support, and scalability."
"This solution is required for any type of IT infrastructure for Storage Networking and provides high availability for storage service."
"Overall, Dell PowerVault has helped my customers streamline workflows."
"Dell PowerVault is cheap."
"It is easy to take a snapshot with a single click on the volume, and we can also automate the snapshot on a daily schedule at a specific time."
"Dell PowerVault is a very stable and reliable product without any observed glitches or bugs or downtime."
"In my company there are more than 100 users connecting to this server simultaneously and still the I/O operations are very smooth."
"Dell is a good company to work with."
"The most valuable features are that it's easy to set up and I also like the provisioning of storage because it's very easy."
"The initial setup was easy and simple."
 

Cons

"The GUI client is Java-based and we know that Java is not secure, so everyone disables it."
"Cisco MDS Series can improve by having SAN Manager with life cycle management features and Integration with 3rd party storage monitoring tools."
"I find it difficult to operate and troubleshoot."
"I do not have a central management software to manage these products due to the licensing cost. It would be beneficial to have central management software for easier handling."
"The product is very expensive."
"Cisco MDS Series could improve by adding more gigahertz. However, they are doing this over time."
"It is quite a stable product. It should be shipped with the latest firmware to avoid download and upload schema at the beginning of the initial setup. There should also be the possibility of downgrading the firmware when required. WebUI needs DCNM instead a web-based GUI should be made available like Brocade san switch."
"Data Center Network Manager is good but it is not free and requires purchasing a separate license."
"There is room for improvement with Dell PowerVault as we did have some promises about dedupe and compression that did not turn out as promised, but Dell trued up and gave us more storage for no cost."
"Dell PowerVault interfaces sometimes work slowly, and Dell should focus on improving the interfaces."
"There is another solution called Veeam Backup that I believe is better than Dell PowerVault."
"The implementation process takes a while."
"In the next release, I would like the deduplication and compression included, as well as the flash technology. It doesn't currently use it."
"The technical support from Dell could be better."
"In most instances, clients are using Dell PowerVault with tape drives, but we want to transition them away from tape drives due to the risk of data loss."
"I could not recommend this solution to others, because the technology is old."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of the Cisco MDS Series is high."
"It's perpetual licensing and maintenance is a recurrent cost."
"Pricing cannot be considered an advantageous trait of the solution since it is expensive. I rate the solution's pricing a three out of ten."
"I would rate the pricing model a nine out of ten, with one being expensive and ten being cheap."
"The price of Dell PowerVault could be reduced. It is more expensive than some IBM solutions."
"They are offering a wide range of support models for the customers such as basic support that is budget-friendly, but they also provide a professional support solution that is a bit costly"
"I rate the solution's pricing a seven to eight out of ten."
"I rate Dell PowerVault a six or seven out of ten for pricing."
"The cost, compared to other solutions, is on the higher end."
"It is important to remember that the retail price may seem high, but the final price is usually different."
"The product is inexpensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
10%
Construction Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
17%
Outsourcing Company
12%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Large Enterprise8
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business22
Midsize Enterprise18
Large Enterprise23
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco MDS Series?
The pricing could be improved as the solution is very expensive. I am on a yearly payment basis.
What needs improvement with Cisco MDS Series?
Currently, I do not have any major suggestions for improvement as everything is working well without issues. If additional functions could be introduced to simplify usage, I would suggest that AI f...
What is your primary use case for Cisco MDS Series?
Cisco MDS Series is primarily used for connecting storage arrays. The multi-protocol feature supports all protocols and functionality working seamlessly. Virtual SANs operate without any issues. Pe...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell PowerVault?
I do not have detailed information about the cost of Dell PowerVault. However, I believe that Dell PowerVault is much more expensive than other solutions, such as Veeam Backup, which offers better ...
What needs improvement with Dell PowerVault?
There is another solution called Veeam Backup that I believe is better than Dell PowerVault. It is an international solution that many large companies use, and it offers many more capabilities. For...
What is your primary use case for Dell PowerVault?
I was using Dell PowerVault as a backup solution. I use Backup Exec, which is an application to manage Dell PowerVault, rather than the HTML5 PowerVault Manager for ME5. Currently, I am using Dell ...
 

Also Known As

Cisco MDS 9100, Cisco MDS 9222i, Cisco MDS 9700
PowerVault
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

National Rugby League
Dayco, FAW Foundry, University of Cambridge, Finder, Stadtwerke Pforzheim GmbH & Co.
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco MDS Series vs. Dell PowerVault and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
916,956 professionals have used our research since 2012.