Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers vs HPE Apollo Systems comparison

Dell Technologies and Hewlett Packard Enterprise are both solutions in the Rack Servers category. Dell Technologies is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.9, while Hewlett Packard Enterprise is ranked #7 with an average rating of 8.0. Dell Technologies holds a 27.9% mindshare in Rack Servers, compared to Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s 4.5% mindshare. Additionally, 98% of Dell Technologies users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of Hewlett Packard Enterprise users who would recommend it.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers

Read 160 Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers reviews

17,864 Views
12,336 Comparison Views

98% willing to recommend

HPE Apollo Systems

Read 22 HPE Apollo Systems reviews

2,710 Views
2,071 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers

HPE Apollo Systems

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 22, 2024

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers and HPE Apollo Systems are prominent contenders in the server market. While Dell PowerEdge offers a competitive pricing advantage with strong support for virtualization and long-term ROI, HPE Apollo excels in high-density storage capabilities ideal for intensive data tasks.

Features: Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are known for scalability, manageability, and advanced remote management features such as iDRAC for efficient server handling. They ensure robust security and reliability, making hardware upgrades straightforward. HPE Apollo Systems offer high-density storage and flexibility in configuration, supporting computationally intensive workloads, making them suitable for AI-driven processes.

Room for Improvement: Dell PowerEdge Servers can improve by enhancing the central management interface for smoother operations and enabling quicker hardware upgrades. There is scope for more options in scaling with virtualization. HPE Apollo Systems need better connectivity, faster deployment of new features, and improved post-sale support. Greater compatibility with emerging network protocols and independent node operation within racks are desirable improvements.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers facilitate flexible deployment across on-premises, hybrid, and private clouds. Their customer support is generally responsive, although delays can occur. HPE Apollo Systems, deployed mainly on-premises, also offer effective assistance, though users occasionally report longer lead times for parts and less responsive support compared to Dell.

Pricing and ROI: Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers offer competitive pricing and transparent licensing, which enhances value perception and long-term ROI. They are perceived as more affordable than HPE, coupled with cost-effectiveness in maintenance and support. HPE Apollo Systems, while more expensive, justify their cost with advanced capabilities especially in storage and computational demands. Nevertheless, Dell's affordability and support often make it the preferred choice for cost-effective long-term investments.

To learn more, read our detailed Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers vs. HPE Apollo Systems Report (Updated: December 2024).

Buyer's Guide

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers vs. HPE Apollo Systems

December 2024

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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 PowerEdge Rack Servers

Ranking in Rack Servers

1st

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.6

Number of Reviews

160

Ranking in other categories

Converged Infrastructure (3rd), Data Center Networking (4th), Blade Servers (5th)

HPE Apollo Systems

Ranking in Rack Servers

7th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Density Optimized Servers (2nd)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the Rack Servers category, the mindshare of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is 27.9%, up from 27.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HPE Apollo Systems is 4.5%, down from 4.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Rack Servers

Featured Reviews

Javier Domingo

Responsable it at Fresenius Medical Care Holdings Inc

A robust server that integrates well and consumes less energy

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers have helped us improve in terms of ecology. Energy expenditure is an important part of our company's philosophy. We have changed to a more clean mindset, so now, we have to be eco-friendly, and it was one of the best things we chose to do. Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers have the PowerEdge Cyber Resilient Architecture approach to security. I would rate Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers a nine out of ten in terms of security. I never give a ten because there is always room for improvement, but Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers have truly been very effective. They are very good in terms of energy consumption. Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are agile for handling the evolving needs of high-performance workloads. They are perfectly aligned with our sustainability goals. We were looking for the company's line to be all eco-friendly, and therefore, they aligned with our decisions and needs. Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers have helped to reduce everything. We had to make a change when we suffered a cyber attack, and after we changed the solution, it became 100% effective. In other words, we have not had any service outages at any time, and the truth is that we are very happy. We use the OpenManage console. We are happy, and we do feel that our company has improved, but our productivity has always been at a very high level. In terms of the effect of using PowerEdge Rack Servers on the overall flexibility of our operations or business, the thing is that we implemented it while our company was dealing with a change of mentality. It has affected us for the best because it has accompanied us in that change of mentality.

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Gayan Senadheera

Director at Tyax Pvt Ltd

Offers higher capacities compared to other solutions, making it suitable for handling large storage needs

In terms of improvement, we could benefit from some training. If there could be some training for our team, we would be better equipped to promote and support HPE Apollo. Currently, we haven't received any specific training related to HPE Apollo throughout my career. If HPE Apollo provides training, we can share the knowledge with our partners, which could lead to more opportunities for HPE Apollo in the market. Deal protection and other support measures would also be beneficial, as they could help us achieve better results in this market.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It's helped us reduce unplanned downtime."

"The speed of delivery is something super valuable. Reliability and performance are also valuable."

"We used to have HPE. Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are much easier to use and manage."

"The enduring stability and longevity offered by Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers stand out as their most invaluable features."

"The solution's analytics helped to decrease production downtime by more than 60%. PowerEdge also helped to reduce data processing and has reduced the timing for any workload."

"The most valuable features are resiliency, reliability, easy installation, maintenance, and compatibility with other systems or servers."

"Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are easy to manage and install, and it gives us a lot of time to do other things."

"The iDRAC is an excellent service; it allows us to install and deploy our software remotely."

More Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers pros

"It's very reliable. I haven't had a single failure at all in the year and a half; not the slightest problem with it."

"We usually use three blades for two-rack units, and with enough storage, it's really a small system with a powerful CPU, powerful hard drives, powerful disks."

"we can use the same platform for several use cases: Hadoop, Ceph, and we are considering the server for another use case right now. It's a single solution, we only have to integrate it once and we can use it for several technologies."

"It's going to meet our needs moving forward, it is scalable."

"With HPE Apollo, we can propose configurations with many hard drives, making it suitable for large storage needs."

"Absolutely being able to mount into Omni-Path architecture, HFIs on those nodes, because we were the very first site in the world"

"We're going to buy another Apollo 6500. We may configure it with half the number of GPUs because that may be all we need. In a sense, we can see the Apollo 6500 being so powerful that we only need half the GPU capability that we have now."

"HPE Apollo's most valuable feature is the ability to expand our storage capacity."

More HPE Apollo Systems pros

Cons

"Occasionally, there might be extended wait times between placing an order and receiving the delivery."

"The price is acceptable but could be improved."

"We'd want the solution to be faster."

"I would like for PowerEdge Rack Servers could be a bit more compact."

"Considering from a hardware perspective, some areas of concern were network cards on the models we had in our organization, which were fairly inaccessible, so we had to remove the whole motherboard and, basically, the whole system to get rid of or swap a network card."

"It is not good in terms of its energy consumption for a large-scale deployment. I probably would go for something more dense, like blades or any type of small scale hardware service solutions, to lower the heat and power consumption. However, for small environments, this solution is okay and easy to maintain."

"I would like to change the physical rails to be more like how HPE rails are formatted and organized."

"Until they get new technology and density, it would be nice to see four nodes in a one-year package instead of a three-year package."

More Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers cons

"I would want to see the flexibility of being able to run various network protocols including InfiniBand, Fibre Channel, as well as iSCSI, with iSCSI going up to 100 gigabytes per second -that would be outstanding."

"One drawback which I had: When I needed to expand storage on the Apollo, I had significant problems getting disks for it. It was a very long wait-time. So, if I were to give any advice in regards to improving this product, I would say make more of the 8TB disks available quicker."

"The support from HPE Apollo could be better, they are making knowledgeable."

"The solution's deployment, security, and scalability need improvement."

"We would like to see SimpliVity on top of the Apollo."

"We could, perhaps, use more GPUs in the future, go from eight to 16 GPUs per instance. That could run head-to-head against the DGX-1, the DGX-2 that NVIDIA has developed in their own chassis. That would be interesting to see."

"What's coming out in Gen 10 is very strong in terms of additional security."

"There is a shared battery for all cache controllers in the node. When you have to replace that element, you have to take down all three nodes and not just one."

More HPE Apollo Systems cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"This is an expensive solution."

"The cost structure associated with Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers aligns closely with the prevailing norms established within the information technology hardware sector."

"The high cost of Dell PowerEdge Rack Server licenses is attributed to the pre-installed Windows Server operating system from Microsoft."

"Even though I'm not directly involved in purchasing the servers, everyone prefers lower costs, but ultimately, the Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers deliver as promised."

"There is room for improvement in making it more cost-effective."

"Compared to other vendors, the prices are much lower."

"The price is reasonable. You have to pay if you want quality. When we purchase something, we have to do some market analysis, and I haven't seen a significant difference compared to other solutions."

"The pricing for PowerEdge servers is reasonable."

More Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers pricing and cost advice

"There is an annual license required to use HPE Apollo."

"Obviously I would like to see the cost go down. That speaks for itself."

"The price of the solution is more expensive than Dell which is their main competitor. However, there are times we have managed to receive a comparable price."

"It is an expensive solution but it is worth the money. The standard licensing cost is for the GPU and the features that someone is using. There are additional charges but they depend on the solution."

"Compared to other products, HPE Apollo is not an expensive solution."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

21%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Government

Computer Software Company

15%

Manufacturing Company

12%

Government

12%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

When shopping for a rack server, would you go with Dell EMC Poweredge or Lenovo Thinksystem?

Our organization ran comparison tests to determine whether the Dell EMC Poweredge or Lenovo Thinksystem rack servers were the better fit for us. We ultimately decided to go with Dell EMC Poweredge....

See all answers

What do you like most about Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers?

It has helped us reduce unplanned downtime by 20% to 30%.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers?

PowerEdge could have more configuration options, such as the ability to combine different CPUs, memory volumes, data storage, and memory. The new Intel-based ones are a bit power-hungry. You want t...

See all answers

What do you like most about HPE Apollo?

HPE Apollo's pricing is low, and implementation is very easy compared to other products.

See all answers

What needs improvement with HPE Apollo?

HPE Apollo's after-sales support and technical support should be improved. The solution should provide fast delivery when it comes to replacing a particular product that is under warranty.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for HPE Apollo?

We use HPE Apollo for specific requirements of Linux servers.

See all answers

Comparisons

HPE ProLiant DL Servers vs Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers

Compared 39% of the time

Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers vs Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers

Compared 34% of the time

Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers vs Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers

Compared 9% of the time

IBM Power Systems vs Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers

Compared 6% of the time

Oracle SPARC Servers vs Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers

Compared 1% of the time

More Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers Competitors

HPE ProLiant DL Servers vs HPE Apollo Systems

Compared 34% of the time

Dell PowerEdge FX vs HPE Apollo Systems

Compared 10% of the time

Dell PowerEdge XE Servers vs HPE Apollo Systems

Compared 10% of the time

HPE Synergy vs HPE Apollo Systems

Compared 8% of the time

HPE Moonshot vs HPE Apollo Systems

Compared 5% of the time

More HPE Apollo Systems Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers

January 2025

Download Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers product report

Buyer's Guide

HPE Apollo Systems

January 2025

Download HPE Apollo Systems product report

Also Known As

PowerEdge R

HP Apollo Systems, HP ProLiant SL, HP Apollo

Learn More

Dell Technologies

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Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Overview

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are designed to optimize performance and efficiency in a data center environment, supporting various applications. Dell stands as the leading vendor in accelerated servers for AI, commanding a 33.8% revenue share. Based on user reviews, Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers supporting tasks from basic web hosting to more demanding applications like data analytics and virtualization. They are engineered to offer high performance, reliability, and scalability. With a focus on automation and integrated security, these servers simplify operations and protect against threats, making them a smart choice for businesses of all sizes.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are a robust, secure, and scalable solution that can meet the diverse needs of businesses, backed by comprehensive support. Benefits to look for in reviews include performance, reliability, scalability, and customer support.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers key features include:

Scalability: These servers can easily scale to meet growing business needs, supporting more workloads and processing power.
Integrated Security: From hardware to firmware to the operating system, Dell PowerEdge servers are designed with security in mind, offering layers of protection.
Energy Efficiency: Advanced thermal design and energy-smart technology help reduce operational costs and environmental impact.
Automation: With Dell EMC OpenManage, the management of servers is streamlined, allowing for automated deployment, monitoring, and updates.

In terms of implementation, Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are used across various industries, from small businesses to large enterprises. They serve as the foundation for IT infrastructure, powering critical applications in healthcare, finance, education, and more. The adaptability of these servers means they can be tailored to specific industry needs, from handling large datasets in research institutions to supporting high-transaction databases in financial services.

The HPE Apollo high-density server family is built for the highest levels of performance and efficiency. They are rack-scale compute, storage, networking, power and cooling – massively scale-up and scale-out – solutions for your big data analytics, object storage and high-performance computing (HPC) workloads. From water-cooling that’s 1,000X more efficient than air, to “right-sized scaling” with 2X the compute density for workgroup and private cloud workloads, the HPE Apollo line is a dense, high-performance, tiered approach for organisations of all sizes.

Sample Customers

NxtGen Datacenter, Medien-Service Untermain (MSU), Exasol, IndigoVision, Dayco

Weta Digital

Buyer's Guide

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers vs. HPE Apollo Systems

December 2024

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