Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers vs Oracle SPARC Servers comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 8, 2024
 

Categories and Ranking

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers
Ranking in Rack Servers
1st
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
160
Ranking in other categories
Converged Infrastructure (3rd), Data Center Networking (4th), Blade Servers (5th)
Oracle SPARC Servers
Ranking in Rack Servers
7th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
8.0
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of December 2024, in the Rack Servers category, the mindshare of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is 28.1%, up from 27.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Oracle SPARC Servers is 3.8%, down from 4.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Rack Servers
 

Featured Reviews

Hassen Trabelsi - PeerSpot reviewer
We get centralization, remote management, and good customer service with these servers
By implementing Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers, we wanted centralization, security, and meeting the needs of the job. The performance of these servers is similar to the servers from another brand, but Dell’s after-sales customer service is better than other brands. Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers can be configured depending on our needs. They are adaptable. In terms of energy consumption, we do not have any way to supervise the energy consumption of our servers. However, I know that there is a possibility to have several power supplies as a backup on the servers. It meets our needs, but I do not know if they consume more energy than the servers from other brands. With regard to durability, we keep our servers for ten years or so. After that, we call upon a company that recycles them. We have never had any problem with the RSE for these servers. Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers can help to reduce unplanned production downtime, but it all depends on the chosen configuration. A simple PowerEdge server with just RAID 5, for example, would function, but if we have a problem with the power supply or two disks, it would not work. It depends on the configuration. We put several of them which helps us to have less production downtime. Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers have affected the overall flexibility of our operations. As a general rule, we put Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers in racks, or we have them in tower mode for certain production systems. Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are a standard in our company. They are needed. We have to have them. We will soon move. Our server room has been designed with tables that can have PCs in tower mode. In our new buildings, we have reduced the space or rather the surface area for our server room. All that has a great impact on the costs.
Abdul-Salam - PeerSpot reviewer
A rock-solid OS and rich virtualization features for hosting many VMs on one box
Oracle doesn't have a good roadmap for the solution because they are moving to the x86 platform. Oracle is focusing on the cloud platform with a PCA and standard x86 architecture. Linux is their other OS and is mostly in the cloud. We don't see much development happening on Solaris even though it came as an acquisition from Sun Microsystems. Eventually, the solution and its platform will die because there has been no new development on the Solaris end and we haven't seen new servers in the last five years. At this point, we are pretty sure there is no real roadmap or future for the solution. There is a shortage of expert engineers because Oracle is not pushing the technology. It is hard for us to find engineers because the number of people supporting us has considerably reduced.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The fact that they came pre-installed was quite good. We didn't have to worry too much about that process... Also, the maintenance part makes it very easy to raise queries and get repairs done."
"The OpenMange console is effective."
"VxRail has a smart and easy way to perform updates. The hypervisor on the other servers performs well according to the hypervisor level. The support is magnificent, and it's easier to administer the servers."
"The robustness of the hardware itself is valuable. We have had PowerEdge servers running even after they were out of their warranty timeline. For example, about four or five years ago, we updated the virtualization platform. One of the servers that we had on that platform was ten years old. These servers have a lot of durability. You can see that they are well-made."
"The Dell name holds a lot of weight on our position as a partner of Dell's when it comes to liquid cooling the systems. We have a great relationship with Dell, so we are able to exchange information very easily to be able to build these systems for our customers."
"The real advantage to Dell when I look at some of the other competitors is the support."
"We particularly appreciate the iDRAC feature, especially in its latest versions, for its capabilities in remote server management and comprehensive monitoring."
"PowerEdge is one of the top solutions when it comes to the security features that it provides including firmware, drift protection, and systems management."
"The operating system is rock solid and the best I have ever used."
"The most valuable features of the solution stem from the fact that Oracle Database functions very well with Oracle SPARC Servers."
"The performance is the best feature."
"The Oracle server is very powerful. They are more powerful and durable compared to Intel hardware. Which has been a benefit to our organization."
"I have found the LDAP facilities most valuable. In addition, I like the CPU."
"The processor is very helpful and the licensing is very flexible."
"Our customers are happy with many features in Oracle SPARC Servers, like the automatic ASR feature."
 

Cons

"The solution could improve by making the warranty policy better, which is a little bit complex because our local service partner Smart Technologies has long delays. Whenever we open any case for any customer, it takes more than five days. If we could handle it by ourselves, we could have the issue solved in one day. They should work on a way to fix these delays."
"While we are generally satisfied with their service, we'd like more connections between meetings and proactive support. We had a session about two weeks ago, where we talked about areas they need to improve."
"The management of the security architecture could be improved. It takes some time and can be challenging."
"There needs to be more flexibility for business options."
"It's more from the pandemic, however, the logistics part of it could be better."
"The specs for the benchmarks are very good, but the firmware and software are lacking. There are some issues with the Linux kernel and the long-term support (LTS) for some of the firmware's dependencies. It is causing the kernel to dump. The support for the Linux brands isn't optimal. We would like them to optimize the kernel drivers for benchmarks."
"The rate controller interface is difficult to get to without installing additional software. It would be helpful if they had preinstalled software to make that easily accessible."
"From the licensing model perspective, it might be useful for enterprises to get an overall enterprise license, rather than licensing each server. That is one option because we tend to buy the service with the licenses, but some of our older equipment does not have them."
"Oracle SPARC Servers should be fine-tuned well enough to work with the other servers and software products in the market, as it is an area where Oracle SPARC Servers lack."
"Oracle doesn't have a good roadmap for the solution because they are moving to the x86 platform."
"The solution could improve by giving a clear roadmap about the future. I'm not seeing a lot of improvements on the OS side of the software. They need to work more on the operating system."
"They have declared the end of life of the hardware."
"I would like to see a reduced price point."
"Like IBM, Oracle SPARC Servers should be able to run other open operating systems like Linux."
"They need some sort of modeling because IBM has different types of models."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is very competitive. I have not been too involved in the licensing, but from a hardware perspective, I always find them to be competitive."
"You can't have computed performance without using more power. That said, when I consider the power consumption and performance of the MX740c, depending on how much memory you install on each blade, you get the best bang for your buck."
"We have not compared them with others. The price is okay, but they can always be a little bit cheaper."
"They seem to have become more expensive. I've not done a comparison with other vendors recently. If the price increases more, we would need to do a comparison next year just to make sure that we are benchmarking our server purchases correctly."
"Dell is priced better than alternative solutions."
"The solution’s pricing is competitive with other products."
"The overall pricing and licensing are fair according to the market."
"When you compare public cloud solutions to PowerEdge in terms of cost, initially the cost of Dell servers or Dell technology was really high. However, right now it's on par or, maybe, even cheaper when we use Dell hardware. If we don't swap it out in three years and if we stretch it to four or five years, then we can get even more of an ROI versus cloud cost."
"The hardware is expensive but it has very rich virtualization features that make it economical."
"The application running on it is very important to us and this makes the price worth it."
"Oracle SPARC Servers are expensive to manage, this is because after five years Oracle will increase the support charges for the hardware. The licensing policy for Oracle is different for Intel and Sparc. It will cost you less if you use your Oracle hardware with Oracle SPARC Servers."
"The licensing is flexible."
"My company makes yearly payments toward the licensing costs attached to the solution."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Rack Servers solutions are best for your needs.
824,053 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
22%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Government
7%
Financial Services Firm
25%
Computer Software Company
15%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

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....
What do you like most about Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers?
It has helped us reduce unplanned downtime by 20% to 30%.
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...
What do you like most about Oracle SPARC Servers?
The most valuable features of the solution stem from the fact that Oracle Database functions very well with Oracle SPARC Servers.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Oracle SPARC Servers?
My company makes yearly payments toward the licensing costs attached to the solution. My company's clients, who have paid for the licensing costs attached to the solution, have also engaged with so...
What needs improvement with Oracle SPARC Servers?
Oracle products are usually fine-tuned with the software of other Oracle products, like Oracle WebLogic Server Services, Oracle Database, and Oracle Core Banking Software and Solutions, as all the ...
 

Also Known As

PowerEdge R
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

NxtGen Datacenter, Medien-Service Untermain (MSU), Exasol, IndigoVision, Dayco
University Hospitals Leuven, B&H Photo, Tuscon Electric Power, IS Nordic, Siemens
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers vs. Oracle SPARC Servers and other solutions. Updated: December 2024.
824,053 professionals have used our research since 2012.