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Dell PowerFlex vs FlexPod XCS comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

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

Customer Service

Sentiment score
8.5
StarWind Virtual SAN offers highly responsive, 24/7 support with quick resolutions and expert guidance, ensuring a stress-free experience.
Sentiment score
4.3
Dell PowerFlex support offers 24/7 assistance; opinions vary, with praise for reliable resolution but concerns about delays and communication.
No sentiment score available
 

Room For Improvement

Sentiment score
6.8
StarWind Virtual SAN requires improved documentation, enhanced tools, user interface, management features, and better cross-platform and cloud integration.
Sentiment score
4.0
Dell PowerFlex users desire enhanced monitoring, reporting, integration, user interface, flexibility, automation, cloud migration, and improved documentation.
No sentiment score available
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
8.1
StarWind Virtual SAN excels in scalable growth with flexible, efficient handling and enhanced performance through licensing for evolving needs.
Sentiment score
7.3
Dell PowerFlex is praised for its scalability, easily accommodating large environments, despite minor scalability enhancement needs.
No sentiment score available
 

Setup Cost

Sentiment score
8.4
StarWind Virtual SAN offers flexible, cost-effective pricing with scalable, low-cost setup and valued support, ideal for budget-conscious enterprises.
Sentiment score
5.5
Dell PowerFlex pricing is competitive with medium-range affordability, valued for flexibility, but users seek better cost management and incentives.
No sentiment score available
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.9
StarWind Virtual SAN offers reliable performance and support, excelling in uptime and data management even amidst hardware failures.
Sentiment score
9.0
Dell PowerFlex offers stable, reliable performance for small to mid-sized environments, though less ideal for high-end needs.
No sentiment score available
 

Valuable Features

Sentiment score
8.4
StarWind Virtual SAN excels in high availability, seamless integration, cost-effectiveness, and performance, ensuring uninterrupted operations and scalability.
Sentiment score
8.4
Dell PowerFlex enhances management, scalability, and performance with strong VMware integration, improving efficiency, reliability, and data protection.
No sentiment score available
 

Categories and Ranking

StarWind Virtual SAN
Sponsored
Average Rating
9.6
Reviews Sentiment
8.1
Number of Reviews
189
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined Storage (SDS) (1st), HCI (4th)
Dell PowerFlex
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
26
Ranking in other categories
HCI (5th)
FlexPod XCS
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
295
Ranking in other categories
Converged Infrastructure (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

HCI
Converged Infrastructure
 

Featured Reviews

Ahmed Hosni - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides a cost-effective way to run an HCI storage platform for almost any hypervisor
You can maintain and update it with little to no fuss, even the free version is incredibly capable whilst it brings the cost of a Highly Available HCI solution down to a very cost-effective point. Having used Starwind Virtual SAN for many years both for clients and for internal systems, it has always done exactly what it set out to do. It provides a cost-effective way to run an HCI storage platform for almost any hypervisor, but it is most effective with Hyper-V. It's simple and easy to use, The software monitoring should be web-based to be reachable from any VLAN workstation.
Ayodeji  Oyewole - PeerSpot reviewer
A hyper-converged infrastructure that is like a mini data center of its own
There are two categories, namely, the appliances and the racks. The partners are able to set up the Dell PowerFlex appliances, but not fully. The partners are able to physically set up the appliances, while the OEM will set them up logically. The PowerFlex racks are fully set up by the OEM, both physically and logically. The solution's initial setup is not pretty straightforward in emerging markets at the moment.
Bob Greenwald - PeerSpot reviewer
There are no limits in terms of integration.
The most significant benefit is storage flexibility. FlexPod is a reference design to build on and add the appropriate resources you need for your workloads. That's what differentiates it from something like HCI, where you have to buy certain size pieces when you want to expand. I can do just about anything storage-related with it. In a FlexPod environment, we can provide whatever you want from a data storage perspective. Replication, backup, disaster recovery, etc., are all there right out of the box. I can set up fiber channel LAN, channel-over-ethernet LAN, etc. Storage is highly flexible in this environment. I don't have to buy two or three products and don't have to do some sort of software virtualization of the storage, which takes away your performance. For hyperscalers, you have insights on the Cisco side that you can use to look at tons of stuff. From the storage side, you could put a range of NetApp tools in the cloud. You could put VMware in the cloud and talk back to the native on-prem Cisco compute environment. Their network environment extends into the cloud. There are no limits in terms of integration. NetApp is the most integrated hyper-scale for storage and moving data into the cloud for long-term backup storage. VMware is fully available, so you could run VMware or Kubernetes on VMware in the cloud and tie it to your local storage through NetApp integration. It's an excellent match because your compute could easily DR to the cloud and be ready to go with all your storage without any modifications necessary because of the native integrations. It integrates well with the hyperscalers.
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Comparison Review

it_user244362 - PeerSpot reviewer
Aug 30, 2015
Nutanix vs. VMware EVO:RAIL vs. FlexPod
Originally posted at www.storagegaga.com/dont-get-too-drunk-on-hyper-converged/ I hate the fact that I am bursting the big bubble brewing about Hyper Convergence (HC). I urge all to look past the hot air and hype frenzy that are going on, because in the end, the HC platforms have to be aligned…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Government
7%
Manufacturing Company
22%
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Educational Organization
10%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about StarWind Virtual SAN?
It is easy to use and can monitor system synchronization and check Storage status. StarWind Virtual SAN (VSAN) combin...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for StarWind Virtual SAN?
Choose StarWind Virtual SAN, it is the most flexible, reliable and cheap solution.
What needs improvement with StarWind Virtual SAN?
While using StarWind Virtual SAN so far, I have not found anything missing. It is true that we are using it in a very...
What are the major differences between VxRail and Dell EMC PowerFlex?
VxRail vs. Dell EMC PowerFlex VxRail provides stable solutions for technical problems while at the same time not bein...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell EMC PowerFlex?
From my perspective, pricing is expensive. If they can reduce the pricing or offer more customer incentives, it would...
What do you like most about FlexPod?
The system is designed for easy scaling. Because we define everything clearly. So when we plug the system in, we appl...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for FlexPod?
The pricing is not cheaper, but stability is more important for us now. We focus on business gains, not static number...
What needs improvement with FlexPod?
FlexPod should focus more on automation. Integrating an automation tool with FlexPod would enable customers to levera...
 

Also Known As

StarWind SAN & NAS
VxFlex, VxRack FLEX, PowerFlex
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Baker Tilly BVI, CMS Internet, Board Harpeth Hall School
Canopy, 8x8Inc., Atos, Canadian Pacific, City of Denton, CenturyLink, BNP Paribas, Asyaport, EDF, CSC, Fox Sports, Insight, Hunter, KPIT, Paetec, Rosetta Stone, Sonda, Xerox
University of Sao Paulo, WD-40, The Commonwell Mutual Insurance Group
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell Technologies, VMware, Nutanix and others in HCI. Updated: November 2024.
816,192 professionals have used our research since 2012.