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Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs Hitachi NAS Platform comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 7, 2024

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
67
Ranking in other categories
File and Object Storage (3rd)
Hitachi NAS Platform
Ranking in NAS
12th
Average Rating
7.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.0
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the NAS category, the mindshare of Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is 16.5%, down from 17.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Hitachi NAS Platform is 2.5%, down from 3.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
NAS Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Dell PowerScale (Isilon)16.5%
Hitachi NAS Platform2.5%
Other81.0%
NAS
 

Featured Reviews

Scott Taylor - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Mir Gulzar Ahmed - PeerSpot reviewer
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The best thing is that it works. We don't have to maintain it too much; we usually upgrade once a year."
"There are also the policies that you set up on replication and purging files, and policies for something called WORM. That's a "write once, read many," where you can't overwrite certain files or certain data. It puts them in a "protected mode" where it becomes very difficult for someone to accidentally delete. We use that for certain files or certain directories, because we're dealing with video and some video has to be protected for chain-of-custody purposes. The WORM feature works great."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is its performance."
"The most valuable feature of Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is all the capabilities together."
"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 reliability and stability of Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is good, with no downtime."
"The most valuable feature is its single space of storage."
"Dell PowerScale (Isilon) definitely deserves ten out of ten for scalability."
"Simple and extremely reliable."
"Hitachi NAS has improved my storage operations significantly."
"Hitachi is reliable with high availability and solid performance. It performs well regardless of the workload."
"The pricing of this solution is good, which is an advantage that positions this product well."
"The Hitachi storage platform is highly scalable and highly available."
"The product has valuable features for data migration."
"The reliability and scalability of Hitachi NAS Platform are valuable features."
"It creates a NAS environment on top of Hitachi SAN, which facilitates customers who need NAS protocols along with their existing SAN portfolio."
 

Cons

"Data storage performance needs to be improved."
"I'd like to see more Iceland products in the cloud so that we can port our data into different environments if needed. I would also like to see a virtual appliance or software-defined Iceland product."
"The analytics could be improved."
"The cost of Dell PowerScale is currently high and there is room for improvement."
"Additional metadata reporting would be great. We have to use a separate tool to report on that. We would like to view the age of data and how long it has been since someone has accessed a file."
"Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is a little bit pricey, and its pricing could be improved."
"Dell's customer service needs improvement. Specifically, hardware failures under warranty should be addressed within the promised timeline."
"If I could improve one thing on Dell PowerScale (Isilon), it would be better object storage as it recently breached into S3, and that capability could be broadened."
"There are insufficient improvements in certain areas."
"Hitachi NAS Platform is expensive."
"I would like to see the inclusion of support for cloud-connectivity to providers like AWS."
"I would suggest that Hitachi make a NAS box that can work independently, without relying on SAN connectivity."
"Hitachi NAS Platform's pricing could be reduced. It is high compared to other competitors."
"Hitachi NAS Platform needs to improve by offering a unified storage solution. Due to budget constraints in regions like Southeast Asia, customers prefer a single machine that can handle all problems, which the current platform does not provide."
"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."
"The Hitachi NAS Platform is too complicated, not simple, and not cost-effective, sometimes being inappropriate for most situations."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We use the TNA approach which is a great opportunity for us to better manage the licenses based on how much consumption is available for the different customers so we can use that approach and scalability."
"The price of Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is reasonable."
"We paid an additional fee to have Dell's ProDeploy Plus team implement it."
"I always want things to be less expensive. However, I would say the pricing is fair. Their costs are in alignment with their competitors. It is a good value for the money."
"Price was also a significant factor in our decision to go with PowerScale. The team at EMC, now Dell EMC, came through with a highly competitive offer that tipped the scales towards their solution. There was only one other solution around the same price point, but it could not match PowerScale on features. That other solution is no longer on the market."
"It is a really expensive solution."
"The price of the solution is high."
"Dell PowerScale is an expensive solution compared to other products like Qumulo."
"It is a highly-priced product."
"This solution is priced well and there are no costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."
"Hitachi NAS Platform’s price is high and depends on SCSI disc capacity."
"Costs are based on the features and it is a considerable amount."
"I would rate the solution's pricing six to seven out of ten."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Healthcare Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Educational Organization
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business16
Midsize Enterprise17
Large Enterprise36
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise2
 

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.
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...
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...
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...
What needs improvement with Hiachi NAS Platform?
For the Hitachi NAS Platform, the tools are basic and don't provide much insight. They can continue to improve the interface to keep it up-to-date, and maybe add some new features or better ways of...
What is your primary use case for Hiachi NAS Platform?
We sell the Hitachi NAS Platform, and it is the best product for our customers. I sell it to banks, telecom companies, and other enterprises at the enterprise level. We have a cluster with Hitachi ...
 

Also Known As

PowerScale, Dell EMC Isilon
Hitachi NAS
 

Overview

 

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
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs. Hitachi NAS Platform and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
869,513 professionals have used our research since 2012.