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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 most valuable feature of the solution is its performance."
"The best thing is that it works. We don't have to maintain it too much; we usually upgrade once a year."
"I rate Dell PowerScale (Isilon) a ten out of ten, and we continue to keep buying it."
"Eyeglass is used to monitor for malware, which is very useful for us."
"The most valuable feature of Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is all the capabilities together."
"The tool's most valuable features are scalability and stability."
"PowerScale helped free up our employees' time to focus on other business priorities. There are now automated jobs such as backing up and replicating data, that reduce the footprint we have. Those types of tasks were previously done manually."
"Its scalability has been huge for us."
"The reliability and scalability of Hitachi NAS Platform are valuable features."
"The most valuable feature is its ability to handle a high number of users while maintaining both stability and performance."
"The Hitachi storage platform is highly scalable and highly available."
"Hitachi is reliable with high availability and solid performance. It performs well regardless of the workload."
"The product’s technical support services are good."
"The product has valuable features for data migration."
"Hitachi NAS has improved my storage operations significantly."
"There are no other NAS in the current market that can compete with Hitachi in terms of performance."
 

Cons

"Perhaps if there was a local chatbot built within the system or on the dashboard where we could directly ask for anything on the OneFS, it could help us."
"Always, there is room for improvement in terms of cybersecurity, as new challenges are continually emerging in the market."
"The legacy file system for Epsilon didn't scale into the cloud and didn't have a separate OS. It would be key if this was made possible."
"Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is a bit expensive compared to other products."
"Improvements could be made to reduce the costs and the high level of knowledge needed to maintain and use them. We had old hard drives with moving parts in Dell PowerScale, and due to this, we must switch to a more efficient environment with all-flash."
"I would want to see more AI features with Dell PowerScale (Isilon)."
"Dell's customer service needs improvement."
"There aren't many templates still coming out for it. They need to provide templates so we can copy and paste what we've done in the past to future, new things."
"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."
"I encounter challenges while installing the upgrades for the product."
"Hitachi NAS Platform is expensive."
"The Hitachi NAS Platform is too complicated, not simple, and not cost-effective, sometimes being inappropriate for most situations."
"There are insufficient improvements in certain areas."
"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 would like to see the inclusion of support for cloud-connectivity to providers like AWS."
"Hitachi could be more flexible and have a simpler management interface."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is an expensive solution."
"The pricing is excellent."
"The only drawback for us is that it's a large upfront investment. This was a huge decision for a startup company to make. It took a bit for us to get over the line on it, but we have not regretted it."
"This solution is priced slightly higher than others on the market but does offer good quality. With this solution's data reduction and compression, we were able to purchase less. Costs have dropped because of the data rate of compression and deduplication."
"The pricing for this solution is reasonable."
"The solution's licensing cost varies based on capacity and performance requirements."
"Pricing for this solution is reasonable."
"Dell PowerScale is expensive on the start-up side but we can recoup those costs quickly by not having to reapply the savings to other equipment."
"Costs are based on the features and it is a considerable amount."
"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."
"It is a highly-priced product."
"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
12%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
16%
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)?
The cost is competitive with other vendors such as HP. I always compare prices between two vendors, and they are good in this situation.
What needs improvement with Dell EMC PowerScale (Isilon)?
Sometimes, it takes too long to set up everything. That's something I would want them to improve. The main challenge I face with it now is that my team is accustomed to using other vendors, and whe...
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.
869,832 professionals have used our research since 2012.