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Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs NetApp StorageGRID comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 4, 2024
 

Categories and Ranking

Dell PowerScale (Isilon)
Ranking in File and Object Storage
3rd
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
53
Ranking in other categories
NAS (1st)
NetApp StorageGRID
Ranking in File and Object Storage
7th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of December 2024, in the File and Object Storage category, the mindshare of Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is 8.5%, up from 8.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetApp StorageGRID is 5.4%, up from 4.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
File and Object Storage
 

Featured Reviews

Jack Vo - PeerSpot reviewer
Ensures that data is safely stored and easily accessible, providing peace of mind with robust security measures
The solution can be integrated with an automation system. Dell uses another framework developed in-house. They can integrate it with machines. Sometimes, Dell PowerScale can have issues with ID, window, or mapping errors. For example, a shareholder or user might not fully understand what they're doing, which can cause problems. Occasionally, we experience connection issues, requiring us to remap the folder. Dell PowerScale might need to remap or update the credentials in such cases. For instance, if you have many shared folders already mapped, it might take time to remap or redo the credentials.
Werner Broekhuizen - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides seamless data integration and has a reliable technical support team
The platform is highly scalable, allowing easy addition of enclosures and drives, making it non-disruptive and straightforward to expand as needed. It was originally hardware-agnostic, and its integration into NetApp has maintained this scalable nature, allowing for growth without compromising existing infrastructure. Its scalability is around an eight out of ten. It can handle large-scale and unstructured data needs. Its ability to manage significant volumes of data effectively makes it suitable for enterprises requiring robust storage solutions.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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."
"Features like ransomware protection, file lock retention, and third-party integrations (e.g., Superna for ransomware protection) are significant benefits."
"It assists with eliminating storage silos because it provides SMB and NFS protocols. PowerScale has also helped free up our employee's time to focus on other business priorities."
"Dell PowerScale has the SmartConnect and SmartConnect Pro features. That's why I like the product."
"The guaranteed performance, combined with the scalability through its scale-out capability, makes it an excellent choice."
"The single pane of glass for both IT and for the end-user is a valuable feature. On the IT side, I can actually control where things are stored, whether something is stored on solid-state drives or spinning drives... The single pane of glass makes it very easy to use and very easy to understand. We started at 100 terabytes and we moved to 250 and it still feels like the exact same system and we're able to move data as needed."
"The flexibility and the user-friendly interface are the most valuable features."
"The solution provides massive performance, scalability, efficiency, and ease of management."
"It has awesome scalability. We consume it with storage appliance nodes, then we just plug and play as we need more."
"It has improved our operational efficiency through time consumption and logistics by 40 to 50 percent. Everything that had to do with our legacy tape solution has been improved and is now more efficient."
"It has enabled us to save money on storage costs. We removed our tape library."
"It helps automate our storage infrastructure."
"It improves our operational efficiency."
"The speed of the disks removed the bottleneck from our storage."
"The management portals have most significantly improved our data retrieval times. They've made it much easier to restore data compared to our previous methods."
"The feature of StorageGRID that I find most valuable for ensuring data durability and protection is its Information Lifecycle Management functionality."
 

Cons

"It is a bit higher priced than some of the other systems."
"Dell PowerScale can improve on its multi-tenant part because as a service provider, we have bigger clusters in data centers where we can serve multiple customers and grant them dedicated management points and automation features that can be managed in a multi-tenant environment."
"There are some missing features in the product, especially when our company needs to do some tape backup, and we see that the tool doesn't have integration capabilities."
"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."
"The product’s expansion capacity, pricing clarity, and ease of use need improvement."
"The solution can be integrated with an automation system. Dell uses another framework developed in-house. They can integrate it with machines."
"Isilon has limitations on the number of files that can be generated."
"The tool's support team and the way the cases are handled by the product's technical support team are both areas of concern where improvements are required."
"One key improvement I'd like to see in StorageGRID is enhanced visibility for management purposes."
"We want to move towards Azure in the cloud. Right now, the system is all physical."
"I just recommend improving the marketing campaigns in Pakistan."
"The product's continual innovation and enhancement in integration capabilities with other NetApp solutions could be better."
"I would like to see them integrate more with the monitoring platforms. It is a bit difficult to get automated monitoring of the system."
"The processes around installation and upgrade need improvement."
"There was a small amount of confusion when working with StorageGRID and Active Directory for access. We had to do things three to four times resulting in our engineer troubleshooting a couple of things. The location of the menu, along with what is inside the menu: configurations, settings, etc., is not straightforward to users. Most users are Windows-based. So, when make logical changes to the menu which are not similar to Windows, users and administrators get confused."
"The redundancy and reliability are great, but I also see room for improvement there. I would like to see more efficiency in the storage and dedupe/compression solutions."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We paid an additional fee to have Dell's ProDeploy Plus team implement it."
"Our company finds the pricing high, but it decreases over time."
"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."
"Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is an expensive solution."
"Dealing with the product costs and licensing areas is getting easier since Dell is simplifying the licensing process and licensing packages offered to users."
"The pricing for this solution is reasonable."
"Pricing for this solution is reasonable."
"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."
"We save money on storage costs from this solution since it allows us to have a source of revenue from customers consuming the service."
"NetApp is not known for being the cheapest storage option on the market. Almost all of the other storage options we looked at were less expensive than StorageGRID. The price is one thing to criticize, which is what we hear internally and from customers as well. They find the cost of the terabytes in this class of storage a little bit higher than expected."
"Creating your own data stores, backups, or storage grids, helps eliminate all these costs of downloading all the data back after you downloaded to the cloud."
"We chose NetApp because of price and performance."
"The pricing of StorageGRID falls within the typical range for enterprise-grade solutions and is comparable to other vendors such as Dell, NetApp, and Pure Storage."
"The pricing is quite flexible and depends on the specific customer requirements. The initial cost is primarily based on the desired capacity, so it's not a fixed price."
"With respect to pricing, it is okay. This product is mid-range."
"Buying the solution is expensive, but it saves you money down the line when you factor in the logistics of not having to buy tapes."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
25%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Financial Services Firm
21%
Manufacturing Company
20%
Computer Software Company
16%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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 needs improvement with Dell EMC PowerScale (Isilon)?
Always, there is room for improvement in terms of cybersecurity, as new challenges are continually emerging in the market. However, in our current usage, we find it satisfactory.
What do you like most about NetApp StorageGRID?
The management portals have most significantly improved our data retrieval times. They've made it much easier to restore data compared to our previous methods.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NetApp StorageGRID?
I rate the product pricing around five out of ten—it's negotiable, depending on the circumstances.
What needs improvement with NetApp StorageGRID?
The product's continual innovation and enhancement in integration capabilities with other NetApp solutions could be better.
 

Also Known As

PowerScale, Dell EMC Isilon
Storage GRID
 

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,
ASE, DARZ GmbH
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs. NetApp StorageGRID and other solutions. Updated: December 2024.
824,053 professionals have used our research since 2012.