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

Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs Panzura 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
1st
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
55
Ranking in other categories
File and Object Storage (3rd)
Panzura
Ranking in NAS
13th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
File System Software (4th), Cloud Storage (13th), Cloud Storage Gateways (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the NAS category, the mindshare of Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is 17.6%, up from 17.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Panzura is 3.0%, up from 2.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
NAS
 

Featured Reviews

Eric Burgueño - PeerSpot reviewer
Simplified data management, tremendously reducing our users’ cognitive overhead
The only thing that I think PowerScale could do better is improving the HTTP data access protocol. At the present, you cannot protect access to data via HTTP or HTTPS the same way that you can secure data access through other protocols like NFS or SMB. You can either access a file because it can be access by anyone in the organization, or you cannot at all. There is no in-between. HTTP is not considered a first-class data access protocol, so the Unified Permission Model that would allow a user to authenticate before being able to access a private file, does not apply. However, with the recent introduction of S3 starting from OneFS 9, I believe the necessary plumbing is already there for HTTPS to also be elevated to a first-class protocol in the future because both protocols sit behind a web server under the hood. It does not sound like it would be too complicated to implement, but it would be a valuable feature and it is currently missing.
Anil Rahulwar - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers features like Master Snapshot which are useful for recovering files and easy to use if you are familiar with familiar with NAS things and networking protocols
If you're considering Panzura, I'd actually recommend looking into DDN products. They're very stable. In fact, they're launching Infinea, which is totally cloud-based and uses Lambda and Kubernetes. It's a very good product. If you have basic IT concepts, it's very easy to understand. But if you're not familiar with NAS things and networking protocols like SMB or Linux, then it might be a bit difficult for new users. Linux understanding is very important to use Panzura. Overall, I would rate the solution an eight out of ten. Master Snapshot feature is the only exceptional feature, but the rest of the features are similar to other storage solutions.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The flexibility and the user-friendly interface are the most valuable features."
"The solution is stable."
"Isilon is flexible in supporting various data workloads while keeping them protected. Dell continues to release updates and patches which enhance the use of this solution. This includes offering ransomware protection."
"The recent introduction of inline deduplication and compression has drastically improved our efficiency ratios to make it an economical product. This solution has also had a positive impact on our employees' productivity because it reduces the amount of admin that our staff needs to handle."
"Since it can scale so easily, as long as I have money to buy more nodes, I can grow it as big as I need to. That is important in our business. As sequencing technologies continue to evolve, and as those technologies evolve, the amount of data generation never gets smaller. It just always seems to get bigger. This is one of the absolute key aspects: We can grow on demand without having to forklift stuff."
"The solution has simplified management by consolidating our workloads. Rather than managing all the different workloads on different storage arrays, Windows Servers, etc., we just have one place per data centre where we manage all their unstructured data, saving us time."
"The solution provides massive performance, scalability, efficiency, and ease of management."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is the unlimited scalability. The tool has high availability and high storage capacity."
"The main thing in Panzura is that there are three key components: PanFS, NAS, and collaboration. These are strong features, and a big benefit is that you can access everything from anywhere."
"Its most valuable features are the collaboration, the file snapshots, and the data protection the solution provides."
 

Cons

"Isilon has limitations on the number of files that can be generated."
"Dell's customer service needs improvement."
"The product needs to improve CLI since commands are complex. The search option is also difficult since you must give the full path."
"We lost our technical sales reps about two years ago. We haven't gotten one assigned to us and we'd love to have one."
"Improvements could be made on the object storage side."
"Some improvements to the NFS support would be of interest to us."
"Dell PowerScale needs to reduce its price."
"The UID mapping and how to configure mapping-related things is a struggle."
"Master Snapshot feature is the only exceptional feature, but the rest of the features are similar to other storage solutions."
"It should be easy for people not on the network to connect and access their files."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"It is a really expensive solution."
"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."
"The pricing is expensive, but I think it's a fair value because it does manage itself. It definitely is much simpler than any of the other scale-out storage platforms that we've looked at in the past."
"The solution's licensing cost varies based on capacity and performance requirements."
"The price of the solution can fluctuate. The price can be competitive or other times not. The price of the solution could be better."
"The price of Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is reasonable."
"The solution's pricing is on the expensive side."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which NAS solutions are best for your needs.
832,723 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
26%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Construction Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

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)?
Every time we purchase a PowerScale solution, we buy four nodes for one data center and four for another, with five years of maintenance covered by Dell. It's a high-cost offering amounting to thre...
What needs improvement with Dell EMC PowerScale (Isilon)?
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...
What are the products that Panzura provides?
Panzura offers four main products: CloudFS, data services, smart apps, and global services. They call this "all-in-one solution" and it's for end-to-end cloud data management. Why is it called that...
What kind of industries does Panzura serve?
Hello, I think businesses from all industries that have their data on a cloud can benefit from Panzura. Especially if you have offices in various locations or your employees are working from home a...
Why was Panzura acquired? Is the acquisition going to cause a change?
I think Panzura may change in a positive direction now that it's been bought by Profile Capital. That's a very big investment company for technology businesses and I think it's an opportunity for ...
 

Also Known As

PowerScale, Dell EMC Isilon
Panzura Freedom
 

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,
Petrofac, Komatsu, HCA Healthcare, Vanguard, Disney, Pokemon, US Department of Justice, Gensler, Fluor, AFRY, Milwaukee Tool, Navy Federal Credit Union, TechTarget
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs. Panzura and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
832,723 professionals have used our research since 2012.