FlexPod XCS vs Vblock [EOL] comparison

"The product is easy to deploy and use."

"The most valuable features are the CVDs and the support behind it from both companies."

"FlexPods allow us to go through and roll out compute, having a converged infrastructure with the same level of simplicity that you would expect of a hyper-converged."

"From the Cisco side, the most valuable features of this solution are the data center density, the deployment, and the management of the servers and the networking."

"For our DR, we rely heavily on SnapMirror technologies to accomplish our disaster recovery in VMware SRM."

"It is pretty flexible. We are able to deploy faster."

"For us as an IT department, it helped us a lot. Before we implemented FlexPod, we were using different solutions all based on a virtual infrastructure. On VMware, before implementing FlexPod, we had a lot of problems doing backups with disaster recovery. After integrating it, it enabled us to have shorter maintenance windows, instant backups, instant recovery, which also minimized the number of alerts that we get from the application team and from the employees who were working on the application that something is not working."

"It is very stable. We have had absolutely zero problems."

"The most valuable feature is that it is centrally managed, as it is quite easy for our customers to manage everything, end-to-end."

"​The XtremIO All-Flash array delivers​ performance, reliability, and deduplication."

"The component integration means I don't have to worry about technology mismatches."

"The most valuable features are reliability and high availability."

"Capability for scale and growth within a single rack brings strong possibilities for capacity planning."

"VMware NSX: Provides the ability for our organisation to deliver true DR."

"The high redundancy of components has minimized frequent service degradation/failure."

"Access to VMs is now faster due to the centralized management console."

"We would like more security features."

"FlexPod XCS' pricing could be cheaper. You need to find the right person for support."

"There could be room for improvement in terms of offering more flexibility in CBD options."

"There is a history of issues with hardware availability. For example, we'll buy an array or a filer with a particular configuration and particular size of drive, sizing it appropriately. Then, as we grow, they're like, "Oh, you can always get more." Then when you go to get more, that model or type of disk is no longer available. It becomes this big process to try to figure out what we need to get, how it'll work, and how that'll integrate into the system. That could be simpler. They could do a bit more to guarantee the availability of parts. Obviously, not being the largest storage vendor, I know they can't sometimes control what the hardware vendors do. However, a bit more transparency and communication about this would be helpful."

"I would like to see more orchestration tools in FlexPod because we virtually end up with integrating the v-orchestration tool within FlexPod. I would like to see something like that included within FlexPod."

"I would like more support for different platforms, possibly different database platforms. I don't know if it supports Oracle today, but that would be a big improvement."

"I'd like to see some more Ansible integration for automation purposes. We automate everything else with Ansible, so it would be great if we could automate our FlexPod with Ansible as well."

"Installation with FlexPod is a bit complex, but it can be upgraded easily. I think Flexpod is phasing out, but it is still the right solution."

"I would like to see them improve their switching infrastructure and rely on Cisco configurations. They are a bit more complex and technical, but result in a slightly reduced cost in terms of switching on the network side of it."

"The integration with other vendors' products needs to be looked at. It's not as flexible as we would like it to be."

"It needs more customer/client involvement in back-end management."

"With respect to the technical support, there is room for improvement."

"The user control could be more advanced. They should work to improve this in future releases."

"OEM services requires too much planning and low availability of certified engineers."

"While most public clouds are deployed on Linux, there is current no certified Vblock working on KVM hypervisors."

"RCM upgrades are painful."

"The NetApp portion was a $5 million investment five years ago. That has served the customer well over five and a half years."

"The investment has been great. We put our money into it and it has given us something that we have been able to rely on for years."

"Overall, the solution works pretty well. The biggest complaint I have from customers is the cost."

"Make sure you are buying for performance, not just capacity."

"The pricing is not cheaper, but stability is more important for us now. We focus on business gains, not static numbers."

"The scalability is very good. I wish it was a more cost-effective, but you get what you pay for."

"Storage is very expensive. To buy MIC cards and additional storage either on-prem or in the cloud, the IT department does not have money for it, so you need a more niche product or a more flexible way to store your data. That is the benefit that you get from this product."

"FlexPod has saved data center costs, due to the fact that we reduced our footprint for storage in a big way. We went from three complete racks down to a 2U storage array for more than 300 terabytes of storage."

"I think the pricing is on the higher end of the spectrum. There could be some adjustments that could be made there. Regarding licensing, watch compatibility with external products that you run on Vblock. It has got to be properly architected, otherwise, you will run into licensing issues."

"Vblock appears from the first while to be very expensive. There are more items you cannot see in the BOQ: customer service, support, delivery short time, and highly experienced VCE engineers."

"Vblock is priced at a premium because people don't want the headache of managing and deploying different products."

"It is not cheap."

"The paid support for Vblock is expensive."

"Strive for a consolidated ELA."

"Related to tech support: I believe it is too expensive."

"I would not say the pricing is not good value. It is still on the expensive side, near the top-end of cost compared to what's available now. Also, the licensing has to be improved. There has to be a clear definition of the licensing from the initial set-up so the customer knows what they are paying for, without being hit later on with extra licensing. The licensing definitions should be clearer and, perhaps, have one set of licenses rather than multiple licenses."