HPE Apollo Systems vs Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers comparison

"We usually use three blades for two-rack units, and with enough storage, it's really a small system with a powerful CPU, powerful hard drives, powerful disks."

"The technical support from HPE has always been good in my experience."

"It's going to meet our needs moving forward, it is scalable."

"HPE Apollo's support is the most valuable feature."

"Apollo Systems provide stuff that standard services do not. More HTDs, more compute power, at very reasonable pricing."

"When we moved to the Apollo and all flash drives, we gained a lot of performance."

"We're going to buy another Apollo 6500. We may configure it with half the number of GPUs because that may be all we need. In a sense, we can see the Apollo 6500 being so powerful that we only need half the GPU capability that we have now."

"It enables us to implement software defined solutions very easily, because Apollo servers are certified for use with Linux systems"

"It is a stable solution."

"Its performance and the local support of Lenovo in my city are the most valuable features. Its performance is the best, and its user interface is also very easy."

"The solution is very simple to install."

"It is a scalable product."

"The product is designed to make adding RAM and disk space easier for users."

"The hardware is good."

"It has good integration. You have VMware for connecting many machines, and you can support microservices. You can also easily connect the networks. It is also very easy to use and implement, and it comes with good support."

"It's very power-efficient and allows you to access the rack server directly without accessing the operating system on that server."

"The predictive analysis feature could be improved."

"One drawback which I had: When I needed to expand storage on the Apollo, I had significant problems getting disks for it. It was a very long wait-time. So, if I were to give any advice in regards to improving this product, I would say make more of the 8TB disks available quicker."

"There is a shared battery for all cache controllers in the node. When you have to replace that element, you have to take down all three nodes and not just one."

"We would like to see SimpliVity on top of the Apollo."

"We could, perhaps, use more GPUs in the future, go from eight to 16 GPUs per instance. That could run head-to-head against the DGX-1, the DGX-2 that NVIDIA has developed in their own chassis. That would be interesting to see."

"The technical support from HPE has always been good in my experience."

"The support from HPE Apollo could be better, they are making knowledgeable."

"We would like to see improved cooling because that is quite an issue. If you put that much compute power into a single rack, cooling really becomes an issue. And there is room for improvement there."

"I would like the solution to be improved by having more advanced utilities."

"From our side, our budgets are really not there. The availability of cash is a little bit limited. We buy as much as we can, If it was less expensive, we could buy more."

"The RAID Management and the RAID Configuration tools need to be improved."

"Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers availability could improve. We have been waiting two months for one server."

"HP has a riser inside, but Lenovo does not have a riser. It would be good to have a riser with Lenovo. The GUI of the system is really bad. HP has a very good UI for smart memories and everything inside, but in Lenovo, we have a black-and-white UI. HP right now manufactures a server with scalable SP1 and SP2 on a single machine, which is not the case with Lenovo. They are changing the machine. For SP 1, there is one server, and for SP2, there is another server, which is really bad. In HP, we can use two models of processors in a single case. Lenovo should also be improved to have SP1 and SP2 scalable processors simultaneously on a single machine. They should not release another machine. This issue is also there in H3650 severs. They are all inside, but only V3 CPU or only v4 CPU can work, whereas, in HBG9, we can deploy V3 and V4 simultaneously. Lenovo also needs to advertise more because I can't see advertisements anywhere."

"Its price could be better. Its price is sometimes an issue for our clients. XClarity Controller is a very good feature, and Lenovo should include the XClarity Controller license without any additional cost. It should be integrated within the product."

"I do not have any notes for improvements."

"Upgrading firmware is easier in Dell than in Lenovo."

"There is an annual license required to use HPE Apollo."

"Obviously I would like to see the cost go down. That speaks for itself."

"Compared to other products, HPE Apollo is not an expensive solution."

"It is an expensive solution but it is worth the money. The standard licensing cost is for the GPU and the features that someone is using. There are additional charges but they depend on the solution."

"The price of the solution is more expensive than Dell which is their main competitor. However, there are times we have managed to receive a comparable price."

"It is the cheapest solution we have seen on the market."

"The price of the solution is very expensive when compared to other solution like HP or Dell."

"It is expensive compared to other vendors."

"The price of Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers is highly competitive. Many customers prefer this solution because of the price. However, the price could be reduced."

"Its pricing is very competitive."

"It costs around $8,000. There is an additional cost for the support for a year."

"The licensing cost is the same as HP. It doesn't have any additional cost. However, the price, for example, for the memory option, does not match other vendors such as HP or Dell. They should work on the pricing of Lenovo. It is a great competitor, and it should compete with the price."

"Your budget determines the scalability."