HPE BladeSystem vs HPE Synergy comparison

HPE BladeSystem and HPE Synergy are both solutions in the Blade Servers category. HPE BladeSystem is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.8, while HPE Synergy is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.8. HPE BladeSystem holds a 13.5% mindshare in Blade Servers, compared to HPE Synergy’s 21.8% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of HPE BladeSystem users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 90% of HPE Synergy users who would recommend it.

HPE BladeSystem

Read 138 HPE BladeSystem reviews

2,369 Views
1,680 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

HPE Synergy

Read 89 HPE Synergy reviews

3,054 Views
2,216 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

HPE BladeSystem

HPE Synergy

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 12, 2025

HPE BladeSystem and HPE Synergy compete in the enterprise server and infrastructure category. HPE Synergy seems to have the upper hand due to its advanced composable infrastructure and flexibility in resource allocation.

Features: HPE BladeSystem provides high performance and reliability with integrated storage, networking, and management capabilities. Its modular design facilitates easy deployment of virtual desktops and servers. Meanwhile, HPE Synergy offers composable infrastructure that allows dynamic resource allocation, flexibility for diverse workloads, and integrated management features for improved control.

Room for Improvement: HPE BladeSystem is noted for scalability limits and compatibility issues with older models, and it could benefit from modern technology integration and simpler management interfaces. HPE Synergy faces challenges in complexity and integration with other platforms, with calls for better interface management and reduced downtime during updates.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Both HPE BladeSystem and Synergy are typically deployed on-premises, with Synergy also supporting hybrid cloud environments. Customers experience mixed technical support for both, with variability in response times. BladeSystem users acknowledge consistent improvements, but there is a suggestion for better support quality for Synergy.

Pricing and ROI: HPE BladeSystem is seen as expensive but offers significant savings through reduced operational expenditure for long-term ROI, justified by its robust performance. HPE Synergy, though higher in cost, delivers value with its advanced features and infrastructure flexibility, providing excellent ROI by cutting IT infrastructure costs and enhancing performance efficiencies.

To learn more, read our detailed HPE BladeSystem vs. HPE Synergy Report (Updated: January 2025).

Buyer's Guide

HPE BladeSystem vs. HPE Synergy

January 2025

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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

HPE BladeSystem

Ranking in Blade Servers

3rd

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.7

Number of Reviews

138

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

HPE Synergy

Ranking in Blade Servers

1st

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Composable Infrastructure (1st)

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Blade Servers category, the mindshare of HPE BladeSystem is 13.5%, down from 18.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HPE Synergy is 21.8%, down from 22.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Blade Servers

Featured Reviews

JuanDuque

Manager of Capacity and Control Management at a insurance company with 10,001+ employees

Very reliable, expands well, and is pretty simple to set up

It is very straightforward to set up. It's not complex. The length of deployment depends on the way that you configure the Blades. For example, if you're going to work with VMware, the time could be at least 25 to 30 minutes. It is not going to depend on the BladeSystem; it is going to depend on the time of the operate system deployed. The number of people you need for maintenance depends on the monitoring system that you have. For example, if you have a good monitoring system for this platform you're going to need less than ten specialists, but if you don't have a monitoring system to check the platform, probably you're going to need more than ten people.

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CarlosArdila

Project Manager, Information Technology at Telelago

Helps grow horizontally or vertically within one box or chassis

The initial setup is very easy. We deployed this in two days, including installation, system setup, firmware upgrades, configuration, and network connection. By the next day, we were already deploying virtual machines. We initially began with the Blade system. As the migration to SAP HANA approached, it seemed prudent to upgrade our hardware. Consequently, we facilitated their transition from the Blade system to Synergy. Subsequently, we collaborated closely with the SAP consultancy company to oversee the migration process, ensuring seamless integration of all workloads and sub-environments. We have four people working on the deployment, including a project manager, two specialists, and one tech support.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"When it comes to the BladeSystem, what we love about it most is being able to actually manage it using OneView."

"Cabling complexity and volume have been reduced."

"This has drastically reduced our datacenter space, has good cooling and power consumption."

"It also has a pretty solid design and management."

"The most valuable feature of the HPE BladeSystem is the ease of management."

"For me, the most valuable features are integration and simple defining."

"Its ease of management, consolidation, connectivity, power, and cooling are the most valuable features."

"The most valuable feature of the HPE BladeSystem is the ease of management and the robust design."

More HPE BladeSystem pros

"The solution has decreased the deployment time for a new blade, saving us three hours."

"It is helping us sort of bridge a gap that we are having moving off of old legacy systems, like HP-UX systems and trying to move over to x86. So, it is helping fill a hardware gap that a lot of our platforms have needed in the past."

"It has had a positive effect on the efficiency of our IT infrastructure team. The manageability of it is so easy, we're able to install it quickly, and replacement parts are easy to get in and out quickly."

"Changing the form factor in Synergy allows us to have more RAM, which is significantly helpful for us."

"It is really easy to use, because it's GUI-based. It is not command line based, like mainframes."

"It makes it simpler for me to manage my environment. It is one pane of glass, compared to multiple."

"Support is very helpful."

"The flexibility to link them together and configure them gives us the ability to scale out easily, to add more compute resources as needed... The way that they're scalable and flexible means we can add additional servers in quickly... We're not spending a lot of time doing procurement and building of physical servers."

More HPE Synergy pros

Cons

"I would prefer to have changes in the compatibility of the blade servers with the new ones designed by HPE, as the top team's version does not have it."

"Higher bandwidth interconnects could be introduced."

"We sometimes have compatibility issues depending on the browser that you are using. For example, sometimes you have to switch between Edge, Mozilla, Internet Explorer, or Chrome to have things operating correctly."

"In terms of improvements, I'd suggest enhancing the stability of the HPE BladeSystem, especially regarding network connectivity. We once had an issue where a system didn’t communicate with the network, and it took a while to diagnose the problem. Eventually, we discovered it was a motherboard issue, but we initially thought it was the network card. Improving the onboard administratordashboard to provide more granular insights, like clearly identifying faultycomponents, would make troubleshooting much more efficient. Aside from that, the system is superb and has been reliable."

"It could always use new tools."

"HPE BladeSystem that we are using is currently very old. It's not too good. We haven't renewed it. I would like the solution to have more updates."

"HPE has a replacement system called Synergy, though it’s a more high-end system than the old C7000."

"I would like to see the upgrade path a little bit smoother."

More HPE BladeSystem cons

"I would like the ability to have my storage components accessed from any other frame across the backplane. If we have a storage module and we run out of space in that frame, it'd be nice to be able to share it across the frames. You can do it with hyperconverged. Why can't you do it with Synergy?"

"The cost is quite high."

"They were not so deep into integration with VMware."

"The only issue that we had was our rack was too small. The product is heavy, so it took a lot to get it in there."

"The expansion was complex, because adding a second frame onto the original frame caused an outage."

"I'd like to see the firmware updates, as well as the built-in OneView and imager in Composer, become a little more powerful and faster."

"The technical support was about the only negative experience that I had. It was a mixed bag when we were first standing it up. We had some requirements from our information security department, and technical support wasn't able to give me immediate answers. They had to engage engineering, which they did, then they got me the answers. However, it took a week of back and forth conversations and phone calls to get it all worked out."

"In the Generation 10 modules, we have observed that very often the server has hardware issues."

More HPE Synergy cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We have an annual license."

"The licenses for HPE BladeSystem are perpetual."

"The chassis itself, with no blade server inside, so expensive. The C7000 model costs around $100,000."

"Its pricing was good. We selected this solution because it was within our budget. We paid just once when we bought it. We never bought any license."

"I need to pay for the license, and it is expensive. We make yearly payments."

"BladeSystem is a little bit cheaper."

"The price of HPE BladeSystem is less expensive than some other solutions, such as Dell. The cost of replacement equipment is expensive."

"The licensing is on an annual basis."

More HPE BladeSystem pricing and cost advice

"We have already paid once. It is just the price for the permit and its use. It seems you don't have to keep paying for it, but I am not sure."

"The hardware licensing cost is reasonable."

"For me, the scalability is how much money that I need to spend on switches for how many frames, which ultimately means servers. To get the best bandwidth before the most recent product announcement, I have buy new switches every three frames. The competition is shipping a product right now where I only need switches every ten frames."

"For temporal use, when you throw on the fact that you're essentially doubling your capacity, right there you could claim a 50 percent TCO reduction."

"The solution has reduced our IT infrastructure costs by 50 percent."

"In our whole environment, the cost is in the millions. On this particular chassis, the annual cost is 12 blades times approximately $40,000."

"Nutanix was really hard to implement, and it was very pricey compared to what we get from Synergy."

"The solution can be expensive because it requires both hardware and software purchases."

More HPE Synergy pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

14%

Government

11%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

How would you choose between HPE's Bladesystem and Synergy?

For me, choosing between HPE’s Bladesystem and Synergy came down to which solution was more powerful, reliable, and stable. It turns out Bladesystem was the winner. Bladesystem is excellent because...

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What do you like most about HPE BladeSystem?

The solution is scalable, offering flexibility and expansion options to meet changing business needs.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HPE BladeSystem?

We paid approximately 60,000 Saudi Riyals per year for support from HPE, equivalent to $15,000 USD. However, some years, we did not utilize their support services.

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What do you like most about HPE Synergy?

It is a good product for hypervisors.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HPE Synergy?

The pricing is relatively high compared to Cisco servers. However, due to the volume of my purchases, I get good discounts.

See all answers

What needs improvement with HPE Synergy?

There is room for improvement in the efficiency part. The power consumption is very high, and there should be a more efficient way of reducing the power requirements while maintaining high performa...

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Comparisons

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Compared 20% of the time

Cisco UCS B-Series vs HPE BladeSystem

Compared 13% of the time

HPE Superdome X vs HPE BladeSystem

Compared 6% of the time

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HPE ProLiant DL Servers vs HPE Synergy

Compared 29% of the time

Dell PowerEdge M vs HPE Synergy

Compared 21% of the time

Cisco UCS B-Series vs HPE Synergy

Compared 9% of the time

HPE Superdome X vs HPE Synergy

Compared 5% of the time

HPE Apollo Systems vs HPE Synergy

Compared 5% of the time

More HPE Synergy Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

HPE BladeSystem

February 2025

Download HPE BladeSystem product report

Buyer's Guide

HPE Synergy

February 2025

Download HPE Synergy product report

Also Known As

HP ProLiant BL Series Servers, HP ProLiant BladeSystem

No data available

Overview

HP ProLiant BladeSystem share power, cooling, network, and storage infrastructure via the blade enclosure. Since equipment is not needed for each server, you get a dramatic reduction in power distribution units, power cables, LAN and SAN switches, connectors, adapters, and cables. And you can add the newest-generation technologies by simply changing individual components.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

HPE Synergy, the first platform built from the ground up for Composable Infrastructure, offers an experience that empowers IT to create and deliver new value instantly and continuously. It is a single infrastructure that reduces operational complexity for traditional workloads and increases operational velocity for the new breed of applications and services. Through a single interface, HPE Synergy composes physical and virtual compute, storage, and fabric pools into any configuration for any application. As an extensible platform, it easily enables a broad range of applications and operational models such as virtualization, hybrid cloud, and DevOps. With HPE Synergy, IT can become not just the internal service provider but the business partner to rapidly launch new applications that become the business.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Sample Customers

EMIS Health

HudsonAlpha, Virgin Media, EMIS, United

Buyer's Guide

HPE BladeSystem vs. HPE Synergy

January 2025

Free Report: HPE BladeSystem vs. HPE Synergy

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