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HPE SimpliVity vs Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 31, 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

HPE SimpliVity
Ranking in HCI
6th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
153
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series
Ranking in HCI
18th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the HCI category, the mindshare of HPE SimpliVity is 9.0%, down from 10.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series is 0.8%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
HCI
 

Featured Reviews

Xavier Perez - PeerSpot reviewer
Has a deployment phase that is straightforward but needs improvement in the area of scalability
The main issue with HPE SimpliVity is that you are very attached to VMware or VMware dependencies because the tool works with VMware technology. HPE SimpliVity is an add-on from VMware. Nowadays, my company has a lot of concerns about VMware's licensing policy. Another big concern of the tool is related to security because one has to continuously update patch vulnerabilities that are appearing continuously in VMware's different versions. Actually, the foundation of all the architecture is VMware and that is one of the main issues with the tool. My company is analyzing our virtual infrastructure strategy to see if we can move to Nutanix because maybe it may work better and might have another approach. Nutanix is absolutely independent of VMware. I could add that since HPE SimpliVity is very precisely dependent on VMware, it is not open to containers unlike Nutanix, for example. The aforementioned area is a concern that needs to be resolved by HPE.
Adeel Hashmi - PeerSpot reviewer
With an easy deployment phase, the tool offers good scalability and stability
Suppose you don't compare Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series with the newest features available in the other variants of the product, then everything is pretty standard, so I cannot pinpoint any areas of issue in particular. With Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series, the firmware from VMware or Nutanix takes time to be made available compared to other products that we use in our company's IT environment. If you want to go to a certain version of VMware and check what Nutanix offers, you see that both the offerings don't go hand in hand, and you have to wait for a quarter or two quarters until you see the same versions of both being made available for the other products, like Dell or HPE. There is a delay in the availability of similar versions of firmware from both the products, which are VMware and Nutanix for Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series, due to the delayed releases from both products, maybe by a quarter or so. The aforementioned area can be considered for improvement in a solution. In future releases of the product, I may want some improvements to be made in the products from Nutanix and VMware.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Its simplicity is most valuable. The management is easy, and you don't have to have a lot of knowledge about storage, network, etc. It is simple to manage and simple to implement, and that's its key feature."
"The performance is good. It's stable and easy to operate."
"I have found backup and replication to be useful. We have a 10 megabit line between the data center and our main site. The backup and replication are very good. Additionally, the solution runs on VMware which is a benefit."
"The HCI concept by itself is the most valuable feature of the solution. It is a full-fledged HCI. It is the main component. I think this is what makes the project valuable."
"The pricing of the solution is very good."
"It is a very stable solution."
"It has instantaneous backup and lag-free restore. When everything is running, I can bring back a huge VM in less than 30 seconds. That's even better than Veeam."
"Dedupe, compression, and replication of primary and secondary data, locally and remotely."
"The most valuable features of the Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series are the ease of use and simple configuration."
"The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that the product's deployment phase is pretty easy."
"The initial setup is simple. We were able to deliver the hyper-convergence solution in a very good time."
 

Cons

"We definitely want to see more of the CLI commands come up to the GUI, and it is a legitimate question, if we are going to be happy with the integration in the vsphere web client, which is awfully slow."
"It's a very complex installation. It's gotten easier, however, it's far from a double click on a link and a self-upgrade scenario. There's still an awful lot of magic that goes down to doing upgrades."
"I would like some reporting about backup and replication."
"It is not so cheap, and this is the most common complaint that my customers have. It is a very good product, but the price is an issue in Latin America. VMware is a de facto tool. It would be useful for customers if HP can also use Red Hat or any other open-source virtualization product. Currently, you can only use VMware to manage the machines inside SimpliVity."
"To install or to update it is more complicated than other solutions."
"In the next release of the solution, they should make updating the solution easier. Currently, we have HPE doing it for us but I would like to be able to do it."
"We would like to have more security with the solution."
"We had minor problems with the initial setup but it was with our internal infrastructure."
"Here in Nigeria, the only challenge that we have, which I think is also experienced globally is the delay in bringing in the spare parts. This is a challenge facing our country, such as the Forex market. However, this is beyond the control of Lenovo themselves."
"Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series could improve by having better integration with the solutions from VMware and vCenter"
"There is a delay in the availability of similar versions of firmware from both the products, which are VMware and Nutanix for Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series, due to the delayed releases from both products, maybe by a quarter or so."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is affordable and quite reasonably priced in terms of the product one gets."
"Its price is pretty good as compared to the other solutions, but it is quite expensive if we compare it with non-HCI solutions."
"The hardware is expensive. For the same price, Cisco can provide more hardware specifications for us."
"ESXi licensing is a big part of initial investment if you do not already have that covered."
"Other vendors fall short on price compared to HPE on this product."
"For most use cases, look to see if you can use all-flash as the price point, as it has come down significantly."
"We did get some quotes from Nutanix, and they were ballparks. So, it is not cheap, and there is nothing free, but those two were comparable."
"Upfront costs seems high at first look, but after analyzing all the benefits of SimpliVity, we have come out ahead."
"Price-wise, it is a pretty good product. The product's price was one of the main criteria that made my company choose it over the other products in the market."
"When comparing this solution to other OEM solutions it is relatively inexpensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
61%
Computer Software Company
7%
Government
4%
Manufacturing Company
4%
Computer Software Company
18%
Retailer
8%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

How does HPE Simplivity compare with VMware vSAN?
HPE SimpliVity is a hyper-converged infrastructure solution that is primarily geared to mid-sized companies. We researched VMware vSAN but found HPE was a better option for us. HPE SimpliVity has ...
What do you like most about HPE SimpliVity?
The solution's technical support is good.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HPE SimpliVity?
The price is almost equal to VMware vSAN, making it not much cost saving. However, the time-saving during upgrades is notable.
What do you like most about Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series?
The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that the product's deployment phase is pretty easy.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series?
Price-wise, it is a pretty good product. The product's price was one of the main criteria that made my company choose it over the other products in the market.
What needs improvement with Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series?
Suppose you don't compare Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series with the newest features available in the other variants of the product, then everything is pretty standard, so I cannot pinpoint any areas of ...
 

Also Known As

SimpliVity, HPE HCI
Lenovo HX Series, ThinkAgile HX Series
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Red Bull Racing, Mandarin Oriental, Brigham Young University, UCLA, Merlin Entertainments, Sasa Cosmetics, Travelport, St. John’s Riverside Hospital, Princess House
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Find out what your peers are saying about HPE SimpliVity vs. Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
841,004 professionals have used our research since 2012.