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HPE SimpliVity vs Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) comparison

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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:
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
8.5
StarWind Virtual SAN offers highly responsive, 24/7 support with quick resolutions and expert guidance, ensuring a stress-free experience.
Sentiment score
2.5
HPE SimpliVity's customer service is praised for knowledgeable support, despite transition challenges, with room for improved documentation.
Sentiment score
9.2
Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure's support is praised for expertise and responsiveness, justifying its cost despite some language barriers.
 

Room For Improvement

Sentiment score
6.8
StarWind Virtual SAN requires improved documentation, enhanced tools, user interface, management features, and better cross-platform and cloud integration.
Sentiment score
4.5
HPE SimpliVity struggles with limited integration, complex upgrades, slow restoration, costly pricing, and lacks flexibility in scaling and management.
Sentiment score
6.1
Enhancements are needed in setup, pricing, performance, network, integrations, migration, security, control, documentation, licensing, connectivity, and interface.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
8.1
StarWind Virtual SAN excels in scalable growth with flexible, efficient handling and enhanced performance through licensing for evolving needs.
Sentiment score
6.5
HPE SimpliVity is scalable and suitable for small to medium businesses, but may not fit larger enterprises' needs.
Sentiment score
8.2
Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure offers user-friendly scalability with easy expansion, efficiently supporting various workloads and business sizes.
 

Setup Cost

Sentiment score
8.4
StarWind Virtual SAN offers flexible, cost-effective pricing with scalable, low-cost setup and valued support, ideal for budget-conscious enterprises.
Sentiment score
7.0
HPE SimpliVity offers competitive pricing and value with straightforward licensing, appealing to organizations focused on efficiency and consolidation.
No sentiment score available
Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure offers competitive pricing, flexible licensing, and significant ROI, appealing for its performance and simplicity in management.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.9
StarWind Virtual SAN offers reliable performance and support, excelling in uptime and data management even amidst hardware failures.
Sentiment score
8.5
HPE SimpliVity offers stable, efficient performance with minimal disruptions, effective support, and reliable zero downtime even in large deployments.
Sentiment score
8.4
Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure is highly stable, reliable, and scalable, offering exceptional uptime and support with minimal disruptions.
 

Valuable Features

Sentiment score
8.4
StarWind Virtual SAN excels in high availability, seamless integration, cost-effectiveness, and performance, ensuring uninterrupted operations and scalability.
Sentiment score
8.4
HPE SimpliVity offers efficient storage optimization, integrated backup, user-friendly management, and scalable performance with vSphere integration.
Sentiment score
8.3
Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure excels in performance, scalability, and ease of use, offering seamless multi-cloud integration and cost-effective virtualization.
 

Categories and Ranking

StarWind Virtual SAN
Sponsored
Ranking in HCI
4th
Average Rating
9.6
Reviews Sentiment
8.1
Number of Reviews
189
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined Storage (SDS) (1st)
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
Nutanix Cloud Infrastructur...
Ranking in HCI
3rd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.9
Number of Reviews
196
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined Storage (SDS) (3rd), Software Defined Data Center (SDDC) (1st), Hybrid Cloud Computing Platforms (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2024, in the HCI category, the mindshare of StarWind Virtual SAN is 2.3%, up from 1.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HPE SimpliVity is 9.7%, down from 10.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) is 8.0%, down from 8.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
HCI
 

Q&A Highlights

Janet Peng - PeerSpot reviewer
Jun 10, 2019
 

Featured Reviews

Ahmed Hosni - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides a cost-effective way to run an HCI storage platform for almost any hypervisor
You can maintain and update it with little to no fuss, even the free version is incredibly capable whilst it brings the cost of a Highly Available HCI solution down to a very cost-effective point. Having used Starwind Virtual SAN for many years both for clients and for internal systems, it has always done exactly what it set out to do. It provides a cost-effective way to run an HCI storage platform for almost any hypervisor, but it is most effective with Hyper-V. It's simple and easy to use, The software monitoring should be web-based to be reachable from any VLAN workstation.
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.
Sisir Ghosh - PeerSpot reviewer
Scales easily, helps with consolidation, and enables us to clone a VM
Usually, there are separate administration teams that take care of servers, but in our organization, servers are usually looked after by the application owner. However, the application owners cannot reinstall the software, OS, and other things. That only aligns with the role of the HCI administrator. If these rights can be provided, it will be very easy. Previously, it was there, but after certain updates, we found that they have withdrawn those services. For example, you requested a VM, and based on the business use case, I approved it and gave you a bare-metal server. Now you are the owner of that particular VM, so whatever you need, you should be able to do over there, but currently, you have to request me for the installation of the OS that you need, and I have to do it. It is an overhead for the HCI administrator. If that can be offloaded to the VM owners, that will be much easier for us. I have already shared this feedback with Nutanix.
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Comparison Review

it_user244362 - PeerSpot reviewer
Aug 30, 2015
Nutanix vs. VMware EVO:RAIL vs. FlexPod
Originally posted at www.storagegaga.com/dont-get-too-drunk-on-hyper-converged/ I hate the fact that I am bursting the big bubble brewing about Hyper Convergence (HC). I urge all to look past the hot air and hype frenzy that are going on, because in the end, the HC platforms have to be aligned…
 

Answers from the Community

Janet Peng - PeerSpot reviewer
Jun 10, 2019
Jun 10, 2019
It depends very much on your use case. When I look at HP, they position their HCI offer primarily in the ROBO space for enterprise DC solutions. HP pushes its Synergy platform. Nutanix is well positioned in the data center space and has made huge strides there whilst HPE has lost a little bit of momentum with their HCI offer. You need to be aware that the native Nutanix hypervisor has its limit...
2 out of 17 answers
EI
May 29, 2019
In a Nutshell, to keep it simple, they are both SaaS (Storage as a Service) Solutions in a sense, but SimpliVity is “ONLY” SaaS locked on HPE serves and no awareness of Hypervisor metrics, whereas Nutanix is best suited to different workloads that REALLY traverse all the realms of Hyperconverged technologies, from Data Center Consolidation/Migration, to VM consolidation reducing the “V-Tax” that come with different Hypervisor offerings (Nutanix is shipped with free AHV), to specific workloads with NO guess-work like VDI or Kubernetes in-premise cloud. So my take is make a list of what you need and then compare apples to apples, two hints: 1. Check this document https://www.enterprisestorageforum.com/products/simplivity-vs-nutanix.html 2. Try our sizing online tool to Assess: https://sizer.nutanix.com/#/ If you feel you have more questions, take your time to touch base with representatives alternatively, just one note, at Nutanix, because we USE hypervisors to deliver our Storage Controller, we have a unique insight of HOW different workloads behave for different customers, and that gives us an advantage on what we are able to do for them, whilst an ONLY SaaS solution is one that will only give you yet another tool to optimize your workloads. It is up to you to figure out HOW that set of resources benefit your specific needs.
KH
May 29, 2019
Nutanix is the only SW based HCI vendor in the market today giving customers the freedom of choice. You can deploy our HCI SW on your choice of hardware and hypervisor (we also have our own KVM-based hypervisor that is included with the product). Whereas with SimpliVity, you are tied to HP and VMware. What if you deploy on HP today and your organization makes a strategic choice to change to Dell, Cisco or Fujitsu? Nutanix is the only vendor that allows you to port your licenses between different HW vendors. Doesn’t hurt that we already created the HCI space and are the leaders. HP is also one of our close partners so you can deploy Nutanix on Proliant.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Educational Organization
57%
Computer Software Company
7%
Government
5%
Manufacturing Company
4%
Educational Organization
33%
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Manufacturing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about StarWind Virtual SAN?
It is easy to use and can monitor system synchronization and check Storage status. StarWind Virtual SAN (VSAN) combin...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for StarWind Virtual SAN?
Choose StarWind Virtual SAN, it is the most flexible, reliable and cheap solution.
What needs improvement with StarWind Virtual SAN?
While using StarWind Virtual SAN so far, I have not found anything missing. It is true that we are using it in a very...
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 resea...
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...
What is the biggest difference between Nutanix Acropolis and VMware vSphere?
We found the reduced power consumption with Nutanix Acropolis AOS a very attractive feature. We also like the interfa...
How do I choose between Cisco Hyperflex HX Series and Nutanix Acropolis AOS?
Cisco HyperFlex HS series vs Nutanix Acropolis AOS Cisco HyperFlex gives extended hyper-convergence functions from ...
Which would you choose - Nutanix Acropolis AOS or VMware vSAN?
We found the reduced power consumption with Nutanix Acropolis AOS a very attractive feature. We also like the interfa...
 

Also Known As

StarWind SAN & NAS
SimpliVity, HPE HCI
Nutanix Acropolis AOS, Nutanix AOS, Nutanix Acropolis
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Baker Tilly BVI, CMS Internet, Board Harpeth Hall School
Red Bull Racing, Mandarin Oriental, Brigham Young University, UCLA, Merlin Entertainments, Sasa Cosmetics, Travelport, St. John’s Riverside Hospital, Princess House
St. Lukes Health System, the City of Seattle, Yahoo! Japan, Sligro, Empire Life, Hyundai AUS, and many others.
Find out what your peers are saying about HPE SimpliVity vs. Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) and other solutions. Updated: October 2024.
816,562 professionals have used our research since 2012.