HPE Superdome X vs Lenovo Flex System comparison

Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Lenovo are both solutions in the Blade Servers category. Hewlett Packard Enterprise is ranked #6 with an average rating of 9.0, while Lenovo is ranked #11 with an average rating of 8.7. Hewlett Packard Enterprise holds a 10.5% mindshare in Blade Servers, compared to Lenovo’s 3.0% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Hewlett Packard Enterprise users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Lenovo users who would recommend it.

HPE Superdome X

Read 11 HPE Superdome X reviews

1,535 Views
995 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Lenovo Flex System

Read 10 Lenovo Flex System reviews

407 Views
315 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

HPE Superdome X

Lenovo Flex System

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 3, 2025

HPE Superdome X and Lenovo Flex System compete in the high-performance computing domain. HPE Superdome X holds the advantage in reliability and scalability, while Lenovo Flex System excels in versatility and modular design, meeting varied business needs.

Features: HPE Superdome X offers scalability, mission-critical performance, and excellent reliability for large-scale workloads. Lenovo Flex System features customizable components and flexibility, which make it suitable for diverse operations. HPE Superdome X benefits enterprises focusing on performance and reliability more than Lenovo Flex System.

Room for Improvement: HPE Superdome X could improve its modularity, reduce initial setup costs, and enhance user-friendliness. Lenovo Flex System might focus on increasing its scalability, boosting performance for critical applications, and strengthening its technical support for mission-critical tasks.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: HPE Superdome X offers straightforward deployment for large enterprises, supported by strong technical assistance. Lenovo Flex System is noted for its adaptable deployment model, appealing to businesses with varied infrastructure needs. Both provide solid customer service, but Lenovo Flex System is favored for adaptability.

Pricing and ROI: HPE Superdome X has a higher initial cost but delivers strong ROI via reliable performance, ideal for critical applications. Lenovo Flex System, despite a more affordable setup, offers high ROI through its flexible and modular design. HPE Superdome X's positivity in scalability and performance is justified, while Lenovo Flex System provides excellent value in requiring customizable solutions.

To learn more, read our detailed HPE Superdome X vs. Lenovo Flex System Report (Updated: January 2025).

Buyer's Guide

HPE Superdome X vs. Lenovo Flex System

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 Superdome X

Ranking in Blade Servers

6th

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Lenovo Flex System

Ranking in Blade Servers

11th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Blade Servers category, the mindshare of HPE Superdome X is 10.5%, up from 9.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Lenovo Flex System is 3.0%, down from 3.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Blade Servers

Featured Reviews

OmobolajiOlaloku

Senior Enterprise System Engineer at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees

High resilience, performs well, and high availability

HPE Superdome X is used in my data center for our core banking application The most valuable features of HPE Superdome X are speed, performance, and resilience. HPE Superdome X can improve by adding a lot of cloud capabilities to allow this solution to be cloud-ready in case the customer wants…

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Syed Ibrahim

Assistant Manager Systems - IT Infrastructure at a transportation company with 10,001+ employees

Provides a high initial ceiling before upscaling is required, user-friendly and rich in resources, but has occasional stability issues

The solution should come with cloud native applications to prepare for cloud based solutions. Forced restarts due to free upgrades is an issue that needs to be resolved. We can manage this as we have high availability and redundancy, but without that it could be a real problem. The level of customer support needs to be improved. There is currently an issue with Lenovo switching out SAN switches from the chassis, which will cause problems for people who already have a set up with the SAN switch connected to the central storage. This could require an entirely different network, adding an additional cost for the user.

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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

"SDX gave us a very large RAM and we need that for the large-scale graph-handling applications."

"Superdome X is a system that can compete in terms of performance and uptime, but it's now standard. That is the great value. There are competitors like IBM, for example, but IBM has a propietary operating system. With Superdome X, you have a system that can run Windows, Red Hat, or VMware, but in a mission critical server."

"The most valuable features of HPE Superdome X are speed, performance, and resilience."

"I like the robustness of the machine. Similar performance could likely be achieved with other configurations, but this machine is very stable."

"This product is very reliable."

"One of the really cool things about Superdome is, depending on the model you choose, you can put 8-16 blades in it."

"We've got a few of them, because we needed some really large machines. So far, they've been working pretty good."

"The product is very user-friendly and has many resources at the enterprise level."

"One of the most valuable features of this solution is its ease of use."

"We use the solution as a compute model to run the compute load on servers."

"The stability and speed are always good. The processor is good and it's still working with our loads."

"It comes at a good price. We didn't face any problems with this product."

"The most valuable feature of the Lenovo Flex System is the storage system."

"Flex System's best features are its performance and stability."

"The initial setup is straightforward."

More Lenovo Flex System pros

Cons

"I'd like to see the onboarding of some storage class memory to really expand the already very large RAM, into something that could be even much bigger."

"HPE Superdome X can improve by adding a lot of cloud capabilities to allow this solution to be cloud-ready in case the customer wants to move it to the cloud."

"What would make it better from my point of view is if HPE spent more time on testing with the actual built-in Red Hat Linux drivers, as opposed to always trying to say, "Use our driver.""

"It would be helpful if you could do the maintenance completely online."

"In this specific model, it could be beneficial to have a server configuration similar to Cisco, like the kind offered in HPE Superdome Flex X280. The ability to separate the chassis is important because we are forced to use two chassis even with lower loads. So introducing more flexibility in the Superdome environment would be helpful."

"I know we support Windows and I think it's Red Hat, and I'd like to see more OSs supported."

"The user-interface needs improvement, because they have an application from which we have to manage the whole system and all the infrastructure. This application is not working at our premises, because of some problem with the hardware itself. So although we brought it with our systems, and we used it to manage all the systems: the storage, the switches, and everything, nevertheless we have to support every part alone and enter the interface in one-by-one."

"The most valuable feature of the Lenovo Flex System is the storage system."

"The product could improve its integration capabilities."

"The solution's firmware and driver upgrades are a bit difficult."

"The solution could improve by providing more integration with other platforms."

"It does not have the same module flexibility that was present in IBM Blade. On the Blade System, I was able to choose between the Cisco module, or BMC module. Since the switch to Lenovo, I have not had the same choice of modules, only the BMC modules."

"Flex System's integration with the XClarity Management System could be improved."

"Forced restarts due to free upgrades is an issue that needs to be resolved. We can manage this as we have high availability and redundancy, but without that it could be a real problem."

More Lenovo Flex System cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There is a very expensive one-time cost with no licensing fees."

"The pricing is not very cheap. I would rate the pricing a seven out of ten, with one being very inexpensive, and ten being very expensive."

"We have the whole maintenance for the 3 years, starting the deployment. We also have the VMware license for 3 years and I think we have another license to buy. There are no additional costs besides licensing."

"We are just paying the operational cost, which is not much."

"The is an annual license cost to use the Lenovo Flex System. If the price was less expensive and flexible overall and for additional features, our customers would be happier."

"The price is interesting. I am able to quote a client based on their needs and offer them either Lenovo or Dell."

"There is a one-off payment to buy the equipment and the support is purchased annually."

"The 14 blade server allows significant room for upscaling before having to invest in another chassis. You would have to purchase another chassis much sooner in the case of an eight or nine blade server."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

14%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Government

10%

Computer Software Company

20%

Financial Services Firm

20%

Government

12%

Real Estate/Law Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about HPE Superdome X?

I like the robustness of the machine. Similar performance could likely be achieved with other configurations, but this machine is very stable.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HPE Superdome X?

The pricing is not very cheap. I would rate the pricing a seven out of ten, with one being very inexpensive, and ten being very expensive.

See all answers

What needs improvement with HPE Superdome X?

In this specific model, it could be beneficial to have a server configuration similar to Cisco, like the kind offered in HPE Superdome Flex X280. The ability to separate the chassis is important be...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Lenovo Flex System?

Compared to its quality, the pricing is very reasonable and represents good value.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Lenovo Flex System?

Continuing the production of this product is necessary. It is currently out of support, and we are seeking support from other sources besides Lenovo.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Lenovo Flex System?

We are using Lenovo Flex System on the server for our VMware environment, which includes our VMs and all our servers, Linux and Windows. It manages the daily operation efficiently.

See all answers

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Blade Servers

February 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Blade Servers

February 2025

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Also Known As

HP Integrity Superdome, HP Superdome X

Flex System Blade Servers, Flex System SN Series

Overview

HPE Superdome X is an HPE server that represents a new category of x86 modular, mission-critical systems to consolidate all tiers of critical applications on a common platform. Engineered with trusted Superdome 2 reliability, the HPE Superdome X includes a modular, bladed design, and shares HPE BladeSystem efficiencies including a common server management framework, supported from x86 to Superdome 2. With breakthrough innovations such as the fault-tolerant Crossbar Fabric and Error Analysis Engine coupled with hard partitioning capabilities, Superdome X sets the standard for mission-critical x86 computing.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Flex System is Lenovo’s proven, 2nd generation blade, that efficiently runs your infrastructure applications with up to 80% better density than standard rack server deployments.

Lenovo

Sample Customers

Pella

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

HPE Superdome X vs. Lenovo Flex System

January 2025

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