Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series vs SteelFusion comparison

Lenovo and Riverbed are both solutions in the HCI category. Lenovo is ranked #18 with an average rating of 8.0, while Riverbed is ranked #27. Lenovo holds a 0.8% mindshare in HCI, compared to Riverbed’s 0.2% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Lenovo users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Riverbed users who would recommend it.

Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series

Read 3 Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series reviews

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100% willing to recommend

SteelFusion

Read 2 SteelFusion reviews

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111 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series

SteelFusion

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 31, 2024

SteelFusion and Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series are advanced infrastructure solutions competing in the IT infrastructure domain. SteelFusion seems to have the upper hand in data optimization and centralized management, while Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series excels in scalability and integration.

Features: SteelFusion offers WAN optimization, centralized management, and streamlined branch management, ideal for distributed workflows. Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series provides Hyperconverged Infrastructure, high availability, and scalability, suitable for businesses seeking seamless integration and growth capacity.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SteelFusion offers a straightforward deployment process with centralized management tailored for distributed networks and provides prompt customer service. Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series ensures robust pre-integrated solutions compatible with VMware and Nutanix, providing flexible deployment options but potentially more complex initial setups. Lenovo’s support is comprehensive, meeting enterprise-grade requirements.

Pricing and ROI: SteelFusion presents a compelling cost-to-benefit ratio with reduced management overhead and WAN usage, offering quick ROI. Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series may involve higher initial costs, but its integration and scalability deliver long-term value, justifying the investment for scalable and integrated deployments.

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Buyer's Guide

HCI

March 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

Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series

Ranking in HCI

18th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

SteelFusion

Ranking in HCI

27th

Average Rating

9.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the HCI category, the mindshare of Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series is 0.8%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SteelFusion is 0.2%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

HCI

Featured Reviews

Adeel Hashmi

IT Technical Advisor at a construction company with 501-1,000 employees

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.

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it_user866178

Chief Technology Officer at MAZZETTI+GBA

Sync to Central and edge protection mitigate my risk in our branch offices

The level of tech support depends on who you get. There are some techs that just read the script and ask you if you’ve rebooted, but once you get past that - or if you have a very technical issue - the support is great. They really know the product and get you up and running again ASAP.

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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

"The most valuable features of the Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series are the ease of use and simple configuration."

"The initial setup is simple. We were able to deliver the hyper-convergence solution in a very good time."

"The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that the product's deployment phase is pretty easy."

"Sync to Central and edge protection mitigate my risk in our branch offices. All services that need to be local to the user exist on local servers. Users run applications and access data locally while the data is constantly being synced to Central, and protected. If an edge device fails, we can recover quickly."

Cons

"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."

"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."

"Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series could improve by having better integration with the solutions from VMware and vCenter"

"Setting up disks for use is a multi-step process that could use some refinement. Setting up a core-to-core replication or DR strategy is also cumbersome."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

"Price is an issue – this is expensive stuff. My advice is to beat up Riverbed as much as possible on price. These things are expensive and there is room for negotiation."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

15%

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Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

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Company Size

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Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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Questions from the Community

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.

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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.

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What needs improvement with Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series?

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Comparisons

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Compared 36% of the time

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HPE SimpliVity vs Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series

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VxRail vs Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series

Compared 10% of the time

HPE Alletra dHCI vs Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series

Compared 9% of the time

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Red Hat Hyperconverged Infrastructure vs SteelFusion

Compared 100% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

HCI

March 2025

Download Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series product report

Buyer's Guide

HCI

March 2025

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Also Known As

Lenovo HX Series, ThinkAgile HX Series

No data available

Overview

Designed for easy deployment and manageability in scale-out clusters, the Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series combines Nutanix software with Lenovo’s highly reliable and scalable servers. These appliances ship fully integrated, tested, and configured so that you can dramatically accelerate your time to value and reduce your infrastructure maintenance.

Lenovo

Riverbed SteelFusion is the first and only hyper-converged infrastructure for branch IT, enables 100% consolidation of branch data and servers from remote sites into data centers, delivering complete data security and centralized data protection, without compromising on any of the benefits of running branch services locally for your users. SteelFusion eliminates the need for physical servers, storage and backup infrastructure at branch locations, creates the ability to instantly provision and recover branch services, and provides full visibility and superior performance of on-premises and cloud-based applications, leading to dramatic increases in data security, business continuity, agility and operational efficiency.

Riverbed

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Roxtec, Engen, Bobst, CBP, IUCN, Mahoning County, Kentucky Transportation Cabinet

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