Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series vs VxRail comparison

Lenovo and Dell Technologies are both solutions in the HCI category. Lenovo is ranked #20 with an average rating of 8.0, while Dell Technologies is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.4. Lenovo holds a 1.3% mindshare in HCI, compared to Dell Technologies’s 19.7% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Lenovo users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 93% of Dell Technologies users who would recommend it.

Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series

Read 5 Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series reviews

1,392 Views
1,135 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

VxRail

Read 130 VxRail reviews

23,372 Views
15,141 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series

VxRail

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 31, 2024

VxRail and Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series are competing hyper-converged infrastructure solutions designed for simplifying data center operations. VxRail has an advantage in integrated VMware features, while Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series offers customization, appealing to those who prioritize flexibility.

Features: VxRail provides seamless VMware ecosystem integration, automated lifecycle management, and robust scalability options. Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series offers a flexible architecture with customizable storage and processing capabilities, beneficial for environments needing tailored solutions.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: VxRail highlights rapid deployment capabilities with comprehensive support services. Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series focuses on a modular deployment strategy with robust support customization, catering to varied IT landscapes.

Pricing and ROI: VxRail offers competitive setup costs, emphasizing lower long-term operational expenses for a favorable ROI in VMware-centric environments. Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series may have higher initial costs, delivering significant ROI through its versatile infrastructure for diverse IT settings.

To learn more, read our detailed Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series vs. VxRail Report (Updated: January 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series vs. VxRail

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

Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series

Ranking in HCI

20th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

8.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

VxRail

Ranking in HCI

1st

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

130

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the HCI category, the mindshare of Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series is 1.3%, down from 1.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VxRail is 19.7%, down from 21.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

HCI

Featured Reviews

Genesis Dapoza

Email Administrator at Technopaq, Inc.

simplifies management for clients familiar with VMware, and offers a user-friendly management and configuration experience

With the VX machines, the clients often confuse the hardware itself with the services and resources. VMs are configured according to resources - memory, hard disk capacity, and network. These resources, including memory and processor, are actually shared on the VX Series. So, if the server's processor is underpowered or unreliable for the VMs, many of the VMs will encounter issues. Ideally, the physical server configuration should align more closely with the needs of the virtual servers. The drawback is that the hardware resources (CPU, memory, storage) are shared among all the VMs running on the VX Series. If the server's processor is underpowered for the VMs, many of the VMs might have performance issues. An improvement could be to have more granular control over resource allocation to VMs.

Read full review

Rami Jadallah

Data Center Solution Manager at a computer software company with 51-200 employees

Streamline management and integration with seamless upgrades

The primary reasons customers choose VxRail include ease of management, ease of upgrades, and integration with VMware. The hyper-converged infrastructure simplifies software and hardware upgrades. Customers prefer the single pane of glass management and integration with VMware, which makes it easier for them to proceed with decisions involving VMware products.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Installation is straightforward because it's a vSAN. It only took one or two days."

"Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series' deployment is easy. We are a tier-one platinum partner who is into multiple implementations."

"The VX machines are scalable."

"The clients like the solution’s simplicity."

"We find the setup quite straightforward and very easy."

"The installation process is very quick. When you purchase it, it's up and running without much delay. Adding any additional components is simple, allowing for easy and fast scaling without adding complexity. The centralized management portal makes it easy to manage the entire system."

"The simplicity and manageability of VxRail are most valuable. We have a very good experience with this product. Its stability and scalability are also very good."

"VxRail does not require fiber switches or external storage. It's easy to replace and manage. It's centralized management through VxRail Manager."

"You don't have to worry too much about the hardware and you don't have to work on integrating a storage device. We instead have this as an all-in-one solution and everything is available as a box."

"The solution is really stable."

"VxRail is very cost-effective and affordable in the long term. It is more recommended when it comes to financial life, but it may depend upon the license. VxRail comes with VMware licensing, which may not be that cost-effective as compared to others. With VMware, it's an auto check competition. VMware is an expensive solution, especially for Nutanix. Nutanix have their own hypervisor called Acronis, which is very cost-effective against the VMware. Nutanix is cheaper for the hardware but not for the software. If you ask the Nutanix partners to deploy Nutanix over Cisco servers or Dell EMC servers, the cost will be higher. Nutanix wants to compete financially. Therefore, they propose their software over the Supermicro server, which is a very cheap Chinese server. In fact, I don't like their terms of service. HyperFlex has the highest price, and it is very expensive. I don't know why. It may be because this is a UCS system, which comes from Cisco and is already expensive. When it comes to HyperFlex, they need the labor to deploy Hyper-V, Citrix, or any other hypervisor."

"It's a good product based on the features. You can upgrade the solution with only one click."

"The initial setup was not complex."

More VxRail pros

Cons

"Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series needs to improve its stability. Its resolution should be faster."

"The product must provide AI features."

"Support could be better."

"With the VX machines, the clients often confuse the hardware itself with the services and resources. VMs are configured according to resources - memory, hard disk capacity, and network. These resources, including memory and processor, are actually shared on the VX Series. So, if the server's processor is underpowered or unreliable for the VMs, many of the VMs will encounter issues. Ideally, the physical server configuration should align more closely with the needs of the virtual servers."

"The user management could be a bit better. It's something they could improve upon in future releases."

"When using hybrid nodes, such as VxRail, there should not be compression and deduplication, only in All-Flash nodes."

"The support charges for VxRail should be optimized and made cheaper."

"I would like them to include an easier solution to host its own DNS. When they changed to version 6.5, they took out the easy features of letting the rail be its own DNS. You can still trick the system and make the VxRail Manager another one of the rail-required VMs become the DNS, but it's a lot of extra work. I'd like to see it put back into the UI."

"It would be nice if its installation can be simplified, but it is currently not too bad. They can provide deduplication and compression in hybrid configurations. To the best of my knowledge, these features are not there, and it would be nice if these are added. Some of its competitors already have these features, so it will help VxRail to have a better feature set and compete more effectively."

"The fact that is based on vSAN is the main issue of this solution."

"Lacks integration of licenses so that it's an expensive solution."

"We do not use the storage part of VxRail, we use Pure Storage to map out the VxRail because the disk performance from Pure Storage was far better than the performance of the disk on the inside of VxRail."

"When it comes to maintenance, it takes 16 hours to upgrade a 12 node VxRail plus. This could be improved in the system."

More VxRail cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There is room for improvement in the licensing structure, maybe. Regarding sizing the resources, sometimes it's difficult to calculate/compute them based on the client's requirements."

"The tool is expensive."

"The tool's pricing is competitive."

"You need to pay a license for additional features. If we need to monitor hardware for the automatic alert notification, we need to pay them."

"The price of VxRail highly depends on your design and your configuration. For example, if I connect Pure Storage directly to ESXi hosts and bypass Fiber Channel switches and I will save on money. However, it reduces my redundancy and makes it not as robust of deployment and easy to manage. An HCI environment, it's more cost-effective than utilizing a traditional SAN. With storage and computing altogether, you don't necessarily have to involve the networking team as much. I don't necessarily need somebody that understands Brocade's or Cisco Fiber Channel Switches, because I have it all right there."

"There is a permanent vSAN license included since it is required, but vCenter\ESXi host licensing should be validated in the purchase process."

"The solution is very expensive."

"Compare it to what you spent on your last solution."

"Compare the VxRail product to Nutanix. Nutanix has more features, but its pricing is higher."

"The price could be lower."

"We made a one-time purchase of the solution and the price is expensive."

"The licensing of vSAN and VMware for different editions of VxRail is not easy."

More VxRail pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

16%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Government

Healthcare Company

Computer Software Company

15%

Manufacturing Company

12%

Government

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series?

The VX machines are scalable.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series?

The licensing model is moderately complex. The tool is expensive. It is VMware’s fault, though.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series?

The product must provide AI features. It depends on VMware since the core is software. The solution must provide a more detailed plan to enable simplicity of use.

See all answers

How does HPE Nimble Storage compare to VxRail?

HPE Nimble Storage dHCI Vs. VxRail One of the best things about the HPE Nimble Storage dHCI is the three, two, one, zero rule. That means I need three copies of my data on two different types of me...

See all answers

What Is The Biggest Difference Between vSAN And VxRail?

While both run on the vSAN technology from VMware, vSAN needs to be deployed on vSAN ready nodes while VxRail is an engineered system. The choice to choose which technology depends on two major fac...

See all answers

What are the major differences between VxRail and Dell EMC PowerFlex?

VxRail vs. Dell EMC PowerFlex VxRail provides stable solutions for technical problems while at the same time not being too expensive for a company to invest in. Even if the user is working with a l...

See all answers

Comparisons

Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series vs Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series

Compared 25% of the time

Dell vSAN Ready Nodes vs Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series

Compared 17% of the time

HPE Alletra dHCI vs Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series

Compared 12% of the time

HPE Hyper Converged vs Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series

Compared 9% of the time

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) vs Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series

Compared 4% of the time

More Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series Competitors

Dell PowerFlex vs VxRail

Compared 33% of the time

VMware vSAN vs VxRail

Compared 21% of the time

HPE SimpliVity vs VxRail

Compared 13% of the time

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) vs VxRail

Compared 6% of the time

Azure Stack HCI vs VxRail

Compared 2% of the time

More VxRail Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

HCI

February 2025

Download Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series product report

Buyer's Guide

VxRail

January 2025

Download VxRail product report

Also Known As

Lenovo VX Series, ThinkAgile VX Series

VCE VxRail

Overview

Differentiating yourself from the competition is vital in today’s fast-moving business environment. To support your business, IT systems must be simple, agile, and cost-effective so you can meet your customers’ requirements to be ever online. Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series enables you to meet these requirements by focusing on the business outcome you require, rather than on building your infrastructure.

ThinkAgile VX Series, powered by VMware vSAN, is available in several models. Each is preconfigured, pretested, and optimized to provide the simplest way to bring a new VMware hyperconverged environment online. If you have an existing VMware environment, the VX Series can integrate into it easily.

Designed for any size business from SMBs through large enterprises, VX Series can be used as infrastructure for remote office/branch office (ROBO) and retail stores as well as virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) and enterprise applications.

Lenovo

VxRail is a hyper-converged appliance based on VMware virtual SAN Software and is jointly engineered and built with VMware, for VMware, to enhance Vmware. VxRail software-defined architecture simplifies compute, storage, virtualization, and management. It will safeguard performance, reliability, and flexibility across your organization with a broad range of workloads and applications from business-critical to next-gen. With VxRail, you are covered.

VxRail is a single turn-key appliance that is a validated, fully integrated, pre-configured, pre-tested solution and offers non-disruptive scaling. Every node includes compute storage and IO. All-flash configurations can contain between 12-28 cores per node. The storage capacity options run from 7.6 TB to 19TB with either 256 GB or 512GB of memory. Hybrid appliances may have 6-20 cores per node, 3.6 TB to 10 TB of storage capacity, and 24GB to 256 GB of memory.

VxRail offers high availability fail-over, an active/active stretch cluster, and VSan Kernal integration. VxRail is a power-edged server with APIs built on automation. There are over 15 million different combinations of hardware available with VxRail. VxRail provides a simple, cost-effective solution that solves a large range of use cases. Additionally, you also get a mixed workloads automated system that is backed with fully automated system updates, and complete end-to-end lifecycle management all in a single two-rack appliance.

VxRail is a value-added suitable solution for distributed small to mid-sized enterprises, remote offices, private clouds, and virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI). You choose the deployment option that best suits your organizational needs, from appliance to integrated rack offerings, with or without networking, and it will be delivered to you, ready to deploy out-of-box.

If you know VMware, you know VxRail.

VxRail Features and Benefits

Seamlessly accelerate deployment to a hybrid cloud
Fast data center modernization
Create developer-ready Kubernetes platforms

Powerful performance and reliability
Improve and simplify operational efficiency
Excellent integration
Save time
Reduce costs

Reviews from Real Users

VxRail is an all-in-one solution: "You don't have to worry too much about the hardware and you don't have to work on integrating a storage device. We instead have this as an all-in-one solution and everything is available as a box."

VxRail is remarkable: “The cover points feature in VxRail is remarkable. It's unique. It has an intervention failover system as well as an automatic failover system, reaching clusters existing in VxRail…”

VxRail is a powerful performer: “...VxRail delivers a very high number of IOPS for a hybrid configuration or an all-flash configuration. The processors that are available in the Xeon family are very powerful. They are multi-core with typically 2 gigahertz, 2.4 gigahertz, or higher frequency, so the performance is very much appreciated.”

Dell Technologies

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

World Wide Technology Inc, Renault Sport Formula One Team, 8x8 Inc, Brownes, Canadian Pacific, Canopy, Denton, EDF, Unilin, Xerox

Buyer's Guide

Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series vs. VxRail

January 2025

Free Report: Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series vs. VxRail

Find out what your peers are saying about Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series vs. VxRail and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.

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