Responsable arwuitectura at a transportation company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Top 20
Simplifies storage management and improves performance
Pros and Cons
  • "Its flexibility is valuable because we have had some moments where we had to adapt, and it has been quite flexible."
  • "We are happy with the service in general. The only thing would be the price of the platform."

What is our primary use case?

We use Dell PowerStore in all corporate infrastructures. It is being used in the two data centers that we have here in Madrid. We have it deployed on all our systems.

By implementing Dell PowerStore, we mainly wanted to cover all the needs for our ERP and our entire corporate system.

How has it helped my organization?

The performance of the storage layer has improved.

We use CloudIQ to manage and analyze our Dell storage. It has significantly simplified storage management and helped us feel more calm about this issue.

The overall energy consumption of Dell PowerStore is appropriate.

I have felt a change in terms of the data consolidation/footprint reduction as compared to our old system, but I cannot say exactly how much reduction there is.

When it comes to the values around environment, social, and governance (ESG values), they are very committed to the whole issue of sustainability. I am happy to know that their goals are in favor of this issue. It is an initiative that stands out in today's market.

What is most valuable?

Its flexibility is valuable because we have had some moments where we had to adapt, and it has been quite flexible.

What needs improvement?

We are happy with the service in general. The only thing would be the price of the platform.

Buyer's Guide
Dell PowerStore
May 2024
Learn what your peers think about Dell PowerStore. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: May 2024.
771,170 professionals have used our research since 2012.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Dell PowerStore for three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is very good. We have not had any problems with them. They are very robust storage cabins.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have already scaled several times, and the result has been very satisfactory.

How are customer service and support?

Their support is very good.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We used CX 340, CX 500, VNX, VPLEX, and a few others. We switched mainly because of technological evolution and performance.

Nowadays, we are required to find a solution that gives storage options for high-weighted data. It is something that the management is asking us to do. We need to incorporate services that are sustainable and that help us reduce our impact and our carbon footprint.

How was the initial setup?

The implementation was not complex. The whole process was very simple.

We had a clear migration strategy. We have had virtualized storage for a long time. In the end, it was a replacement of other EMC arrays because we had the old VNXs and Unity deployed. The migration process was done in the best recommended way, considering the client’s use case. We relied on VPLEX, and that allowed us to have no loss of service and quite high flexibility. We used KISER services for this.

What was our ROI?

I have seen an ROI in terms of the reduction of the space that we need in the data centers and reduction in the computing capacity. We have reduced infrastructure but the same performance.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

It is an expensive service but within the market range.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We did not evaluate other solutions.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate Dell PowerStore a ten out of ten.

Foreign Language:(Spanish)

Simplifica la gestión del almacenamiento y mejora el rendimiento

¿Cuánto tiempo llevas usando esta solución?

He estado usando Dell PowerStore durante tres años.

¿Cuál es su principal caso de uso de esta solución? (Incluya detalles sobre su entorno).

Lo utilizamos en todas las infraestructuras corporativas. Se está utilizando en los dos centros de datos que tenemos aquí en Madrid. Lo tenemos implementado en todos nuestros sistemas.

Al implementar Dell PowerStore, principalmente queríamos cubrir todas las necesidades de nuestro ERP y de todo nuestro sistema corporativo.

Comparta cómo Dell PowerStore ha mejorado su organización. Si no fue así, explique por qué.

El rendimiento de la capa de almacenamiento ha mejorado.

Usamos CloudIQ para administrar y analizar nuestro almacenamiento Dell. Ha simplificado significativamente la gestión del almacenamiento y nos ha ayudado a sentirnos más tranquilos sobre este tema.

El consumo de energía general de Dell PowerStore es apropiado.

He sentido un cambio en términos de consolidación de datos/reducción de huella en comparación con nuestro sistema anterior, pero no puedo decir exactamente cuánta reducción hay.

Cuando se trata de valores ambientales, sociales y de gobernanza (valores ESG), están muy comprometidos con todo el tema de sostenibilidad. Me alegra saber que sus objetivos están a favor de este tema. Es una iniciativa que destaca en el mercado actual.

¿Qué características le han parecido más valiosas y por qué?

Su flexibilidad es valiosa, hemos tenido algunos momentos en los que hemos tenido que adaptarnos y ha sido bastante flexible.

¿En qué áreas se podría mejorar Dell PowerEdge PowerStore?

Estamos contentos con el servicio en general. Lo único sería el precio de la plataforma.

¿Utilizó anteriormente una solución diferente? De ser así, ¿por qué la cambió?

Usamos CX 340, CX 500, VNX, VPLEX y algunos otros. Cambiamos principalmente por la evolución tecnológica y el rendimiento.

Hoy en día, debemos encontrar una solución que brinde opciones de almacenamiento para datos de alto peso. Es algo que la dirección nos pide que hagamos. Necesitamos incorporar servicios que sean sostenibles y que nos ayuden a reducir nuestro impacto y nuestra huella de carbono.

¿Antes de elegir, evaluaste otras opciones? ¿De ser asi, cuales?

No evaluamos otras soluciones.

¿Qué aconseja a otros sobre el costo de instalación, el precio y/o la licencia?

Es un servicio caro pero dentro del alcanc

e del mercado.

¿Cuáles son sus impresiones sobre la escalabilidad de esta solución?

Ya hemos escalado varias veces y el resultado ha sido muy satisfactorio.

¿Cuáles son sus impresiones sobre la estabilidad de esta solución?

La estabilidad es muy buena. No hemos tenido ningún problema con ellos. Son cabinas de almacenamiento muy robustas.

¿Has visto el ROI (Retorno de la Inversión)? En caso afirmativo, ¿de qué manera (es decir, métricas/puntos de datos)?

He visto un ROI en términos de reducción del espacio que necesitamos en los centros de datos y reducción de la capacidad informática. Hemos reducido la infraestructura pero mantenemos el mismo rendimiento.

¿La configuración inicial fue sencilla o compleja y de qué manera?

La implementación no fue compleja. Todo el proceso fue muy sencillo.

Teníamos una estrategia migratoria clara. Hace tiempo que contamos con la modalidad de almacenaje virtualizado. Al final, fue un reemplazo de otros arreglos de EMC porque teníamos implementados los antiguos VNX y Unity. El proceso de migración se realizó de la mejor manera recomendada, considerando el caso de uso del cliente. Confiamos en VPLEX y eso nos permitió no tener pérdida de servicio y tener una flexibilidad bastante alta. Para ello utilizamos los servicios de KISER.

Cuéntanos tu experiencia con el servicio y soporte al cliente.

Su soporte es muy bueno.

¿Cómo calificaría esta solución en una escala del 1 al 10 en cuanto a servicio y soporte?

9.

En una escala del 1 al 10 (1=peor, 10=mejor), ¿cómo calificaría Dell PowerStore? Por favor explique por qué.

Calificaría a Dell PowerStore con un diez.



Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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PeerSpot user
Niraj  Shah - PeerSpot reviewer
Founder Owner at Interface
Real User
Top 5
Feature-rich, simple to install, and has good performance
Pros and Cons
  • "The main feature of Dell PowerStore is its support for NVMe as well as hybrid solutions."
  • "We would consider this solution if the pricing is competitive with other options, as it offers a very good solution. However, the current price is slightly higher than the competition."

What is our primary use case?

Dell PowerStore is used in the BFS industry.

What is most valuable?

The main feature of Dell PowerStore is its support for NVMe as well as hybrid solutions.

We require the most up-to-date NVMe technology.

We like the performance of Dell PowerStore.

Most of the features are available, including support for NVMe and a mix-and-match of storage devices.

What needs improvement?

Dell PowerStore is quite expensive.

We would consider this solution if the pricing is competitive with other options, as it offers a very good solution. However, the current price is slightly higher than the competition.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with Dell PowerStore for five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Dell PowerStore is stable. I would rate the stability of Dell PowerStore a ten out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Dell PowerStore is a scalable solution.

We have more than 50 customers using Dell PowerStore.

We have a team of two or three people who deploy this solution.

We have 25 engineers.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is very straightforward.

The deployment process only took around thirty minutes.

What about the implementation team?

The deployment process is being handled by my technical team. As the owner of the company, I am not involved in the actual deployment.

What was our ROI?

Dell PowerStore is a good return on investment.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

There are no separate licenses required as all the basic licenses are included in the bundle.

The licenses required may vary based on the customer's specific requirements, such as for decompression, deduplication, disaster recovery data, log shipping, and so on.

What other advice do I have?

I would suggest considering Dell PowerStore for various other applications, such as file storage and video storage, due to its capabilities and features.

I would rate Dell PowerStore a ten out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Dell PowerStore
May 2024
Learn what your peers think about Dell PowerStore. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: May 2024.
771,170 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Marc Gaethofs - PeerSpot reviewer
ICT manager at Thys Bouwprojecten
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
An appliance that is well-suited for a variety of use cases when it comes to virtualization
Pros and Cons
  • "A particularly valuable feature is its simplicity."
  • "Data reduction needs improvement."

What is our primary use case?

It's a good product, especially for companies dealing with virtualization. It's well-suited for a broad range of use cases and stands out when it comes to tasks like personalization. If you require power and flexibility in that regard, it's a reasonably priced, straightforward product that is easy to manage. It delivers on its promises without unnecessary complexity.

What is most valuable?

A particularly valuable feature is its simplicity. The reporting tools and support are good, and the solution promotes data reduction, often meeting the compression ratio. You can initially invest in less upfront capacity and expand later as needed.

What needs improvement?

Data reduction needs improvement. While the reporting is generally good for general purposes, it may lack sufficient detail for more technical analysis. If you want to delve into where your I/Os are going, the reporting might need more in-depth information to make informed decisions.

For how long have I used the solution?

I’ve been using the solution for around three years.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable within regions. It allows you to scale up to four nodes in one tool for extensive storage. You can create as many tools as needed, providing scalability based on the use case. It performs well for midsized use cases, especially those involving up to a hundred servers for virtualization. However, you might consider alternative products for more complex and larger-scale operations.

How are customer service and support?

The technical support is good as they continuously monitor the system remotely through a support agent. This agent provides critical alerts, and the response time is typically within an hour.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward. Firstly, the initial step involves unboxing, followed by configuring connectivity. There are various types of connectivity setups, including straight connectivity, direct connect, and private channel connectivity, offering diverse IT capacity configurations. The setup process encompasses unboxing, provisioning power, and connecting to the necessary switches. However, it's crucial to begin with a well-thought-out plan. One person is required to set up the solution.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The pricing is good. There's no need to pay for a license; it's all-inclusive. The only cost is associated with a support contract based on the level of support you desire.

What other advice do I have?

I recommend this solution, especially if you're not moving everything to the cloud and require reliable local storage. It proves to be an excellent choice.

I rate Dell PowerStore a nine out of ten.
 

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
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PeerSpot user
StanislawTrajewski - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Director at SANHA Polska
Real User
Top 10
Good scalability and efficient data compression process
Pros and Cons
  • "It is a stable solution."
  • "The solution's pricing could be better."

What is our primary use case?

We use the solution for visualization and protection of the environment.

What is most valuable?

The solution's most valuable features are the quick data compression process and ease of scalability for all types of support contracts.

What needs improvement?

The solution's pricing could be better.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using the solution for half a year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is a stable solution.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is a scalable solution. We have more than 300 end users and two administrators using it. We also plan to increase the usage.

How are customer service and support?

The solution's customer service is excellent.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

The solution's initial setup was straightforward. It took one or two days to complete it.

What about the implementation team?

Our in-house team of two executives implemented the solution.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The price of the solution is high compared to IBM. There are additional costs for storage and support apart from the standard license.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We evaluated IBM and Fujitsu storage before. In comparison with Dell, IBM has stable software. But Dell is perfect for technical support and training, helping us make the right decisions. Also, we can choose between different strategies or configurations. It is more intuitive and complex as well.

What other advice do I have?

I advise others to prefer more disks for the solution than standard ones. Also, wait to install updates after release. Overall, it is a great product. I rate it as a ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Technical Team Leader for Servers and Storage at Orange
Real User
Saves us power and floor space, and we can quickly assign new data stores for our developers' VMs
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature is that it is easy to use this frame. I am a SAN administrator, but I was able to train my colleague, who had only been a VMware administrator, on the PowerStore in about half a day. Now he's autonomous in assigning volumes and creating data stores..."
  • "The NAS part is very poor. It's very basic. Even Dell EMC has said that to us. We are waiting for version 3 of PowerStore for that. This must be improved and it is in the roadmap."

What is our primary use case?

We use the PowerStore for our development environment. The frame is a repository for all our VMware infrastructure data stores and the applications that live on those data stores are mainly real-time voice applications in call centers.

We use it with Cisco switches and it's pure block only.

How has it helped my organization?

Thanks to the duplication and data savings, we have a lot of capacity available to us in the PowerStore. That lets us use and consume logical capacity, which can be done very quickly compared to having to install physical resources inside the PowerStore. The data reduction process is very efficient resulting in very high data reduction if you compare the PowerStore to legacy frames from Dell EMC. This is a very good benefit for us. We were able to very quickly connect new servers and instantly have capacity on the frame because of the data reduction. Moving forward, we can add more disks inside. We plan to have seven drives added in the coming weeks. So we are able to independently add servers, even if we don't have the actual physical capacity on the frame itself.

We have also seen a lot of savings because of the data reduction efficiency, which is currently 4:1 or 5:1.

We will also decommission old frames, and the maintenance contracts on those frames are very expensive. We will save some money as a result and we will also realize some power savings. We also have some environmental-related "green" engagements in Orange, and PowerStore is helping us go in that direction.

There are also space savings because the old frames are using a full rack while the PowerStore is only a 2U unit with almost the same amount of data being stored on it. That is very good. 

So it will save us floor space, energy, and money on maintenance contracts.

Our development team is very happy with us, from an admin perspective. When they query us for more capacity, we are very quick to respond and provide them with resources. If they want to deploy new machines, for example, we can quickly assign new data stores that those VMs will rely on. We have saved a lot of time thanks to the PowerStore.

And because the performance of the PowerStore is very high, we can connect many servers on the same frame, instead of having to multiply frames, side-by-side, to get enough power to serve our IOPS. We are working on real-time applications, so we can't afford a response time of more than 10 milliseconds or 15 milliseconds as a maximum. We can't support a greater lag in a call center. The PowerStore now is less than a millisecond, and that is with more load on it. On one VNX we have two or three VMware clusters with four or five ESXis per cluster. On the PowerStore I have, say, 10 clusters and each has about eight ESXis.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature is that it is easy to use this frame. I am a SAN administrator, but I was able to train my colleague, who had only been a VMware administrator, on the PowerStore in about half a day. Now he's autonomous in assigning volumes and creating data stores, et cetera. I don't have to help him anymore. That is the beauty of this unit and it's due to the effort Dell EMC put into the GUI.

The VMware integration is very good. It integrates all the vSphere interactions when you create your data store, directly from the PowerStore GUI, into your VMware cluster. My colleague who was the VMware administrator is now able, in one shot, to provision his storage and automatically create a data store relying on this storage. That has freed up some of his time.

Another important feature is the power of this frame. It's very powerful. We have almost less than a millisecond of response time, all the time, even during backup windows. That's very good compared with the VNX, of which we have two. We also have a Unity connected on this same SAN for the same kind of application. We did a comparison among the three models of frames, the VNX, which is rather old, the Unity full flash, which is not so old, and the PowerStore. PowerStore is really on top of all of them.

Of course, it enables us to add compute and capacity independently. We add a lot of VMware clusters in our SAN thanks to the PowerStore. We are going to decommission the old VNXs because it's better adding capacity on the PowerStore than keeping the old models.

What needs improvement?

The NAS capabilities have room for improvement. Currently, when you buy the PowerStore T model, you have a choice of using only block—it's block-optimized—or you can buy it as a unified frame. With the latter, you can access the frame using either block—Fibre Channel or iSCSI, and on the other side you can access it using IP protocols, like NFS or CIFS. This is the NAS part and, currently, the NAS part is very poor. It's very basic. Even Dell EMC has said that to us. We are waiting for version 3 of PowerStore for that. This must be improved and it is in the roadmap.

We have other NAS solutions, but if someone wanted to have a unified frame, this is not the right solution, currently. That's why it's not a 10 out of 10. When we will have version 3 of PowerStore's operating system, in less six than months, my rating will probably go up.

For how long have I used the solution?

The PowerStore was introduced in June of last year and I adopted the first one in Europe, in August last year, so we have had it for about seven months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is very stable.

The issue we had with PowerStore was due to being a very early adopter. We got a better version of the PowerStore operating system, but the upgrade that came after that, relying on the better version, was not easy to run. We decided to reinstall the PowerStore with a fresh, new, official operating system.

So the stability of the initial PowerStore was good enough for production, but not as good as we would have expected for this kind of frame. The four PowerStores we have that were installed with an official release are very stable. 

We faced issues, but that was normal because the PowerStore was totally new at that time. No one had experience with it. When Dell EMC came onsite to install our first one, it was the very first in Europe.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

There are two ways to scale. You can scale up and out. You can easily add shelves to add more physical capacity to your appliance. If that's not enough, you can add an appliance to your federation. It's very easy.

We are on the T model, not the X model. It's pure block and we are external ESXi-connected. We need a lot of servers because we have more than 100 developers working on this frame. They all need their own clusters because there are different applications under development. An X model would not have been enough.

In the future, if the PowerStore 5k is not powerful enough, we could upgrade it to a 7K or a 9k or the new 7200 models that are coming out in a few months. But the magic is that we could do that with the data in place, inside the frame, keeping the drive. That is one of the highlights when it comes to simplifying things.

How are customer service and support?

As a very big company and as a partner, we have a particular kind of access to support. We have a dedicated global account manager. All we have to do is snap our fingers and we have the guy on the phone. The quality of support is okay. I can also access the product manager of the product. I am Dell EMC-certified, so it's very easy for me to access support documentation.

Sometimes, their support doesn't really understand the customer's position. For example, some weeks ago we had an issue on a frame. Dell EMC engineering focused on what was really happening instead of trying to bypass the problem. They didn't succeed in recreating the issue we had in their lab, so they were using our infrastructure as their lab. It was a development environment so it was not harmful for production. But in the end, it was a time-consuming issue for us.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

You don't have to worry about the deployment. It's already done for you when the frame is powered up. That is another aspect of how it simplifies your implementation. Dell EMC comes onsite to do the initial power-up of the frame itself. After that, we do everything by ourselves.

Aside from that—and this is important—because we were early adopters, there were some features that were mandatory at the time, and they complicated the initial deployment a little. The top-of-rack switches that are mandatory when you use a federation are no longer needed if you use a single appliance. That was our case. At the time we deployed our first PowerStore, we had a single appliance, but we needed the top-of-rack switches to be set up for a potential future connection with other appliances, if we wanted to go to a federation.

Now, with version 2 of PowerStore, you don't need to deploy top-of-rack switches if you have a single appliance. That can be done later on, if you go to the federated setup. This is a very good improvement because many customers have a single appliance. It's so powerful that you probably don't initially need a federation. Now, you don't need top-of-rack switches set up but used for nothing.

Because ours was one of the first PowerStores, Dell EMC took a day to deploy it. Afterward, for the other PowerStores we have deployed in the data center, it took less than half a day. With the last one we will deploy, which should happen next week, we will not have top-of-rack switches. There will be no connectivity to set up and no Fibre to run, so it should take two hours.

We had to migrate data out of the legacy frame we previously had to go to the PowerStore, but it was very easy because all was done on our side on our servers, so it was very quick.

What was our ROI?

We have definitely seen ROI due to our data savings as a result of the data reduction. Instead of buying one-to-one drives, we buy half a drive.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Licensing is very simple. Everything is included in the basic license. There are no concerns about having to pay to add a feature. Everything is there. 

Because we are a big partner, we get good prices from Dell EMC. They know we will resell their technology, so I'm not in a good position to discuss the pricing that applies to non-partners.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We have almost the entire portfolio of Dell EMC products, from VNXs to PowerMax. We also have some other vendors, of course, but they are not as powerful as this one.

What other advice do I have?

My advice would be don't hesitate. It's a good frame. It's doing what it is designed for. It serves IOPS very well. The data savings are very important and the response time is very short. There are always tricky situations that come up, but honestly, since our PowerStore went live, I don't have to worry about the storage for this environment. The VMware guys are independent. They don't need me anymore.

We accepted the risk, due to the fact that it was a relatively new platform, when we went with PowerStore. We were totally aware of that fact. That is why we put the first one into our development area, and not production. Even if we have more than 100 developers working on it, any problems would affect developers, not production. We understood there could be costs because having 100 developers not doing anything during a day costs money. But PowerStore didn't disappoint us. We are very happy with it. We now have four in production.

We are a Dell partner, so we also resell PowerStore to our end-users. When we initially built this frame, we wanted, say, 100 terabytes, but they persuaded us to only buy 40 terabytes of SSD or NVMe drives because of the savings that they said we would see from the data reduction efficiency. The program they gave us was that if we didn't achieve that kind of data efficiency, they would provide us some disks for free.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
Storage Specialist at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Top 10
Great support and great for smaller businesses but needs more maturity
Pros and Cons
  • "The support is very good."
  • "It needs more mature code."

What is our primary use case?

We primarily use the solution as a POC. We have Extreme IOs that we're looking to replace, and this was brought in as a potential replacement for them.

How has it helped my organization?

For our scenario, it doesn't really fit the bill for where we're trying to go. The unit's fine. Unfortunately, it's a relatively greenfield type of product and we're looking for something with a little more robustness that's been in the field more. PowerMax works great, of course, and that's probably what we're going to go to instead. We just decided Power Store was just not going to fit the bill for what we needed. We needed something with a higher tier in the end.

What is most valuable?

The support is very good. 

For smaller shops, the solution is useful. 

What needs improvement?

We felt like this was just kind of a mix of Extreme IO and Unity. We weren't happy with Unity, which is why we weren't going to use Extreme IO. It seems like they just kind of merged two products and made this solution and while I'm sure it's great for smaller shops, we are not a small shop. 

It needs more mature code. 

The VASA plugins for ESX could be enhanced. My understanding is that that is in the roadmap.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've using the solution for about a year. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I'd rate the stability at a three or four out of ten. It could be more stable.  

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

On a scale from one to ten, I'd rate the solution at a six for scalability.

How are customer service and support?

We've been quite happy with support. they are very good. 

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We're trying out PowerMax, and will likely move in that direction instead of sticking with this product.

What was our ROI?

We have not witnessed any kind of ROI while using the solution. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The pricing could be better. I'd rate it four out of ten. 

What other advice do I have?

For new users, I would heavily suggest they evaluate their environment with real-world loads, not synthetic loads, when considering the solution.

I'd rate the product five out of ten. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Coordinator at a government with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
Top 20
The deduplication features ensure that users get more space to use at a lesser cost
Pros and Cons
  • "The product's initial setup phase was very easy."
  • "When you create a case on Dell's support website, you don't always get someone who is experienced in the kind of systems you need help with...making it an area where Dell's support team needs to make improvements."

What is our primary use case?

In our company, we use Dell PowerStore for IBM SAN Volume Controller. Dell PowerStore is useful for areas like storage, database, and VMware.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature of the solution is the deduplication part, which is very good. The deduplication part of the solution is valuable since, as a user, you get more space for less money.

The product's performance is very good and matches up or exceeds the performance offered by the previous product in our company.

What needs improvement?

I had a session with Dell concerning PowerStoreOS 3.5. The product can provide backup directly to Dell Data Domain, which we use in our environment, which is something nice for the future, but at this point in time, I can't see anything wrong with it.

When you create a case on Dell's support website, you don't always get someone who is experienced in the kind of systems you need help with when you deal with the first line of support offered by Dell PowerStore. Sometimes, you have to explain the issue multiple times to the first line of support, making it an area where Dell's support team needs to make improvements. I understand why the solution's support team is the way it is.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Dell PowerStore for two years.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I have heard that Dell PowerStore offers scalability options, but I have never used it.

How are customer service and support?

The solution's technical support is good. My company has an on-site engineer to provide us with a line of support whenever needed, especially in a short time, which works perfectly for us.

I rate the technical support an eight or nine out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

In our company, we have experience with Dell EMC Unity XT, which prompted us to opt for Dell PowerStore. In our company, we also have experience with Hitachi, which is not so great to use for admins.

How was the initial setup?

The product's initial setup phase was very easy.

For Dell PowerStore's installation phase, my company uses the product's GUI and the tools from some other vendors. Sometimes, it's very difficult to set up the system. Dell PowerStore's installation phase is just like Dell EMC Unity XT, which is very simple.

What about the implementation team?

My company's in-house team members took care of Dell PowerStore's installation phase. Dell only puts the storage array in the rack, after which our company takes care of the solution's installation phase.

What was our ROI?

My company has seen a return on investment from the use of Dell PowerStore since it is a good product that is always up and running. We don't have any issues with it.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The product's pricing model is good, and that is why we have Dell PowerStore in our company. My organization had looked at the products and prices offered by other vendors during our decision-making process. In terms of licensing, my organization has Dell Technologies End User License Agreement (EULA), but I don't know exactly how it works, though it is a big bundle of licenses for Dell Data Domain, Dell EMC Unity XT, Dell PowerStore, Dell ECS, and all such kinds of storage arrays. Dell told us that opting for Dell Technologies End User License Agreement (EULA) can help us improve the entire picture of Dell products and services.

What other advice do I have?

The challenges my company wanted to address through the implementation of the product stemmed from the fact that our previous storage array was full and had reached the end-of-life phase, because of which we needed a tool for lifecycle management purposes, after which we found Dell PowerStore to be a logical choice for us. Previously, my company dealt with a couple of systems from HP, while we also had a lot of Dell systems, so we decided to stick with one vendor, Dell.

My organization uses CloudIQ to manage and analyze Dell PowerStore since we get the option to use standby, so when we get calls after work hours, we don't have to use our laptops since we can just log in via our cell phones and check the status of the storage arrays, which saves a lot of time.

With Dell PowerStore, my company saves a couple of hours a year, though it may not be a lot.

I don't know how I would access Dell PowerStore for its overall energy consumption.

I have seen that the product has an enormous capacity when it comes to significant data consolidation and footprint reduction with the use of Dell PowerStore, especially when compared to our company's old system, which comes up to around 70 percent.

It is tough to assess Dell Technologies for its values around environment, social, and governance. Though the aforementioned values are important for my company and storage admin, even if we don't look at that side of our company, I wouldn't personally mind it.

The product has helped our organization in the area of sustainability. The direct space provided by the product can be considered under the sustainability part of the product since, in our organization, we would need less room and fewer cooling modules, which helps.

For two years in a row, my company has not even seen a failed disk with the use of Dell PowerStore, making it a great product.

I rate the overall solution a nine out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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IT Consultant at a consultancy with 1,001-5,000 employees
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Top 20
Uses less CPU resources, has a high compression ratio, and is extremely stable
Pros and Cons
  • "The PowerStore's compression ratio is even higher than the Unity system."
  • "With PowerStore, we have to choose between block storage and NAS functionality."

What is our primary use case?

We use Dell PowerStore as a storage layer behind the virtualization layer. We have IBM SCC and we have the PowerStore behind that to serve the discs to the SCC and the SCC then presents it to the hosts in the network.

How has it helped my organization?

The high deduplication ratio means that we need less physical storage space. As a result, we have more virtual storage space available to assign to our servers. We have not encountered any problems with the system so far. Therefore, the system is better in terms of both performance and storage efficiency.

The compression ratio is way better with PowerStore. We were getting a ratio of 1:3 and now it is around 1:6. The compression ratio has doubled.

Dell's values around ESG are high and they have been working on those areas throughout the years.

What is most valuable?

We noticed that the PowerStore has a really high compression ratio for data. It's really good for data deduplication and also compressing the data on the drives. The PowerStore's compression ratio is even higher than the Unity system. Also, the way the PowerStore is built with special CPUs for moving data around. The systems also have lower CPU utilization compared to Unity systems.

What needs improvement?

In the past, with Unity, we could run both block storage and configure part of the system as a NAS system. This wasn't ideal, but it provided flexibility. With PowerStore, we have to choose between block storage and NAS functionality. It would be interesting to retain the option to configure PowerStore as a block storage array and try out the NAS features to see how it performs. It was an interesting way to see if we need a certain type of storage. We were able to do that from the same system, and now we have queues when we set up the system, which one it's convenient.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Dell PowerStore for one and a half years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I would rate the stability of Dell PowerStore as ten out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Dell PowerStore is scalable but we are not using the scalability of the system.

How are customer service and support?

The technical support is always quick to respond. They are always willing to help us and if necessary, they will search for a specialist within their Dell network who we can approach with our questions.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We replaced Dell VNX with Dell PowerStore.

How was the initial setup?

The deployment is really easy. If we have a PowerStore and we buy another and arrange all the necessary factors that need to be available in the data center, including cabling, power, and configuration details such as IP addresses and DNS names, it's simple to roll out, and it doesn't take much effort to place it in our data center and have it up and running. It takes a few hours of work if we have done all the prep work to get it up and running.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate Dell PowerStore ten out of ten.

Prior to my joining the organization, they used Hitachi and transitioned to Dell due to cost considerations.

We haven't implemented the latest code yet, but we attended a session at the beginning of the day where they mentioned that backups can now be moved directly to the data domain from the power store. This is an interesting development, as it opens up new possibilities for backup management. For instance, we could now consider placing backup clients on a machine that is specifically designed for this purpose.

Dell PowerStore is doing what it's supposed to do, and it's even doing it better than we were expecting.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Buyer's Guide
Download our free Dell PowerStore Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: May 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Dell PowerStore Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.