Dell PowerStore Reviews

PowerStore is joined to four application servers in a cluster. We're running an application that we use to monitor our activity in the financial markets. We collect all the data from the market—books, trades, orders—that we send to the market. In terms of volume, we are collecting about 100 million rows a day for the books, 10 million a day for the orders, and about 500 rows for public trades.

It is a mission-critical application because of compliance and the regulators. We have to maintain this kind of monitoring because it's a direct link to our activity in the regulated market.

An interesting feature is the guaranteed reduction when it comes to the physical capacity of the disk. We have 30 terabytes of SSD and that is equivalent to 100 terabytes of effective capacity. It allows us to reduce the costs of capacity.

Our previous solution was Dell EMC Compellent. What we have seen immediately is how easy it is to use PowerStore compared to Compellent. PowerStore is much simpler to manage.

The most valuable features include 

• easy of use 
• performance in terms of read-write capacity.

It is also important that you can add compute and capacity independently. We have sized the solution based on our current needs, but in the future we can choose to increase capacity if we grow our activity in the market. And if we have more business in our monetary system, we can increase compute. The ability to choose what we increase is a good feature.

The only area I can highlight for improvement is that the 4:1 data reduction target has not been reached. This may be due to an issue with Dell EMC's initial analysis of data compression. As a result, we have had to add new physical disks to reach our goal of total available disk space. Dell EMC has met us partway on this DRR issue by providing some of the additional disks free of charge, but we have had to purchase the remaining quantity of the disks we need.

We have been using PowerStore in our production environment for a few months, after using it in pre-production for about two months.

The stability has been very good so far.

We have not tested the scalability yet. All our data is well supported in the current solution, but we sized the new solution with more capacity than the previous one had.

The initial setup of PowerStore is a straightforward process. Setting up the Compellent was much more complex.

Overall, the setup took us about three weeks.

We ran it in a pre-production environment initially. We loaded all the data that was in production into the new environment and ran our application in both the pre-production and the production environments, just to test the stability and the availability of the application.

There are four people involved with the solution in our IT operations, and there are about 50 people who use the application that runs on it. Our application is a specific, department-level application, that is used for monitoring the activity in financial markets, so its use is limited to our business area. That is why the number of users is limited.

Dell EMC's support was very efficient during the setup of the entire solution. They handled the complete setup in terms of connections and also helped us with the software configuration and moving data from our old solution into the new solution.

We haven't seen ROI yet, but the return for us will be in the efficiency of monitoring our activities.

The pricing is in line with other vendors' pricing, more or less. There are no costs in addition to the standard fees.

We did not evaluate other solutions because Dell EMC is a partner for us and we're satisfied with them. We have evolved with their solutions and PowerStore is the best. Dell EMC is our vendor and provides us with all our other client-server solutions.

At the moment, I am satisfied by the simplicity and ease of use of the PowerStore.

Most of our PowerStore units are used for VMware VMs and vSphere. We migrated the VMs from our Unity storage.

We have two sites; the data center site (DC) and the disaster recovery (DR) site. We only use the PowerStore on the DC site. The project was put on hold due to COVID but we plan to continue with it this year.

VMware integration with the product is good. We use vSphere, which is one of the main VMware functions. In addition, we use vSAN for storage, and we have to use the SIEM.

This solution has helped us to simplify our storage operations, although we have a lot of storage devices and too few administrators. Because of this, we're looking for a software solution to assist us with administration. This is something that we will be doing next year.

Overall, we're quite happy with the product because we can move the data that is stored on more than 10 of our current storage devices to a single PowerStore. In terms of efficiency, this solution is the best choice for us.

The deduplication and compression features are quite impressive because when we enable this feature on other products, such as HPE 3PAR, we have a lot of latency. With PowerStore, we don't have that issue.

This device is less CPU intensive than the EMC Unity and the HPE 3PAR.

PowerStore supports the iSCSI interface, which we find helpful. We use one for our fiber channel but another one for iSCSI.

There is no Synchronize replication feature on the storage.

PowerStore should include more NAS functionality.

I have been using EMC products since 2003, although I began using Dell EMC PowerStore only last year.

Stability-wise, we have had no issues at all. In the past, all of our EMC products have been stable. We have not had the storage fail or had a faulty port. We have not even had to call support since putting it into production.

We plan to expand our usage in the future. One of our next goals is to purchase a PowerStore for our DR site because we need to have replication for our financial use case. We also plan to replace some of our other storage devices with PowerStore because we need to improve the overall efficiency.

We have not opened a technical support case with Dell for PowerStore but because most of our products are from Dell, we have dealt with them in the past. We have purchased approximately 100 servers from Dell and we have always been quite happy with their support. We don't have any issues with them and I would rate them a ten out of ten.

Every time we have an issue, they work with us to resolve the problem. There has never been a need for a repeat call and we are quite happy with that.

We have many Dell EMC Unity storage devices, including the Unity 450 and Unity 650, but we wanted a new, smaller storage unit.  

The main reason that we moved to PowerStore was the compression and deduplication.

The initial setup is easier than other products, such as Unity.

We were able to set up the storage and put it into production within one day. PowerStore is very quick to set up. By comparison, Unity will take at least two days to install.

We are happy with the pricing that we get from Dell.

This solution enables us to add compute and capacity independently, although we have not had to change our configuration.

PowerStore uses machine learning and automation for optimizing resources but we are just starting with it, so I don't know much about these features.

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.

We have used Dell PowerStore for service and storage needs, emphasizing products like VxRail, PowerStore, and our series rack mount servers.

Dell PowerStore offers good value for money and some feature scalability that is better than other products.

Dell PowerStore has good value for money and some scalability features that are better than other products.

Dell PowerStore doesn't really have a lot of advantages over other products. It has no special features technically. Other products have better management and analytics features. HP emphasizes much better analytical features.

I have used Dell PowerStore for a couple of years, probably about five years.

Dell PowerStore is reasonably priced and scales reasonably well. You don't really need to do much maintenance work on it, and it's not different from any other array.

Dell PowerStore's scalability features are better than those of other products. However, there are other products that are better overall.

HP is superior in analytics, while Dell is superior in scalability. It depends on which model of array you're talking about.

Dell PowerStore is pretty set and forget. It takes a while to install, but it's not overly complex.

Dell PowerStore offers good value for money.

Dell PowerStore is reasonably good value for money. There's nothing special about it technically compared to other products.

HP emphasizes much better analytical features compared to Dell.

I'd rate the solution five out of ten.

We use Dell PowerStore for virtualization.

Our customers implement PowerStore for its performance and the possibility to utilize AI in the future.

CloudIQ improves efficiency by allowing our customers to manage their systems from one place.

PowerStore does not consume a lot of power which is great for our enterprise customers but in Italy, our customers are usually small and medium businesses and are not too concerned about the power consumption because they only run two PowerStores.

Some of our customers have seen PowerStore's four-to-one data reduction. This has reduced our customer's footprint by three to one.

The most valuable feature is the functionality of the integration between the storage and the domain. Also, the possibility of having snapshots and synchronous replication is valuable. This is helpful for our enterprise customers because they need to replicate their data.

The most important thing is for Dell RND to continue to be innovative. 

Dell PowerStore currently only allows us to copy data from our main production system to the disaster recovery site. Dell PowerStore needs to add two-way replication to include data from the DR to the production site.

I have been using Dell PowerStore for four years.

Dell PowerStore is stable.

Dell PowerStore scalability is good because we can change parts and the controller if required. The parts are swappable.

We have used the technical support and professional services of Dell. They have been good to work with.

Positive

I have also worked with HP and IBM storage solutions but most of my customers are already Dell users and prefer PowerStore.

Although I don't have direct experience with the deployment, our technician has told me it is simple and can be done with a few clicks.

Our customers see a return on investment in terms of time savings because the setup is simple. The initial cost may be higher for PowerStore than some others but the life cycle is longer which makes up for it.

The price is right. The software features are included in the pricing without any additional purchase requirements.

I would rate Dell PowerStore nine out of ten.

We're using the solution for a specific application called Boomi for data analytics.

The application was running on an Isilon, and we needed an NFS mount. Since the solution was performing very poorly, we chose Dell PowerStore with the NVMe disk, which solved our performance issue.

The overall energy consumption seems comparable to other products in the same class.

Performance was the biggest challenge we were looking to address by implementing Dell PowerStore. We were running our application on an Isilon, and it just couldn't perform because it was a very chatty application with high transactions.

Dell PowerStore is very simple to implement, and its user interface is very simple.

I have been using Dell PowerStore for four months.

Dell PowerStore is a stable solution.

Dell PowerStore is a scalable solution.

The solution’s technical support is pretty decent.

Positive

We implemented the solution through a reseller, CDW. Our experience with them for the implementation of Dell PowerStore was fine.

The solution's price was comparable to other products for the use case, size, and setup. We did go with the NVMe disc and looked to do a capacity upgrade at one point.

Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

Our primary use case is for block storage for VMware. 

The ease of management is great. It's pretty straightforward and easy if you have some source knowledge. 

Initially, the performance caught our attention. It was optimal for block storage. 

We used Cloud IQ. The central management and outside support functionality were great since we had systems all over the world. 

The cyber-resilient approach to data security is good. We used the encryption. We had to do that for compliance. It was sufficient for our cyber team.

We did see a reduction in the footprint while using the product. We were able to go down in rack space and saw some significant downsizing. 

It integrates with VMware well. It's easy. We can easily create data storage with VMware, so we don't always need a storage architect. 

The solution didn't have all of the features we needed. There's a strategic decision to move away from it. 

It lacks in SVM functionality.

I've used the solution for two or three years. 

The solution is mostly stable. We haven't had any issues other than the occasional dick failure. 

We haven't had to scale out just yet.

We initially worked with support during the initial implementation. Beyond that, we've barely used their services. 

We did previously use NetApp, formally EMC. We switched based on a company deciosn. The business wanted to go to Dell for all of our hardware. 

The original setup was pretty straightforward.

An engineer from Dell helped with the first installation. However, it was pretty easy, so we were able to handle the rest ourselves. 

We looked at Pure Storage. We chose Dell based on ease of use and the ability to have everything under one brand.

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten. On a performance level, it could be improved slightly. 

I use Dell PowerStore in my organization mainly for our server environment, so all of our virtual servers run on it. I also use Dell PowerStore in my organization to clone our environment to a test environment and some storage devices. The aforementioned details explain the main reason why our organization prefers Dell PowerStore.

With new features in the product, my organization hopes to get some more output. When our organization moved Dell EMC XtremIO to Dell PowerStore, we knew that the functionalities revolving around cloning and copies would become a little slower, but we made the decision to do so because it was cheaper for our environment, making it a cost-based decision.

The deduplication functionality provided by the solution is fairly good. The speed offered by the product is enough for our organization. Our organization also has Dell EMC XtremIO, which is a bit faster, though Dell PowerStore alone is more than enough for us.

After the smooth launch of the product in our company, only the areas around upgrades are a bit problematic. In our organization, we face difficulties when updating the product. Since Dell PowerStore's system health check runs correctly, there is a need to bypass the health check during the upgrading process. Sometimes, the replication part of the product doesn't work, and because of this, our organization has to contact Dell's support to fix it. In my organization, we have had to go through two weeks with no replication, which is not very handy for our production environment.

I have been using Dell PowerStore for two or three years.

My company faces issues when we attempt to update Dell PowerStore, but under normal circumstances, we don't face any issues with the product.

When you have someone on the line from Dell's support team, then everything becomes perfect, especially if they are early to address some of our issues since, in our organization, we have multiple appliances and storage areas, and to maintain it at a level, it's very difficult. My organization needs to create an incident and schedule a call with Dell's support team, which sometimes can be a bit of a rough process.

I rate the technical support a seven out of ten.

Neutral

The implementation phase of the product was not difficult. An engineer from Dell came to our company to install Dell PowerStore, and afterward, we configured the zones and WWNs, and the product started to work perfectly. There were no problems at all with the implementation phase of the product.

I don't know how much time the deployment process takes since one of my colleagues handles it, as I am only a supervisor.

A third-party help was required to install the product.

My company chose Dell PowerStore over other products mainly because we have very good contact with Dell in the Netherlands. My company uses the server and storage devices from Dell. Our company's main support is from Dell. My company did take a look at Pure Storage. With the discounts and everything from Dell, my company runs about 30 servers, which cannot be the storage provided by Pure Storage.

In my organization, there were no problems or challenges that we wanted to address through the implementation of Dell PowerStore.

I don't know how much money my organization saved after moving from Dell EMC XtremIO to Dell PowerStore, but I know that we have received some discounts from Dell. I don't know what the prices were when my company chose Dell EMC XtremIO or Dell PowerStore.

My organization doesn't use CloudIQ to manage and analyze Dell PowerStore.

I don't know how my organization assesses Dell PowerStore for its overall energy consumption. I don't know what kind of power it uses for anything.

I know that Dell PowerStore is a bit, if not much, better when it comes to areas like significant data consolidation and footprint reduction when compared to Dell EMC XtremIO. Dell EMC XtremIO was also a very good product for areas like significant data consolidation and footprint reduction.

It is a good product, considering my assessment of Dell Technologies' environmental, social, and governance values. My organization maintains good contacts with Dell, and Dell also supports us by providing good governance.

I rate the overall product an eight out of ten.

I use Dell PowerStore in my company as a storage system.

Dell PowerStore is an easy and fast tool to work through our company's data.

Dell PowerStore is not a powerful tool. From an improvement perspective, Dell PowerStore needs to be a more powerful product.

There are certain shortcomings with the technical support team of Dell PowerStore, where improvements are required.

I have been using Dell PowerStore for five years.

Stability-wise, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

It is a scalable solution. Scalability-wise, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

My company is a bulk user of the product and has around 100 users of Dell PowerStore, consisting of eight to ten IT engineers, and the rest are administrators.

My company plans to increase the use of the solution in the future.

With the technical support team of Dell PowerStore, my company faces certain language barriers.

Negative

The product's initial setup is easy.

I rate the product's initial setup a six on a scale of one to ten, where one is an easy setup phase, and ten is a difficult setup phase.

The solution can be deployed within two to four hours.

One person is required for the deployment of Dell PowerStore. Two people are required for the maintenance of Dell PowerStore.

The solution is deployed on an on-premises model.

Dell PowerStore is not a cheap solution.

I would not recommend Dell PowerStore to those who plan to use it.

As the price of the product is high and it is difficult to contact the support, I rate the overall tool a seven out of ten.