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GehadSaid - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Presales Solutions Engineer at Metra Group
Real User
Top 10
Storage software that offers flexibility and easy deployment
Pros and Cons
  • "The flexibility of this solution has been valuable for our business."
  • "This solution could be improved if overall performance was improved and operated with a higher speed and supported a higher volume of RAM."

What is most valuable?

The flexibility of this solution has been valuable for our business. 

What needs improvement?

This solution could be improved if overall performance was improved and operated with a higher speed and supported a higher volume of RAM. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have used this solution for one year. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was complex, specifically when integrating this solution with other technology. The deployment was easier and offered flexibility. Before deployment, I would suggest checking other technology to ensure there is compatibility. 

Buyer's Guide
Dell SC Series
March 2025
Learn what your peers think about Dell SC Series. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2025.
842,767 professionals have used our research since 2012.

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

This solution could be better priced in comparison with other vendors. 

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution for customers looking for Unity or PowerStore functionality.

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten. 

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:
PeerSpot user
Storage Team Leader at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Works in high-performance environments like Oracle and SQL, but needs more functionality

What is our primary use case?

We're starting our ScaleIO implementation. We have vSAN but we also have software-defined. Our primary goal is to reduce our infrastructure costs by having another offering out there, outside of the traditional SAN storage environment.

How has it helped my organization?

It's definitely scalable, definitely fits the majority of our use cases, in high-performance environments such as Oracle, SQL, and so forth.

What needs improvement?

In particular, for us, we have two primary data centers. The hospital is located in New York but we have two data centers in New Jersey. So geo clustering is a big thing for us, for our active-active environment.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's still an early phase for us, but as of right now it's stable.

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

We've been looking at it for some time, and we decided to go for it for our projects for this year.

How was the initial setup?

In terms of the initial setup, we did two. We did the software-only and we also did the hardware. Software-only was pretty straightforward. With hardware, the challenge we had was that we're pretty siloed in our environment so we had to get networking involved. It was the complexity of the network which was difficult, to make sure we had the performance in the environment.

What other advice do I have?

Start slowly. Generally, initially, you'll get pushback because people are used to traditional storage. Start with what we call low-hanging fruit. For example, we put our test environment on it. Once people become comfortable with it, see that it performs well, then they'll start looking for it for the higher-tier environments.

We're using VMware and it's particularly easy, you just provision the storage. But when it's a physical environment and you're trying to go to that environment you have to have a migration, usually a whole space migration. We try to get away from that because it's time-consuming, after hours, and so forth.

I would rate the SC Series at seven out of ten right now. That might change as future releases come out and more functionality comes into the product.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Dell SC Series
March 2025
Learn what your peers think about Dell SC Series. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2025.
842,767 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Koba Sopromadze - PeerSpot reviewer
Head of IT Infrastructure at a financial services firm with 501-1,000 employees
Real User
Good technical support, and has many features that work well
Pros and Cons
  • "The user interface is good, I would rate it a nine out of ten."
  • "The price could be improved."

What is most valuable?

Dell EMC SC Series has many valuable features.

We are very satisfied with Dell EMC SC Series.

The user interface is good, I would rate it a nine out of ten.

What needs improvement?

We had some issues with the battery in the previous version that we were unable to resolve. We are unable to resolve this issue, despite the fact that we have been using this product for over five years.

The price could be improved.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been working with Dell EMC SC Series and storage for more than 10 years.

We work with both the MD3620F and PowerStore 1000T versions.

How are customer service and support?

Technical support is good. We have received good next-day technical support from them.

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

We are also working with NetApp.

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

The pricing is reasonable, but it is expensive.

What other advice do I have?

We are partners with both NetApp, and Dell EMC.

I would rate Dell EMC SC Series a nine out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Implementation Unit at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Consultant
Top 20
Excellent unified storage solution for the enterprise.

What is most valuable?

Live Volume, Chargeback, Sync Replication (Cascade/Mixed mode), Fast Track.

How has it helped my organization?

Additional features like Live Volume, Chargeback, Sync Replication (Cascade/Mixed mode) and Fast Track makes this storage unique. Moreover, you can integrate your existing infrastructure--no matter whether it's FC or FCoE or iSCSI--with this unified storage solution. This means you don't need to buy a new storage solution for future escalation.

What needs improvement?

Improvement is a continuous process for every technology. Similarly, Compellent is improving its software (Storage Center) and releases updated version often.

For how long have I used the solution?

One and a half years.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

Not yet. But matching color coding during zoning is sometimes a little bit annoying.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

No.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Not yet.

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service:

I don't have any complaints.

Technical Support:

Excellent. I think EMC support service is equivalent of Copilot service of Compellent. And their response time is really good.

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

Switched from EqualLogic because of Unified scale out architecture. You can use this storage file and block level both. Further, if you consider with others OEM like EMC for unified solution you have to consider VNX 5200/5300 above. Whereas there is no model dependency on Compllent.

How was the initial setup?

No issues. The installation and configuration is very simple.

What about the implementation team?

Yes. I did the implementation. There is no doubt about Dell's expertise level. They have really an efficient and expert group of people.

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

Technically I can say that day to day cost is at a considerable level. Previously I told you if you consider 5-8 years solution then it'll minimize your day to day cost. Because, later to scale up your capacity you just need to add DAE (Disk Array Enclosure). That's all. And DAE is cheaper than buying a new storage for scale up capacity.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

None.

What other advice do I have?

Definitely I would like to say to all others, if you want good unified storage solution with satisfactory level ROI just go with Compellent. It'll give you flexibility, good ROI and you can integrate your existing infrastructure without facing complexity, no matter what kind of infrastructure you have (FC, iSCSI or FCoE).

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user86838 - PeerSpot reviewer
it_user86838Implementation Unit at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Top 20Consultant

Yes.

See all 2 comments
it_user735222 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Manager
Vendor
You can create volumes and easily assign them to VMware clusters, increasing their size
Pros and Cons
  • "Easy management of volumes: You can create volumes and easily assign them to VMware clusters, increasing their size."
  • "The process of reallocating data from fast disks (SSD or SAS) to slow disks (SATA) gives you better performance and better use of resources."
  • "Snapshots in VMware. You can’t do snapshots since the storage itself does that. Therefore, some apps (Veeam, for example) don’t work well with this kind of tiering storage."

How has it helped my organization?

There is no need to archive data and/or move data from expensive storage since the device does that itself depending on the use of the data. This is the data that you moved to the slower disks.

What is most valuable?

  1. Easy management of volumes: You can create volumes and easily assign them to VMware clusters, increasing their size.
  2. Performance management: The process of reallocating data from fast disks (SSD or SAS) to slow disks (SATA) gives you better performance and better use of resources.

What needs improvement?

Snapshots in VMware. You can’t do snapshots since the storage itself does that. Therefore, some apps (Veeam, for example) don’t work well with this kind of tiering storage.

For how long have I used the solution?

Three to five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

No issues.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is more difficult than others, since once you need to growth, you need to make sure what tier you will increase to in order to redistribute the data. It can take more time and planning, but is worth the effort.

How are customer service and technical support?

Excellent, Copilot (support for Compellent) is excellent.

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

Yes, we used to have EMC and Hitachi Storage. The growth of storage was limited and price/performance were not good.

How was the initial setup?

Initially, it can be difficult since you need to understand the tiering philosophy. It is very different to normal SAN deployments, but once you understand them, they are very straightforward.

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

Take your time to meet with your representative and tell them your needs and listen careful to every recommendation. Always keep in mind, this is not just a enclosure with disks is a complete SAN as a service. There is software, license, and storage in one single solution.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Yes, IBM's and HP's tiering solutions, but there are too expensive and bulky.

What other advice do I have?

Document your needs, current storage, expansion, and timeframe for replays (snapshots). If you have backups or replications in place, make sure they work with Compellent Tiered Storage.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Infrastr69c7 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior IT Infrastructure Manager at a consultancy with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Helped us consolidate siloed storage, but there were disk failures
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature is the ability to replicate. We are running a financial company and it needs to be available 24/7. We can't afford any downtime."

    What is our primary use case?

    We are heavily virtualized and it is used for the storage. It's performing well, we have had no issues to date.

    How has it helped my organization?

    It has improved our organization because before, we had the storage in silos. This solution allowed us to consolidate into a single Compellent system. That helped us to maximize our management greatly. 

    What is most valuable?

    The most valuable feature is the ability to replicate. We are running a financial company and it needs to be available 24/7. We can't afford any downtime.

    The response time is also great.

    What needs improvement?

    We've had failures with disks, but no downtime. We were able to change them before they caused a problem.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    Three to five years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    It is a stable solution. We haven't had any downtime.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    It can scale. We actually added a different chassis to it during the time we were using it.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    Technical support was responsive, we got to the right person. We have never had a problem with them.

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

    We were using EqualLogic before we went to the SC Series. We switched because we had them in silos so we needed to consolidate.

    When we select a vendor, our most important criteria is that we should be able to depend on their product. Absolutely no failures. Uptime is most important.

    How was the initial setup?

    I wouldn't say the setup was straightforward. It was complex, but it was manageable at the same time.

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

    The solution is affordable. We bought an entry-level solution and, for the price and the amount of storage that we got, we consider it a deal.

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    We are a Dell EMC shop, so we always go with Dell EMC and Vmware as we have never been in a situation where we were unable to find a Dell product that suited our requirements perfectly. 

    What other advice do I have?

    If you don't have a SAN infrastructure, this is a great one, a great entry-level SAN to start with.

    We are actually moving on to a vSAN. Within the next two months, we won't be using the SC Series anymore and will be migrating away from it to a vSAN. There were no problems with the SC Series, we just wanted to implement a hyperconverged system.

    The SC Series performed the functions we needed it to perform.

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    System Administrator at Reuter GmbH
    Real User
    It is fast and performs well
    Pros and Cons
    • "It is fast and performs well."
    • "The administration and support (on the way that they delivered) was a little bit slow."

    What is our primary use case?

    It is performing well.

    How has it helped my organization?

    We have a bit more storage, and it is faster.

    What is most valuable?

    • Ease of use
    • Reliability
    • It is fast and performs well.

    What needs improvement?

    The administration and support (on the way that they delivered) was a little bit slow.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    Less than one year.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    So far, so good. However, we have only had it running for four months.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    Scalability is good. We still have more room.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    We have not used technical support yet.

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

    Our previous solution ran out of space and IOPS. Therefore, we had to get something which was faster.

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial setup was pretty straightforward, though I was not involved. A co-worker did it.

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    Only Dell EMC products were on our shortlist.

    We did look at Nutanix, but they did not fit into the way that we are organized. We also looked at NetApps, but quickly dismissed them.

    What other advice do I have?

    I would recommend to buy Dell EMC 3020 to anyone researching these type of solutions.

    Most important criteria when selecting a vendor:

    • Reliability
    • Support: We knew the support from EMC was really good.
    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    reviewer547188 - PeerSpot reviewer
    reviewer547188Storage & Backup Management | Open System at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
    User

    Estamos evaluando migrar los datos de un VNX5600 a uno de los modelos SC7020F, SC5020F. A la espera que EMC nos garantice interoperabilidad con PowerPath Migrator Enable.

    Virtualiad5e - PeerSpot reviewer
    Virtualization Manager at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
    Real User
    Built-in migration capabilities have been very helpful, compression and dedupe are good
    Pros and Cons
    • "It has good dedupe and compression. Also, the built-in data migration capabilities are pretty good, as is the federation. When we started migrating the workloads from different storage platforms, like NetApp and XtremeIO, it helped us in moving to that direction."

      What is our primary use case?

      We use it as the OS drives for our VMs. Our is a hybrid solution.

      How has it helped my organization?

      It's good storage product for our C and D drives for the virtualization space.

      What is most valuable?

      It has good dedupe and compression. Also, the built-in data migration capabilities are pretty good, as is the federation. When we started migrating the workloads from different storage platforms, like NetApp and XtremeIO, it helped us in moving in that direction.

      What needs improvement?

      It would be great if they could increase the compression and dedupe ratio.

      What do I think about the stability of the solution?

      We haven't had any issues with stability so far.

      What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

      It's scalable.

      How are customer service and technical support?

      Technical support is good.

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

      We had XtremeIO for the past three or four years and, prior to that, we had NetApp. I think the SC Series works better. We are pretty happy with it. In terms of performance with mixed workloads, the SC Series is pretty good. We don't see a lot of latency as we saw with NetApp. But I would say XtremeIO and SC are similar in that regard.

      Most storage platforms are the same, but when it comes to the performance and dedupe, as I said, those were the main criteria, what we were after when we talked to Dell EMC. The relationship and trust are also very important.

      How was the initial setup?

      The setup was straightforward. We used Dell EMC Professional Services, and they came in. A company like ours is pretty big, so we use the vendors to come in and install things because we don't want to mess them up. They gave us the development documents, etc., so we're really happy.

      What was our ROI?

      The ROI is good.

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

      It is affordable. We need more discount, but it's good. Pricing is more important than improving on dedupe or compression.

      Which other solutions did I evaluate?

      We looked at Nimble and NetApp. We went with Dell EMC. We have a good relationship since most of our stuff is on VMware. When Michael Dell bought VMware we said, "Yeah, we should increase our usage," and, of course, we have been using EMC for more than a decade.

      What other advice do I have?

      Research is important. Understand the product. Just like any other technology you use, research is the most important part.

      Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
      PeerSpot user
      Buyer's Guide
      Download our free Dell SC Series Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
      Updated: March 2025
      Buyer's Guide
      Download our free Dell SC Series Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.