Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform Reviews

This product was used to store all of our production block requirements. We are now migrating to an all-flash storage system.

The active-active option seemed to be working well and overall, it was a solid product.

It performed well and the software offerings were solid.

We had issues with support, rather than the product itself. It seemed like every time we turned around it was a statement of work and we'd have to pay for something that our previous vendors would not have billed us for. I don't think that they would have even raised an eyebrow. By contrast, these guys were looking for money every time we asked for any little thing. We didn't like that.

We had been working with the G series for about six years.

The stability is great. It's right up there with anything else that we had seen, so no issues. It was a solid product.

We did not try to scale because our models were bought at full capability on day one.

We had a lot of issues with support and I would rate them a five out of ten in that aspect.

We have experience and history with several Dell EMC products including the BNX line, BMX,  and PowerMax. However, we are moving away from this to the HP all-flash solution.

The only reason we changed from the Hitachi Platform G is that it was getting long in the tooth, and we wanted to get into the flash environment. 

The initial setup was straightforward and we didn't have any issues.

The costs were primarily in line with every other vendor at the time. Year six and year seven maintenance took a drastic jump, which didn't sit well with us. However, at the time, it seemed to be what most of the vendors were doing. But by the end, Hitachi had sort of balanced it out, so it wasn't a huge jump in years six and seven. It was certainly an issue for us in the beginning.

We went through an RFP-type process to select a flash vendor, and we're just in the process of implementing that storage today. It was this same sort of process six years ago when we replaced our existing Dell EMC solution with the Hitachi product. Hitachi had a better offering.

I can't say anything about the product itself that was in need of improvement. The areas where we had issues were more along the lines with support and HDS management. For anybody who is interested in this solution, I would say that from a product standpoint, it is fine. The only problem is the support. Anytime we needed support, it was delayed. I'm not sure of the reason for this, but it just seemed like it took a long time to get things resolved.

At the time we did our RFP, HDS did not have an all-flash offering. They do now, but I haven't had the opportunity to look at their all-flash products. Hopefully, it is not just all-flash thrown into a G 1500 Series because you want to build flash from the ground up.

What we found during our recent RFP was that the pricing is pretty close between all-flash and HDD, so while not everybody needs the performance, if you're getting it for the same price then why wouldn't you take advantage of it?

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.

We use Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform G Series for core products. We get new machines and move the data to new machines. In our organization, we have over 5,000 users.

it is help us to increase performance and ensure business continuity.

It is robust. It doesn't need too much troubleshooting. It is a good device.

The snapshot and clone operation functions can be made easier.

I have been using Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform G Series for about six years.

It is highly stable. 

It has good scalability.

We have contacted them for a technical issue. Their technical support is good.

Positive

We have an older version of Hitachi, which is also a virtual storage platform but not the G Series. Also EMC VMAX 

The initial setup was straightforward. Deployment took about a week.

Our vendor deployed it.

Dell EMC VMAX

I would recommend this solution. 

I would rate Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform G Series a ten out of ten. It is a good product.

In my experience, I've encountered several limitations, particularly in the operational tasks, when dealing with unified storage. I've faced significant performance issues, especially when extending block capacities. The operational challenges, such as the console getting blocked and preventing any activity, have been a recurring issue.

For instance, extending a replicated volume from one site to another involves breaking the mirror application, adding unnecessary complexities. Unlike other products, like Dell, where extending volumes is straightforward, this process on this platform requires multiple steps, including breaking and reestablishing the application, making it time-consuming and not straightforward. 

The Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform faces challenges when it comes to features like deduplication and compression. Enabling these features can lead to processor overload, resulting in performance degradation, especially under high loads.

It faces limitations, particularly during code upgrades. If the CPU utilization exceeds 65 percent, the standard procedures for firmware or code upgrades are restricted.

I have been working with the product for four years. 

I rate the product’s stability a five out of ten. 

There are no significant challenges in terms of scalability, and it can accommodate larger storage capacities compared to other storage solutions.

The support experience with Hitachi VSP is characterized by a lengthy process for issue resolution. For a simple problem, the support team typically requests logs, which take about 30 minutes to generate. Uploading the logs adds another 30 minutes, and the engineer's review of the logs requires an additional hour. Consequently, the entire process takes two hours, leaving the system in a critical state without a resolution during that time.

Negative

I rate the product’s deployment one out of ten. The deployment process lasted for three months.The initial deployment encountered numerous performance issues, leading to instability and frequent disruptions in production. The on-site engineering team was actively engaged for almost three months to address and resolve these challenges.

The integration process of Hitachi VSP into the existing IT infrastructure is not straightforward and is a bit complex.

The initial deployment was initially attempted by a third party, but they were unsuccessful in resolving the issues. Subsequently, Hitachi engineers were directly engaged and worked on-site for nearly three months, facing challenges throughout the process.

The solution is expensive. 

I rate the overall product a four out of ten. 

We used the G Series as our primary shared storage, SAN storage. It hosted all of the critical applications and databases.

The G Series may not have improved our organization, but it basically met the status quo of what we had been doing.

The performance was decent. 

We moved away from this product because we were looking for an all-flash solution, and with our G1500 at the time, perhaps two years ago, they were just proposing more of the same technology. What we wanted was a flash solution that was developed from the ground-up. I think that since then, HDS has come out with an updated product, newer than the G1500 that we had.

For us, continuing to use products from this vendor would have required having a solution that was revamped as flash storage from the ground-up, as opposed to a historical frame that's just evolved over the years.

We used the Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform G Series for approximately seven years and have just moved away from using it.

This product was stable and there were certainly no issues that I remember.

When we purchased it, we bought the full capacity of the frame. With it fully-populated on day one, there was no need for us to scale.

This was our main storage device, so 90% of applications and 90% of our users were situated on it.

The technical support was good. There is always room for improvement but I have no specifics with regards to their support.

Over the past seven years, we used three different versions. We started with the VSP, then upgraded to the G1000, and then the G1500 was the most recent one.

We used the Dell EMC DMX series, as well. All the software products that we had, we were comfortable with when we were on the EMC DMX series. So, after switches, it was all the same kind of software and functionality that we were used to. It wasn't really over and above what we had with EMC at the time, but rather just more of the same.

The reason we switched is that after putting out an RFP, we evaluated options based on the technology and pricing. Hitachi was the winner.

The initial setup was pretty straightforward.

My advice is that everybody has to do their own due diligence. The G Series is a good product but it isn't meet our requirements 

In summary, this is a very good product but there's always room for improvement. It certainly served our purposes at the time.

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.

Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform G Series are used for mission-critical storage for large companies.

The most valuable feature of Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform G Series is the platform and overall usage has been good. We have not had very many issues.

The life-cycle of the Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform G Series is too short. We only had approximately four or five years out of the solution before it was rendered its end of life.

I have been using Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform G Series for approximately seven years.

Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform G Series is highly stable and reliable.

The scalability of the Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform G Series is good.

The support for Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform G Series is very good.

I would advise others that are wanting to implement Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform G Series to look carefully at the tools they need, such as management. It is important to evaluate this tool, it can be very useful. If they don't have these tools needed then it can be very difficult to receive reliable information.

The customer has an in-house team that deals with everyday operations. However, they hired us to do the second-level support. We have two people, that do the support. One is for the storage itself, and the other handles data protection.

Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform G Series tools are highly specialized, such as management and performance tools and the overall solution is expensive. If customers want to have a lot of data in their hands, they need to purchase several solutions.

Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform G Series is at its end of life, we do not sell them anymore.

I rate Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform G Series a nine out of ten.

One of the tasks that I have been working on is the consolidation of storage.

This product is one that we have used to consolidate our legacy systems, all formerly residing on older storage. We have it configured for 150 terabytes in size, which is sufficient for all of our legacy applications.

It is also responsible for replication from our production site to DR site.

The performance is very good. 

The size of the storage is very good.

We use many of the enterprise features in production. 

This product should be easier to install and set up.

I have been working with the Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform F Series for three years.

This is a stable storage system.

This is a scalable product.

We have five or six storage engineers that are in charge of administration.

We get our support from a local vendor. If there is an escalation then it is done directly to the vendor.

I have experience with several enterprise storage solutions.

The installation and initial setup are not straightforward. We had to do a lot of configuration and required assistance from the vendor to complete it. In particular, there were certain things that there was some confusion about.

The location and the sizing were also things that we had to plan for internally. 

We used a consultant for the deployment, and we also had assistance from the vendor.

We pay for a support contract agreement.

We have decided to migrate our application to the cloud, which is something that we are currently in the process of doing. As such, we do not plan to increase our usage of this storage platform.

In summary, this is a stable product and I highly recommend it. It provides a trouble-free work environment. There are also newer models than the one that we have, and I also recommend these.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

I am using the latest update to the solution?

The solution is very good when it comes to performance with the data center. 

The solution is a storage Hitachi E, meaning it is an entry level enterprise solution. For mission critical issues the performance is low. 

I have been using Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform for two years, including the EF 700 and E Model, both of which I have been utilizing for a year apiece, in addition to the S Model. I use the solution to this day. 

The solution is stable. 

I have not tried the solution's scalability. 

The technical support and services are good, strong. 

The initial setup is easy.

The price per gigabyte is good and it is low when it comes to terabytes. 

We are in the process of evaluating the solution at present.

Overall, the solution is strong, easy and fast.

I would recommend the solution to others. 

I rate Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform as a nine out of ten.

We use the private cloud version.

The high performance of flash storage is especially valuable to us.

Pricing could be better because the cost is very high.

In terms of new features, I would be interested to see deduplication added in their next release.

It's very stable. As of now, we haven't had any events with the loss of storage. It is very stable.

We have one storage device for all of the patients, so it's very critical. There are more than a thousand users.

I recommend this product and I would rate it as nine out of ten.