We compared Dell ECS and Dell PowerScale (Isilon) based on our user's reviews in several parameters.
In comparing user reviews of Dell ECS and Dell PowerScale (Isilon), Dell ECS is praised for its efficient performance, while Dell PowerScale (Isilon) shines for its exceptional data scalability. Dell ECS receives positive feedback for its reasonable pricing and satisfactory ROI, whereas Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is commended for its prompt customer service and support. Both products have areas for improvement, with Dell ECS needing enhancements in reliability, customization, and customer support effectiveness, while Dell PowerScale (Isilon) could benefit from improvements in interface, performance speed, scalability, compatibility with other systems, and technical support.
Features: In terms of valuable features, Dell ECS is praised for its efficient performance, seamless integration, and reliable storage capabilities. On the other hand, Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is known for its exceptional data scalability, efficient storage management, and reliable performance.
Pricing and ROI: The setup cost for Dell ECS is considered straightforward and easy with no major complications, accommodating different business needs. On the other hand, Dell PowerScale (Isilon) also has a straightforward setup cost without any hidden charges or complexities, ensuring smooth integration and use of the product., Users have reported positive ROI with Dell ECS, citing cost savings, improved resource allocation, increased productivity, and streamlined processes. Dell PowerScale (Isilon) users appreciate its performance, scalability, efficiency, seamless integration, and cost savings from improved productivity and data management.
Room for Improvement: Dell ECS could benefit from improvements in product reliability, user interface intuitiveness, customer support effectiveness, and customization options. In contrast, Dell PowerScale (Isilon) needs enhancements in interface, performance speed, scalability, compatibility with other systems, and technical support.
Deployment and customer support: The user reviews for Dell ECS indicate that the timeframes for establishing a new tech solution varied, with some users taking three months for deployment and an additional week for setup. In comparison, the reviews for Dell PowerScale (Isilon) also mention varying timeframes, with some users spending three months on deployment and others reporting a week for setup. However, it is important to note that in cases where a week was required for both deployment and setup, these terms refer to the same period and should be evaluated together., Dell ECS has received commendations for their exceptional customer service, with users expressing satisfaction with the prompt response time and efficiency in resolving concerns. Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is highly commended for its exceptional customer service, with users praising the promptness, efficiency, and effectiveness of Dell's assistance. The level of expertise and professionalism demonstrated by the support team is also praised.
The summary above is based on 35 interviews we conducted recently with Dell ECS and Dell PowerScale (Isilon) users. To access the review's full transcripts, download our report.
"The stability is the most valuable aspect of the solution."
"Dell ECS is a cost-effective solution that provides ease of use and availability."
"Competitive object storage platform that's stable and scalable."
"What I like best about this product is that it is a complete solution, both hardware, and software, by the same vendor."
"The tool is easy to use."
"What I like best about Dell ECS is its stability. I also like that you can use it for large-scale data purposes. The solution works fine for me, and I haven't encountered any issues with it."
"This solution is very easy to use, and is very reliable."
"The technology is very good, it performs well."
"The most valuable feature we started using, beyond the initial scope for the solution, is the multi-protocol system that allows you to access the same set of files using different network protocols like NFS or SMB. PowerScale’s Unified Permission Model ensures that data security and access permissions are honoured regardless of whether the client is a Windows desktop or a Linux server"
"For maximizing storage utilization, PowerScale is great. When you write the data to it, it spreads it out to all the nodes, so you get all the performance from the entire pool."
"The best thing is that it works. We don't have to maintain it too much; we usually upgrade once a year."
"The flexibility and the user-friendly interface are the most valuable features."
"Dell PowerScale is a scalable solution. It allows non-disruptive upgrades and maintenance of the system."
"The tool comes with cheap disks and works fast for video content."
"PowerScale allows us to manage storage without managing RAID groups or migrating volumes between controllers. It has really simplified things. We're not having to worry about the underlying infrastructure. That takes care of itself. We just worry about the data. It's really easy for deploying and managing storage at the petabyte scale."
"Dell PowerScale's performance is good."
"It is a good solution, except for the cost."
"They need to ensure that the system will work if a site goes down."
"The solution’s stability could be improved."
"Dell EMC ECS could improve by having Relational Database Services(RDS) to review progress. Additionally, if the training was provided it would be a benefit, it would be good for our engineers."
"The disaster recovery could be improved because there should be something in-built within the ECS. Search and recovery should be in-built. Right now, we have to use some external tools for performing the recovery itself. For example, we're using Atempo or deploying Golden Superna, so it has dependency on the external third party vendors."
"Dell EMC ECS should support segregation of duty, particularly for role-based access controls. Having a single pane of glass for smarter observation and better control mechanism would also make this solution better."
"The troubleshooting feature of this solution needs to be improved, to allow organizations to fix issues without having to contact the support team."
"Dell ECS could improve the price of the solution. It is expensive."
"There aren't many templates still coming out for it. They need to provide templates so we can copy and paste what we've done in the past to future, new things."
"Some improvements to the NFS support would be of interest to us."
"The thing that they are working on now, and we are following closely is more native cloud integrations. The way that we envision workloads in the future is around moving compute to data instead of the other way around. So, we would like to have a single pane glass to manage storage across a variety of different platforms, including native cloud. That would be awesome."
"The price of the solution could be reduced."
"The only thing that I think PowerScale could do better is improving the HTTP data access protocol. At the present, you cannot protect access to data via HTTP or HTTPS the same way that you can secure data access through other protocols like NFS or SMB[...]the Unified Permission Model that would allow a user to authenticate before being able to access a private file, does not apply."
"Additional metadata reporting would be great. We have to use a separate tool to report on that. We would like to view the age of data and how long it has been since someone has accessed a file."
"If they integrated some functions, as they have on Data Domain with a cyber recovery vault, it would be ideal."
"The solution isn't suitable for small environments or small customers."
Dell ECS is ranked 5th in File and Object Storage with 25 reviews while Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is ranked 2nd in File and Object Storage with 39 reviews. Dell ECS is rated 8.0, while Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is rated 9.0. The top reviewer of Dell ECS writes "Enables multiple protocol support, but its IOPS functionality needs improvement in terms of performance ". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Dell PowerScale (Isilon) writes "We can easily deploy, manage, and maintain systems without needing a huge amount of expertise to facilitate them". Dell ECS is most compared with Amazon AWS, NetApp StorageGRID, MinIO, Red Hat Ceph Storage and Scality RING, whereas Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is most compared with NetApp FAS Series, Pure Storage FlashBlade, Qumulo, HPE StoreEasy and Red Hat Ceph Storage. See our Dell ECS vs. Dell PowerScale (Isilon) report.
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