Dell PowerVault and Cisco MDS Series both compete in the data storage solutions category, with Dell leading in affordability and ease of use, while Cisco excels in performance and scalability, making it more suitable for demanding environments.
Features: Dell PowerVault is lauded for its affordability, ease of use, snapshots, replication, tiered storage, and CloudIQ integration, complemented by its active-active controller capability. Cisco MDS Series stands out for its performance, stability, scalability, multipathing, and reliable SAN environments, addressing high-performance storage networking needs.
Room for Improvement: Dell PowerVault could improve by offering unified storage, expanding memory cache, and enhancing integration with Active Directory, while also making its user interface more intuitive. Cisco MDS Series might benefit from a simplified GUI, a better pricing model, and enhanced lifecycle management features. Both solutions could improve their data compression and deduplication capabilities for increased storage efficiency.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Dell PowerVault is praised for straightforward deployment processes and robust customer service, though improvements in support language options could enhance user experience. Cisco MDS Series provides reliable customer service but could simplify initial setup and offer better integration support. Both systems are favored for on-premises environments but may vary in support efficiency and ease of deployment.
Pricing and ROI: Dell PowerVault is recognized for its cost-effectiveness, competitive pricing, and high ROI for SMBs, without hidden licensing fees. Cisco MDS Series, while more expensive with higher initial costs and licensing fees, justifies its price through superior performance capabilities, making it suitable for environments demanding high performance.
| Product | Mindshare (%) |
|---|---|
| Dell PowerVault | 11.6% |
| Cisco MDS Series | 10.6% |
| Other | 77.8% |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 5 |
| Large Enterprise | 8 |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 29 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 19 |
| Large Enterprise | 27 |
Cisco MDS Series integrates and load balances between multiple vendor fiber links, offering seamless SAN connectivity with ease of deployment, management, and configuration. It features VSAN technology and supports LDAP, SNMPv3, and AES for a secure and reliable network environment.
Cisco MDS Series is recognized for its performance and stability in SAN environments, enabling effective fiber channel connectivity across data centers. Adopting its technology ensures simplified deployment and management with options like WebUI and CLI. Its ability to support active-active storage paths fosters efficient server connections in both single-site and metro-SAN setups. While it offers robust features, improvements such as integration with IBM Brocade SAN switches, more intuitive GUI, and lifecycle management are needed to enhance user experience.
What features set Cisco MDS Series apart?In industries such as finance and healthcare where reliable data center operations are critical, Cisco MDS Series supports complex SAN configurations, providing effective connectivity between servers and storage. Its ability to facilitate long and short-distance ISL configurations makes it suitable for diverse operational environments.
Dell PowerVault offers affordable, scalable, and user-friendly data management, making it a suitable choice for businesses needing reliable video surveillance storage due to its high performance and strong security features.
Dell PowerVault is tailored for small to mid-range applications, providing robust security and stability with seamless compatibility across major platforms. Known for its performance and bandwidth handling, it is ideal for video surveillance storage, virtualization, and backup solutions. The platform features simple deployment with bi-directional asynchronous replication, an HTML5 interface, data deduplication, and RAID. While lacking some real-time feedback and integration capabilities into unified storage, Dell PowerVault delivers significant operational efficiency and value.
What features define Dell PowerVault?Implemented widely in industries for virtualization, ERP applications, video surveillance, and secure out-of-band backups, Dell PowerVault supports businesses with its effective data replication and compliance capabilities. Its scalable nature and ease of management make it suitable for production databases and virtualized systems.
We monitor all Enterprise SAN reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.
