Cisco UCS B-Series and Dell PowerEdge M compete in the enterprise server market. Cisco UCS B-Series has the upper hand due to its central management and scalability advantages, while Dell PowerEdge M offers cost-effective solutions with robust management capabilities.
Features: Cisco UCS B-Series supports high memory capacity, centralized management through UCS Manager, and seamless scalability with minimal cabling. The platform integrates virtualization technologies and employs stateless servers. Dell PowerEdge M optimizes cost management and scalability with strong networking and is ideal for scientific workloads, though its networking flexibility is less than Cisco's.
Room for Improvement: Cisco UCS B-Series users report integration complexities, cumbersome management due to Java reliance, and high power consumption. A shift to HTML5 could improve its interface. Dell PowerEdge M faces limitations in networking flexibility and iDRAC's cumbersome interface across multiple blades. Enhancements in customization and hyper-converged integrations are recommended.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cisco UCS B-Series offers hybrid cloud deployment options and receives praise for strong technical support despite occasional delays. Dell PowerEdge M is predominantly on-premises, hindered by regional support limitations, though known for strong customer service.
Pricing and ROI: Cisco UCS B-Series is priced at a premium, justified by its enterprise-grade features and long-term ROI. Price negotiation with Cisco, especially at fiscal year-end, is advised. Dell PowerEdge M offers competitive pricing with substantial discounts achievable through negotiation, delivering strong ROI, particularly for budget-focused organizations.
Additionally, we achieved server consolidation, running multiple services on fewer servers without purchasing new ones, resulting in significant financial benefits.
Cisco's technical support is highly helpful and responsive.
They provide excellent help when needed.
The stability of Cisco UCS B-Series is impeccable, as it has been running smoothly without any need for maintenance.
Last year, we faced challenges with firmware upgrades, but they were quickly resolved with assistance from Cisco TAC.
There are differences in security configurations, particularly in SNMP and SNMP3, between HP ILO and iDRAC.
The management software, Cisco One, is priced a bit high but still considered reasonable.
Its administration capabilities provide easy access to performance reports, logs, and utilization data, which are essential for effective server management.
The ease of troubleshooting and managing through remote access, using tools like iDRAC, significantly saves me time.
The Dell PowerEdge M-Series blade servers address the challenges of an evolving IT environment by delivering leading enterprise classfeatures and functionality. The M-Series delivers a unique array of options configured to meet the needs of your IT environment both now and in the future.
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