Cisco UCS B-Series vs Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers comparison

Cisco UCS B-Series vs. Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

ROI

Sentiment score

8.2

Cisco UCS B-Series enhances performance and efficiency, reducing costs and power usage, surpassing expectations with minimal maintenance and strong returns.

Sentiment score

7.6

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers offer reliability, cost savings, easy management, and high performance, with flexibility and excellent support enhancing satisfaction.

Additionally, we achieved server consolidation, running multiple services on fewer servers without purchasing new ones, resulting in significant financial benefits.

For more quotes and insights, download the Cisco UCS B-Series report

Head of IT Operations at NCC BANK LIMITED

By not having to worry about it, I would estimate we save two to four hours a week, depending on what's happening, such as if we need to spin up a new server, which would contribute to more time if done the old way.

Desi Rodriguez

Manager, Systems & Desktop Support at Tilson Home Corporation

In my immediate case for antenna analysis, Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers offer a reduction from days of computing to half a day or hours.

Duane Harvey

Senior Radio Frequncy Systems Engineer at Leidos

The value of uptime to us is critical.

reviewer2707641

VP IT Operations at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers report

Customer Service

Sentiment score

7.3

Users praise Cisco UCS B-Series support for professionalism, quick responses, and reliable 24x7 assistance, with occasional minor delays.

Sentiment score

7.6

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers support is praised for expertise and resolution speed but sometimes faces delays and communication issues.

Cisco's technical support is highly helpful and responsive.

For more quotes and insights, download the Cisco UCS B-Series report

Head of IT Operations at NCC BANK LIMITED

It has always been scheduled maintenance, which says a lot for a production environment, as we haven't had to call in a trouble ticket for the actual hardware during its entire run.

Desi Rodriguez

Manager, Systems & Desktop Support at Tilson Home Corporation

Typically, the contacts we have on-site are very knowledgeable, they come in within a day and usually have it fixed and taken care of if there are issues.

Brad Dugenske

Senior Systems Engineer at Federal Data Systems

When we had a power supply failure out of the box, we called support, and they delivered the replacement within four hours as promised.

Jatin Patel

Senior Technical Consultant at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers report

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score

7.9

Cisco UCS B-Series offers robust scalability and flexibility, allowing seamless integration and effortless expansion to meet diverse needs.

Sentiment score

7.7

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers offer scalable solutions for various sectors, facilitating flexibility and efficient growth despite configuration challenges.

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the Cisco UCS B-Series report

The scalability of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is excellent.

reviewer1362099

Software Engineer at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees

Any outages or blackouts are limited to particular servers, not affecting the whole chassis or enclosures.

reviewer926175

Senior Systems Engineer at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

We bought our product with scaling involved, and we've been scaling it up anytime we've needed more storage.

Adnan Yasin

Director, Information Technology at TEXAS PROPERTY AND CASUALTY INSURANCE GUARANTY ASSOCIATION

For more quotes and insights, download the Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers report

Stability Issues

Sentiment score

8.1

Cisco UCS B-Series is praised for its robust stability and reliability, despite minor challenges in certain operations.

Sentiment score

8.2

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers offer exceptional reliability and uptime, outpacing alternatives with minimal hardware failures and robust redundancy.

The stability of Cisco UCS B-Series is impeccable, as it has been running smoothly without any need for maintenance.

For more quotes and insights, download the Cisco UCS B-Series report

Head of IT Operations at NCC BANK LIMITED

Over four years, we've had less than 1 percent downtime.

Thim Johnsen

It support lead at a retailer with 10,001+ employees

There is a feature to update the server while it is running, so there is no need to restart.

Hariraj Chauhan

Manager, Regions Information Technology Security at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees

We have truly not had any downtime on the infrastructure at all.

Adnan Yasin

Director, Information Technology at TEXAS PROPERTY AND CASUALTY INSURANCE GUARANTY ASSOCIATION

For more quotes and insights, download the Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers report

Room For Improvement

Cisco UCS B-Series needs improved storage integration, user-friendly management, lower costs, HTML5 transition, and better support for new technologies.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers need improvements in performance, scalability, support, security, pricing, efficiency, and integration with virtualization platforms.

Last year, we faced challenges with firmware upgrades, but they were quickly resolved with assistance from Cisco TAC.

For more quotes and insights, download the Cisco UCS B-Series report

Head of IT Operations at NCC BANK LIMITED

We need to know about any upcoming updates so that we can plan accordingly.

Merin David

End User Manager at a financial services firm with 51-200 employees

The beneficial aspect of that feature was that we could skip the PowerStore and just have the Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers alone, as they also served as storage, which helped us save money.

Mikko Peltoniemi

Director of IT at Star Kay White

This forces you to go up to a larger server to get the desired processor, which increases the cost.

ScottAllen1

Team Lead Infrastructure at a computer software company with 201-500 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers report

Setup Cost

Cisco UCS B-Series is costly but offers value and reliability, with discounts available during year-end negotiations.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Server pricing is competitive yet varies, praised for performance and reliability, with bulk purchase discounts available.

The management software, Cisco One, is priced a bit high but still considered reasonable.

For more quotes and insights, download the Cisco UCS B-Series report

Head of IT Operations at NCC BANK LIMITED

They have been stable and running for years without performance downtime or significant disc failures.

Zaryab Khalil

Product manager at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees

Some customers find it cheaper due to contractual agreements, while others find it expensive, especially when scaling up.

Dacio Ferreira

System Administrator at Tigs

The software associated with servers, like VMware subscription licenses, drives costs.

reviewer1362099

Software Engineer at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers report

Valuable Features

Cisco UCS B-Series excels in scalability, centralized management, ease of deployment, virtualization integration, and offers robust performance and reliability.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are valued for their performance, reliability, cost-effectiveness, and management tools, ideal for diverse applications.

Its administration capabilities provide easy access to performance reports, logs, and utilization data, which are essential for effective server management.

For more quotes and insights, download the Cisco UCS B-Series report

Head of IT Operations at NCC BANK LIMITED

They keep running for at least five to seven years without any issues.

reviewer1458381

IT Manger at a construction company with 501-1,000 employees

With PowerEdge Servers, I don't need a one-to-one ratio redundancy, which leads to about eighty percent downtime reduction.

Zaryab Khalil

Product manager at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees

One of the valuable features is Active Directory, which helps in managing the network.

Ahmed Salah

IT Manager at Misrconsult

For more quotes and insights, download the Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers report

Categories and Ranking

Cisco UCS B-Series

Ranking in Blade Servers

4th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers

Ranking in Blade Servers

5th

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.6

Number of Reviews

207

Ranking in other categories

Converged Infrastructure (3rd), Data Center Networking (3rd), Rack Servers (1st)

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Blade Servers category, the mindshare of Cisco UCS B-Series is 8.3%, down from 10.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is 1.6%, up from 0.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Blade Servers

Featured Reviews

DavidMbugua

Group General Manager-ICT at SkyLink

Reliable product with efficient automation capabilities

Cisco UCS B-Series manages various processes, including handling payments for over 650,000 growers, running group financials, managing human resources, and operating our main ERP system, SAP. The servers' resilience was particularly impactful. Even during power outages, the servers resumed operations from the last saved point without human intervention. The enhanced processing speed also allowed us to complete tasks that took two days in just one hour. The automation capabilities enhanced efficiency and facilitated integration with our networking components, particularly since we also used Cisco switches. The servers' security was reliable, and formal training on Cisco products made management easier. I rate the product an eight.

Read full review

Syed Masuood

Country manager at Asta Innosys

Handles workloads and diverse applications efficiently

We have a lot of VMs on Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers. On a single server, we have probably hosted 14 or 15 VMs. Out of these, 8 to 10 are continuously running, and four of them are backup VMs, so it can handle a good workload. For cybersecurity, it is only accessible on the intranet; it is not accessible through the web. We use it for local development purposes, and it is behind our firewall. Its security is strong. We handle a lot of test data for government and confidential customers. It is safe and strong locally. We have not experienced any security issues. Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers have helped to reduce unplanned production downtime if we need to replace a hard disk, instead of completely shutting a server, there is a hot swap feature. It is quite good in that aspect. Usually, for any activity, there is a downtime of about 30 minutes. It has saved a lot of time. We have tried AI workloads for a development environment for a government customer in Singapore. The servers are hosted in Singapore. It is an ML-based engine with AI. It is a government project where data is processed, and we run it on Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers. The benefit of running AI workloads on PowerEdge Servers is that it is easy to allocate memory. The application we are running is memory intensive. It is pretty easy to scale memory and storage.

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859,129 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

18%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Manufacturing Company

Healthcare Company

Computer Software Company

22%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

University

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cisco UCS B-Series?

The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that it is easily scalable.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco UCS B-Series?

The licensing cost for three years, followed by an AMC for two years, is reasonable. However, the management software, Cisco One, is priced a bit high but still considered reasonable. No additional...

What needs improvement with Cisco UCS B-Series?

Last year, we faced challenges with firmware upgrades, but they were quickly resolved with assistance from Cisco TAC.

When shopping for a rack server, would you go with Dell EMC Poweredge or Lenovo Thinksystem?

Our organization ran comparison tests to determine whether the Dell EMC Poweredge or Lenovo Thinksystem rack servers were the better fit for us. We ultimately decided to go with Dell EMC Poweredge....

What do you like most about Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers?

It has helped us reduce unplanned downtime by 20% to 30%.

What needs improvement with Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers?

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers have higher hardware costs compared to HPE ProLiant servers, which are cheaper. From reliability, performance, and sustainability perspectives, Dell PowerEdge Rack Serve...

HPE Synergy vs Cisco UCS B-Series

Comparisons

Compared 32% of the time

Dell PowerEdge M vs Cisco UCS B-Series

Compared 21% of the time

HPE BladeSystem vs Cisco UCS B-Series

Compared 19% of the time

Supermicro SuperBlade vs Cisco UCS B-Series

Compared 14% of the time

Cisco UCS E-Series Servers vs Cisco UCS B-Series

Compared 14% of the time

More Cisco UCS B-Series Competitors

HPE ProLiant DL Servers vs Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers

Compared 41% of the time

Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers vs Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers

Compared 30% of the time

Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers vs Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers

Compared 10% of the time

IBM Power Systems vs Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers

Compared 6% of the time

Huawei FusionServer RH Series Rack Servers vs Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers

Compared 5% of the time

More Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers Competitors

Product Reports

Cisco UCS B-Series

Download Cisco UCS B-Series product report

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers

Download Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers product report

Also Known As

UCS B-Series, Unified Computing System B-Series

PowerEdge R

Overview

Based on Intel Xeon processor E7 and E5 product families, Cisco UCS B-Series Blade Servers work with virtualized and non-virtualized applications to increase: Performance, Energy efficiency, Flexibility and Administrator productivity.

Cisco

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are designed to optimize performance and efficiency in a data center environment, supporting various applications. Dell stands as the leading vendor in accelerated servers for AI, commanding a 33.8% revenue share. Based on user reviews, Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers supporting tasks from basic web hosting to more demanding applications like data analytics and virtualization. They are engineered to offer high performance, reliability, and scalability. With a focus on automation and integrated security, these servers simplify operations and protect against threats, making them a smart choice for businesses of all sizes.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are a robust, secure, and scalable solution that can meet the diverse needs of businesses, backed by comprehensive support. Benefits to look for in reviews include performance, reliability, scalability, and customer support.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers key features include:

Scalability: These servers can easily scale to meet growing business needs, supporting more workloads and processing power.
Integrated Security: From hardware to firmware to the operating system, Dell PowerEdge servers are designed with security in mind, offering layers of protection.
Energy Efficiency: Advanced thermal design and energy-smart technology help reduce operational costs and environmental impact.
Automation: With Dell EMC OpenManage, the management of servers is streamlined, allowing for automated deployment, monitoring, and updates.

In terms of implementation, Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are used across various industries, from small businesses to large enterprises. They serve as the foundation for IT infrastructure, powering critical applications in healthcare, finance, education, and more. The adaptability of these servers means they can be tailored to specific industry needs, from handling large datasets in research institutions to supporting high-transaction databases in financial services.

Dell Technologies

Sample Customers

Aegean Motorway, Anilana Hotels and Resorts, Anonymous Banking Group, Artoni Transporti, Bellevue, BH Telecom, Bowling Green State University, Children's Hospital Colorado, City of Biel, Dimension Data, Dualtec Cloud Builders, Hertz, Houston Methodist, Kuwait Petroleum Italia, Lufthansa Systems GmbH & Co.KG, Outscale, Sony Corporation, Talbots

NxtGen Datacenter, Medien-Service Untermain (MSU), Exasol, IndigoVision, Dayco

Cisco UCS B-Series vs. Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers