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Cisco UCS B-Series vs HPE Synergy comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 3, 2025

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
7.6
Cisco UCS B-Series improved performance, reduced costs by 40%, and enabled management of 1600 servers with just two people.
Sentiment score
6.8
HPE Synergy reduces operational costs, accelerates deployments, consolidates workloads, and offers substantial ROI through savings and efficiency.
Additionally, we achieved server consolidation, running multiple services on fewer servers without purchasing new ones, resulting in significant financial benefits.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.1
Cisco UCS B-Series support is praised for efficient, proactive service, though improvements are suggested for response times.
Sentiment score
6.5
HPE Synergy support praised for knowledgeable responsiveness, though some users faced initial challenges, especially with newer technologies, needing escalation.
Cisco's technical support is highly helpful and responsive.
I would rate the technical support from HPE Synergy, and for all other solutions, as very good and appreciable with a score of nine out of ten on a scale from one to ten.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.9
Cisco UCS B-Series excels in seamless scalability and integration, efficiently supporting thousands of servers for diverse industry needs.
Sentiment score
7.6
HPE Synergy provides scalable expansion with seamless hardware integration, though some users find component management challenging across data centers.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.9
Cisco UCS B-Series is praised for its stability, reliability, and strong performance, with swift resolutions to occasional issues.
Sentiment score
7.9
HPE Synergy is stable and reliable, with minor setup issues mitigated by updates, redundancy, and strong support.
The stability of Cisco UCS B-Series is impeccable, as it has been running smoothly without any need for maintenance.
 

Room For Improvement

Cisco UCS B-Series requires improved user-friendliness, integration, pricing, storage management, and software update processes per user feedback.
HPE Synergy users seek better integration, speed, networking simplicity, support, storage sharing, UI enhancements, and improved security and deployment.
Last year, we faced challenges with firmware upgrades, but they were quickly resolved with assistance from Cisco TAC.
Currently, it supports only two drives in the blade server, which can be limiting.
 

Setup Cost

Cisco UCS B-Series has high pricing, complex licensing, but offers discounts and long-term value through reliability and integration.
HPE Synergy's high costs include notable VMware licensing fees, but discounts and strategic value may justify the expense.
The management software, Cisco One, is priced a bit high but still considered reasonable.
Pricing in the blade server market is very competitive, with HPE offering a competitive price.
 

Valuable Features

Cisco UCS B-Series provides centralized management, scalability, high memory, virtualization support, and reduced costs, enhancing efficiency and performance.
HPE Synergy offers composable infrastructure, flexibility, and OneView integration, enhancing deployment, resource management, scalability, and system reliability.
Its administration capabilities provide easy access to performance reports, logs, and utilization data, which are essential for effective server management.
It offers significant compute power in approximately ten rack units, making it practical for workload optimization.
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco UCS B-Series
Ranking in Blade Servers
4th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
74
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
HPE Synergy
Ranking in Blade Servers
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
91
Ranking in other categories
Composable Infrastructure (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Blade Servers category, the mindshare of Cisco UCS B-Series is 8.2%, down from 9.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HPE Synergy is 19.8%, down from 21.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Blade Servers
 

Featured Reviews

DavidMbugua - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
CarlosArdila - PeerSpot reviewer
Helps grow horizontally or vertically within one box or chassis
The initial setup is very easy. We deployed this in two days, including installation, system setup, firmware upgrades, configuration, and network connection. By the next day, we were already deploying virtual machines. We initially began with the Blade system. As the migration to SAP HANA approached, it seemed prudent to upgrade our hardware. Consequently, we facilitated their transition from the Blade system to Synergy. Subsequently, we collaborated closely with the SAP consultancy company to oversee the migration process, ensuring seamless integration of all workloads and sub-environments. We have four people working on the deployment, including a project manager, two specialists, and one tech support.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Healthcare Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
10%
Government
9%
 

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?
Comparing Cisco UCS B-Series with traditional servers, while its initial cost may be slightly higher, it is not as expensive as Oracle Exadata, making it a worthwhile investment. It pays off in the...
What needs improvement with Cisco UCS B-Series?
There is a need for Cisco UCS B-Series to evolve and scale vertically, particularly with the increasing data demands and the integration of AI, ensuring the solution remains certified and capable u...
How would you choose between HPE's Bladesystem and Synergy?
For me, choosing between HPE’s Bladesystem and Synergy came down to which solution was more powerful, reliable, and stable. It turns out Bladesystem was the winner. Bladesystem is excellent because...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HPE Synergy?
As far as the prices are concerned, rack mount solutions are less expensive than HPE Synergy prices; however, HPE Synergy prices are higher but justify themselves as the solution accommodates all t...
What needs improvement with HPE Synergy?
In my opinion, for future improvements in HPE Synergy, there should be better management of power consumption complexity as well as an increase in the number of servers that can fit in a single Syn...
 

Also Known As

UCS B-Series, Unified Computing System B-Series
No data available
 

Overview

 

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
HudsonAlpha, Virgin Media, EMIS, United
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco UCS B-Series vs. HPE Synergy and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
865,295 professionals have used our research since 2012.