Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers vs HPE Apollo Systems comparison

Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers vs. HPE Apollo Systems

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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:

Categories and Ranking

Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Ser...

Ranking in Rack Servers

5th

Ranking in Density Optimized Servers

5th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

5.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

HPE Apollo Systems

Ranking in Rack Servers

6th

Ranking in Density Optimized Servers

2nd

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Density Optimized Servers category, the mindshare of Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers is 9.5%, down from 14.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HPE Apollo Systems is 22.6%, down from 30.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Density Optimized Servers

Featured Reviews

Ehsan Emad

Head of IT at Synnapex

The VIC card is the most important feature.

I rate Cisco USC C-Series Rack Servers 10 out 10. If you plan to buy a C-Series, you should be clear about why you want to use it because the uses vary. different. Whether you're using Cisco, HPE, Dell or any other brand, it's essential to define your use case. For example, are you using it for a simulation graphics, calculations, etc.? Depending on the use case, you might want to go with a small server with more CPU. Sometimes you need a light CPU with a powerful GPU. For example, if we have a C-Series with four CPUs at the same time, or we have a server that's handled two CPUs at the same time—the purpose is crucial. C-Series is good enough compared to other competitors like HPE and the other ones. The HPE C20 is one unit and has a lot of RAM support, but the C-series is number one, in my opinion.

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Gayan Senadheera

Director at Tyax Pvt Ltd

Offers higher capacities compared to other solutions, making it suitable for handling large storage needs

In terms of improvement, we could benefit from some training. If there could be some training for our team, we would be better equipped to promote and support HPE Apollo. Currently, we haven't received any specific training related to HPE Apollo throughout my career. If HPE Apollo provides training, we can share the knowledge with our partners, which could lead to more opportunities for HPE Apollo in the market. Deal protection and other support measures would also be beneficial, as they could help us achieve better results in this market.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Cisco rack servers are very easy to integrate with other products from different vendors."

"Its hardware is really reliable. We also like Cisco for its support."

"The hardware customization capabilities are great."

"In most cases, computes compute, and there isn't much differentiation, but one point of differentiation is Intersight cloud management."

"The solution is scalable."

"The product doesn't take up too much space on the rack and I like that."

"The solution is stable."

"The product's stability is good. Stability-wise, I rate the solution a nine to ten out of ten."

More Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers pros

"The solution is well documented in a data sheet."

"we can use the same platform for several use cases: Hadoop, Ceph, and we are considering the server for another use case right now. It's a single solution, we only have to integrate it once and we can use it for several technologies."

"The cost benefit of this solution is most valuable. It is quite effective for the work for which we are using it. We are mainly running video servers on these, and we are quite happy with the resilience, density storage, and streaming capacity of the system."

"HPE Apollo's most valuable feature is the ability to expand our storage capacity."

"It's pretty flexible. You can choose how much storage you put on the server. You can have one to three nodes, depending on whether you want more CPU or storage."

"The technical support from HPE has always been good in my experience."

"Absolutely being able to mount into Omni-Path architecture, HFIs on those nodes, because we were the very first site in the world"

"Apollo Systems provide stuff that standard services do not. More HTDs, more compute power, at very reasonable pricing."

More HPE Apollo Systems pros

Cons

"The product must add customer-friendly monitoring features."

"Definitely the support area needs improving. Especially the time response in case of hardware failure."

"There is very little scalability for the cluster. If you need a higher availability, there is a user limitation. So that is the low side."

"The solution can be improved by adjusting the cost."

"Some customers have complained about delivery time. So, the main weakness is the lead time."

"The initial setup could be easier."

"I would like to see a little more integration with VMware."

"The warranty and support periods should be extended."

More Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers cons

"The predictive analysis feature could be improved."

"We would like to see SimpliVity on top of the Apollo."

"There is a shared battery for all cache controllers in the node. When you have to replace that element, you have to take down all three nodes and not just one."

"We could, perhaps, use more GPUs in the future, go from eight to 16 GPUs per instance. That could run head-to-head against the DGX-1, the DGX-2 that NVIDIA has developed in their own chassis. That would be interesting to see."

"Lustre seems to be just a little bit unstable overall."

"If there could be some training for our team, we would be better equipped to promote and support HPE Apollo."

"We would like to see improved cooling because that is quite an issue. If you put that much compute power into a single rack, cooling really becomes an issue. And there is room for improvement there."

"One drawback which I had: When I needed to expand storage on the Apollo, I had significant problems getting disks for it. It was a very long wait-time. So, if I were to give any advice in regards to improving this product, I would say make more of the 8TB disks available quicker."

More HPE Apollo Systems cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is moderately priced."

"The pricing is expensive."

"Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis, which is only $2,000 or $3,000."

"The price for Cisco is a bit higher than its competitors. We paid 40k for one server."

"The price of the Cisco UCS C-Series Rack could improve. It's a little more expensive in comparison with Dell or HPE solutions."

"We have to pay for the VMware and Cisco licenses."

"This product is quite expensive and it would be better if it were cheaper."

"The prices of Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers are higher compared to the competition. When we try and sell against the competition, then it becomes quite difficult to sell"

More Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers pricing and cost advice

"Obviously I would like to see the cost go down. That speaks for itself."

"It is an expensive solution but it is worth the money. The standard licensing cost is for the GPU and the features that someone is using. There are additional charges but they depend on the solution."

"There is an annual license required to use HPE Apollo."

"The price of the solution is more expensive than Dell which is their main competitor. However, there are times we have managed to receive a comparable price."

"Compared to other products, HPE Apollo is not an expensive solution."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

20%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

University

Computer Software Company

13%

Manufacturing Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers?

The C-series is the most valuable.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers?

The solution is moderately priced.

What needs improvement with Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers?

The improvement should be done as per customer requirements.

What do you like most about HPE Apollo?

HPE Apollo's pricing is low, and implementation is very easy compared to other products.

What needs improvement with HPE Apollo?

HPE Apollo's after-sales support and technical support should be improved. The solution should provide fast delivery when it comes to replacing a particular product that is under warranty.

What is your primary use case for HPE Apollo?

We use HPE Apollo for specific requirements of Linux servers.

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Comparisons

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HPE Synergy vs Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers

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Compared 21% of the time

Dell PowerEdge XE Servers vs HPE Apollo Systems

Compared 8% of the time

Dell PowerEdge FX vs HPE Apollo Systems

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Product Reports

Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers

Download Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers product report

HPE Apollo Systems

Download HPE Apollo Systems product report

Also Known As

Unified Computing System C-Series, Cisco UCS C-Series

HP Apollo Systems, HP ProLiant SL, HP Apollo

Overview

UCS C-Series Rack Servers deliver unified computing in an industry-standard form factor to reduce TCO and increase agility. Each server addresses varying workload challenges through a balance of processing, memory, I/O, and internal storage resources.

Cisco

The HPE Apollo high-density server family is built for the highest levels of performance and efficiency. They are rack-scale compute, storage, networking, power and cooling – massively scale-up and scale-out – solutions for your big data analytics, object storage and high-performance computing (HPC) workloads. From water-cooling that’s 1,000X more efficient than air, to “right-sized scaling” with 2X the compute density for workgroup and private cloud workloads, the HPE Apollo line is a dense, high-performance, tiered approach for organisations of all sizes.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Sample Customers

Advanced Medical Transport, Aegean Motorway, Anilana Hotels and Resorts, Artoni Transporti, BH Telecom, Bowling Green State University, City of Mississauga, Dualtec Cloud Builders, Electricity Authority of Cyprus, Grupo Industrial Saltillo (GIS), Kind en Gezin, Kuwait Petroleum Italia, Nationwide, Quest, Talbots, University of St. Gallen

Weta Digital

Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers vs. HPE Apollo Systems