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Dell ObjectScale vs Microsoft Azure comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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
6.0
Dell ObjectScale offers seamless integration, cost-effectiveness, and reliability, delivering quick returns and efficiencies in time and cost.
Sentiment score
6.1
Microsoft Azure is favored for reducing costs, offering flexible scalability, and enhancing service reliability while shifting expenses to operational.
I have seen both time savings and cost savings, so there is definitely a return on investment with Dell ECS, along with peace of mind.
IT Infrastructure Manager at Companhia de Saneamento Ambiental do Distrito Federal
The value for money is good, and Microsoft Azure has positively impacted our operational costs.
IT Support Specialist at Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi
When we use Microsoft Azure, it provides enhanced security from our perspective, though I am not certain about the financial return on investment or benefits for our users as I do not have that information.
Head Of Security Management at Ipko Telecommunications
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.0
Dell ObjectScale customer service is well-regarded but varies in efficiency due to time zones and integration issues.
Sentiment score
6.5
Microsoft Azure's support is responsive and knowledgeable, but speed and accessibility vary with the service level purchased.
There is a lack of SUSE Linux experts which affects the level of support.
Consultant at Key Information Technology L.L.C.
The response time and quality of the technical support are satisfactory.
Deputy director at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Customer support is generally good but sometimes struggles with complex issues.
Manager, Technical Services at AXS
Microsoft needs to engage L3 and L2 in support when specified in service tickets.
Snr. Infrastructure Architect (Data Centre) at LogicEra
We eventually get the resolution we seek.
Freelancer at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
I would rate their technical support a ten because we have various support channels available.
Solutions Architect at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
Dell ObjectScale is praised for its scalability, supporting many users and data without extra costs, fitting various enterprise sizes.
Sentiment score
7.6
Microsoft Azure is highly rated for its scalable resource management, suitable for businesses of all sizes and workloads.
Through the fabrics, it provides the clustering, allowing us to add nodes easily.
Consultant at Key Information Technology L.L.C.
It allows scale-out processes by adding extra nodes, providing flexibility for customers to increase capacity on demand.
Manager, Technical Services at AXS
I would rate scalability between eight or nine, as it provides a good ability to scale and expand storage.
Deputy director at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Microsoft Azure is not just one product; it is a platform with multiple products within Microsoft Azure, and I would say it is scalable and would rate it a nine.
Director at Apeiros Solutions
The scalability of Microsoft Azure is excellent for growth and adaptation, depending on company requirements.
Head Of Security Management at Ipko Telecommunications
It has different kinds of designs that allow for management and deployment in multi-zones, offering both scalable and non-scalable options.
Snr. Infrastructure Architect (Data Centre) at LogicEra
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.0
Dell ObjectScale is praised for its stability and reliability, consistently performing well in large-scale deployments despite minor issues.
Sentiment score
7.7
Microsoft Azure is generally stable with high uptime, though users note occasional issues and some prefer AWS for reliability.
We have not experienced any outages in the last four years.
Associate Vice President at Yotta Infrastructure Solutions LLP
We use it in very critical areas inside Saudi Arabia with critical customers.
Solution arhitect at a comms service provider with 201-500 employees
I'd rate stability maybe 9.5 out of ten.
Senior Datacenter Consultant at a computer software company with 501-1,000 employees
We noticed a few critical servers went down due to a Microsoft Azure-end hardware issue.
Senior Associate at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
We are now migrating clients without the zoning into mandatory multi-zone deployments, so if one zone goes down, their application and database remain live.
Snr. Infrastructure Architect (Data Centre) at LogicEra
Microsoft Azure is quite stable, but recent outages and security issues have slightly decreased my confidence.
Works at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees
 

Room For Improvement

Dell ObjectScale struggles with integration, scalability, and performance, needing better support, documentation, security, and usability enhancements.
Azure users seek a user-friendly interface, better pricing, enhanced support, compatibility improvements, and additional customization with security enhancements.
Live logs should be viewable through the GUI like with Logstash or Elasticsearch.
Deputy director at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
The deployment is not easy, and some expertise is required to configure the virtual data center and replication groups.
Consultant at Key Information Technology L.L.C.
Incorporating extra integrations beyond S3, like Hadoop file systems, and being well aligned with trends like AI solutions would be beneficial.
Manager, Technical Services at AXS
Recent outages and security issues are also a concern, causing a decrease in confidence, especially when partnering with third-party companies.
Works at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees
The administrative side is suitable for technical people, but our finance and HR super users find it less user-friendly, as they prefer drag-and-drop features to build their own solutions without contacting IT.
IT Support Specialist at Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi
There is still room for improvement in terms of pricing.
Director at Apeiros Solutions
 

Setup Cost

Dell ObjectScale offers flexible pricing with cost efficiency over time, but some users find it expensive compared to competitors.
Microsoft Azure's competitive pricing and flexible options attract users, despite concerns about long-term cost predictability and specific charges.
It relies on nearline SAS drives, which are cheaper than flash or SSDs.
Manager, Technical Services at AXS
The pricing model is on the higher side compared to other vendors.
Deputy director at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
The price is reasonable given the abundance of features, including managing, control, host resources, dockers, and containers.
Consultant at Key Information Technology L.L.C.
Microsoft solutions might be cheaper than some services like AWS, but some solutions may be more expensive depending on the services compared.
Works at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees
Copilot is expensive based on recent pricing for our POC.
IT Support Specialist at Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi
They have discounts and also provide promotions for a three-year reservation which comes with significant discounts on the infrastructure part.
Snr. Infrastructure Architect (Data Centre) at LogicEra
 

Valuable Features

Dell ObjectScale excels in S3 protocol, integration with Dell EMC, offering scalability, stability, reliability, and enterprise-friendly features.
Microsoft Azure excels in scalability, integration, security, and cost-effectiveness, enhancing development and operational efficiency with robust support.
The stability of this solution is a major advantage, as we've not experienced any outages in the last four years.
Associate Vice President at Yotta Infrastructure Solutions LLP
Dell ECS helps with managing storage requirements since it's S3 kind of object storage with all needed enterprise features such as immutability, snapshotting, and application management, which are nice sets of features usually required.
IT Architect at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
The impact of Dell ECS on my organization has been positive, improving user experience, security, and reliability.
IT Infrastructure Manager at Companhia de Saneamento Ambiental do Distrito Federal
Power BI, another feature of Azure, is extremely elegant and has robust features that support forecasting using R and Python.
Works at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees
If Microsoft gives a report, such as a server performance report in a detailed way, which shows what is consuming more CPU, memory, and disk IO, and network utilization during a particular time, it would be helpful to visualize that information.
Senior Associate at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
What is very interesting in terms of scalability is the automatic possibilities to provision some new machines to be able to absorb the number of users we have in the system.
Technical Director / Market Evangelist at CAST Software
 

Categories and Ranking

Dell ObjectScale
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
34
Ranking in other categories
File and Object Storage (7th)
Microsoft Azure
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
323
Ranking in other categories
Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS) (1st), PaaS Clouds (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

Dell ObjectScale and Microsoft Azure aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Dell ObjectScale is designed for File and Object Storage and holds a mindshare of 5.4%, down 8.2% compared to last year.
Microsoft Azure, on the other hand, focuses on Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS), holds 9.9% mindshare, down 19.3% since last year.
File and Object Storage Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Dell ObjectScale5.4%
MinIO15.2%
Red Hat Ceph Storage14.5%
Other64.9%
File and Object Storage
Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Azure9.9%
Amazon AWS17.4%
Akamai Connected Cloud (Linode)10.2%
Other62.5%
Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS)
 

Featured Reviews

MA
Manager, Technical Services at AXS
Offers seamless protocol integration for diverse solutions with flexible API communication
We recommend Dell ECS to customers looking for GeoDrive, archiving, long-term retention solutions, or S3 protocol. It is proposed to sectors like government, education, and banking. Overall, I would rate Dell ECS eight out of ten, as it has shown a lot of enhancement compared to previous solutions like Centera and Atmos.
Syed Abid  - PeerSpot reviewer
Snr. Infrastructure Architect (Data Centre) at LogicEra
Versatile integrations and reliable customer satisfaction elevate cloud service experience
For Microsoft Azure improvement, they need to enhance their support system. The first level of support should be improved in terms of quality and response time. They need more technical support at the first level, as there are currently only one or two technical people among five to ten staff members at this level. They should ensure that the first level support is more technical because we normally provide services to technical users ourselves. When an issue arises, it usually escalates to the second or third level. When facing first level support, they may have limited knowledge and only collect screenshots to forward to their seniors. They should ensure that the first level support is aligned with L2 and L3 to better assist us, especially since we mention in the ticket that our issues are related to specific problems and require that sort of support.
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Comparison Review

it_user8586 - PeerSpot reviewer
Engineer at a tech consulting company with 51-200 employees
Aug 14, 2013
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
19%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Computer Software Company
9%
Government
8%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
8%
University
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business12
Midsize Enterprise12
Large Enterprise11
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business140
Midsize Enterprise54
Large Enterprise149
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell EMC ECS?
The pricing is moderate and at par with the market. As a service provider, we receive good margins, indicating a favorable price point.
What needs improvement with Dell EMC ECS?
I cannot think of anything as an area for improvement with Dell ECS. I do not see any pricing or usability concerns.
Which is preferable - IBM Public Cloud or Microsoft Azure?
IBM Public Cloud is IBM’s Platform-as-a-Service. It aims to provide organizations with a secure cloud environment to manage data and applications. One of the features we like is the cloud activity ...
Which is better - SAP Cloud Platform or Microsoft Azure?
One of the best features of SAP Cloud Platform is that it is web-based and you can log in from anywhere in the world. SAP Cloud Platform is suitable for companies of any size; it works well with bo...
How does Microsoft Azure compare to Google Firebase?
I would recommend Google Firebase instead of Microsoft Azure, simply for the array of features that it has to offer. In particular, the Firebase library grants you access to a shared data structure...
 

Also Known As

EMC ECS, Dell EMC Elastic Cloud Storage (ECS)
Windows Azure, Azure, MS Azure
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Atos
BMW, Toyota, easyJet, NBC Sports, HarperCollins, Aviva, TalkTalk Business, Avanade, and Telenor.
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