Dell EqualLogic PS series vs HPE MSA comparison

Dell Technologies and Hewlett Packard Enterprise are both solutions in the Modular SAN (Storage Area Network) category. Dell Technologies is ranked #7 with an average rating of 8.0, while Hewlett Packard Enterprise is ranked #5 with an average rating of 7.8. Dell Technologies holds a 1.9% mindshare in MS, compared to Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s 19.6% mindshare. Additionally, 77% of Dell Technologies users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 91% of Hewlett Packard Enterprise users who would recommend it.

Dell EqualLogic PS series

Read 18 Dell EqualLogic PS series reviews

329 Views
128 Comparison Views

77% willing to recommend

HPE MSA

Read 24 HPE MSA reviews

1,403 Views
1,122 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

Dell EqualLogic PS series

HPE MSA

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 2, 2025

Dell EqualLogic PS series and HPE MSA are competing storage solutions targeting enterprise environments. HPE MSA emerges as more advanced due to its extensive features, justifying the investment despite the higher cost.

Features: Dell EqualLogic PS series offers seamless scalability, an easy-to-manage environment, and automated data management. HPE MSA stands out with its mixed protocol support, superior performance, and customizable options tailored for demanding enterprise needs.

Room for Improvement: Dell EqualLogic PS series could improve in providing more advanced protocol support and performance features. HPE MSA may enhance its cost efficiency, ease of use for initial setups, and integration options for non-tech users.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: HPE MSA offers straightforward deployment with robust customer service assisting smooth integration. Dell EqualLogic PS series provides more flexible deployment, focusing on ease of setup through high-level support and advisory services.

Pricing and ROI: Dell EqualLogic PS series is cost-efficient with lower setup costs, offering good ROI through scalability and support. HPE MSA, with a higher initial cost, promises excellent ROI with advanced features and performance, making it a valuable investment.

To learn more, read our detailed Dell EqualLogic PS series vs. HPE MSA Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Dell EqualLogic PS series vs. HPE MSA

April 2025

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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

Dell EqualLogic PS series

Ranking in Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)

7th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

HPE MSA

Ranking in Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)

5th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Modular SAN (Storage Area Network) category, the mindshare of Dell EqualLogic PS series is 1.9%, down from 2.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HPE MSA is 19.6%, up from 16.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)

Featured Reviews

Abdul Rehman Abid

Manager Enterprise Solutions at Megaplus

Useful auto tiering, excellent support, and highly reliable

The initial setup of the Dell EqualLogic PS series is simple. The physical connectivity and rack mounting time depend on the size of the deployment. For example, if we have five of the Dell EqualLogic PS series we can mount and do the cabling within two hours. The initial configuration can be done within an hour. The estimated time to deploy from start to finish in this scenario is four to five hours maximum. One person can do most of the deployment, such as configuration, but a helper is needed to do the mounting of the cables.

Read full review

Pragnesh Sachania

Deputy Manager IT at La Gajjar

Scalable, easy to manage, and used for virtualization environments

We didn't face any issues with the technical functionality. However, we faced a lot of challenges with our custom configuration. The HPE support person who did the installation was very technical. He answered all the queries, and we resolved the entire setup. We set up the storage as per our requirements. We previously used a physical server instead of virtualization. With the help of an HPE engineer and partners, we prepared a strategy for migrating the entire physical servers to our virtualization infrastructure. It took two days to deploy the solution. Six people were involved in the solution's deployment, including two from HPE and four from our IT team.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It is extremely reliable."

"The technical support for EqualLogic has been universally outstanding."

"Dell's technical support is very good."

"It has contributed to the implementation of virtualization and all its benefits."

"The most valuable feature of Dell EqualLogic PS series auto tiering by using this feature, the customer can get higher performance on a valuable budget."

"Dell EqualLogic PS series is a highly stable solution."

"If you have one datacenter fail, the VMs will start to run inside the other data center."

"Its high availability. It has a lot of redundancy and good management software as well as good alerting."

More Dell EqualLogic PS series pros

"MSA performs exceptionally well, particularly in regions with frequent power outages."

"The solution is pretty transparent and works well."

"The solution is very easy to use, it is not really complex for any user, such as non-technical individuals."

"The simple configuration feature is great. It is very simple, allowing you to set up MSA very easily."

"The most valuable feature for customers is the autonomic tiering, which enhances their storage scalability as easily as possible."

"The product is very easy to deploy."

"The most valuable features were the dual controllers and being able to expand it."

"It has notably provided scalability benefits."

More HPE MSA pros

Cons

"Synchronous replication uses space inefficiently."

"There is no inline deduplication capability."

"Individual file recovery would be a nice additional feature."

"Dell EqualLogic PS series could improve the performance because in our hybrid configuration the read speed is faster than the write speed."

"The searchable online documentation is missing."

"The performance isn't as good as, for example, Nimble."

"There is no option for mixing RAID types in one device."

"If I need to have more space or more capacity, I need to replace the product. It would be ideal if we could scale without replacing the box itself."

More Dell EqualLogic PS series cons

"I rate HPE support four out of 10. I'm not happy with them. We purchased mission-critical support, and we're supposed to get a response in four hours. Instead, I'm waiting days for them to replace the drive. They asked me to send back the failed one, and I don't know the address. After I sent it back, they told me they haven't received it. It's a nightmare."

"The solution requires hardware."

"We faced a lot of challenges with our custom configuration during installation."

"It would be beneficial to have an add-on feature to improve analytics or insight capabilities inside the app."

"HPE should reintroduce customizable ports as they were in Gen 5, allowing customers to use both iSCSI or SC on a single controller."

"It should show more options for cloud backup support."

"The support contract is expensive, although they are very responsive."

"This product is getting a little bit older, so new features like deduplication are not included."

More HPE MSA cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I don't think I would say that the product is less expensive...The product's price is not an issue for our company, considering the relationship we have with Dell and the customer support we receive."

"It seemed expensive at first, but the durability lowered the cost of ownership dramatically over time."

"Initial packages include all upgrades and services."

"Licensing is pretty straightforward."

"I didn't buy it. It was another person seven years ago. So, I don't really know, but all storage platforms cost a lot of money. It is probably in the mid-range, but you get what you pay for."

"Dell EqualLogic PS series can improve its scale-out feature. Sometimes the customer has a limited budget for storage expansion. When they want to expand their capacity, they need to buy a complete controller plus storage capacity, which sometimes is out of their budget. If Dell EqualLogic PS series support could scale up the environment in which only hard drive extension controllers should be supported, then customers can expand within a lower budget."

"It is a fair price."

"There are annual maintenance costs beyond the original licensing period."

More Dell EqualLogic PS series pricing and cost advice

"This solution is quite expensive; they should lower the cost."

"The solution’s pricing is reasonable."

"This solution involves a one-time CapEx payment, followed by warranty extensions."

"When we bought this solution it was very reasonably priced and they were willing to deal."

"The price of the solution is a little high and they should provide more competitive pricing. If you want to increases the storage size there are additional fees."

"The solution can be a bit expensive."

"HPE StorageWorks MSA's licensing is perpetual and not integrated."

"I would rate the pricing as nine out of ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Computer Software Company

15%

Manufacturing Company

14%

Government

Construction Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Dell EqualLogic PS series?

The technical support for the solution was really good.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Dell EqualLogic PS series?

The main issue was that when there were new storage solutions technologies available on the market, Dell EqualLogic PS Series was not compatible with the latest products. Right now, we have a stora...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Dell EqualLogic PS series?

I used the solution in my company since we had a virtual infrastructure, which served as our storage array with ESXi connections, which are also integrated with VMware solutions.

See all answers

What do you like most about HPE StorageWorks MSA?

The most valuable feature of HPE StorageWorks MSA is its flexibility.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HPE StorageWorks MSA?

I am not satisfied with the licensing model and pricing.

See all answers

What needs improvement with HPE StorageWorks MSA?

It needs more details on how to integrate with the cloud for backup scenarios. It should show more options for cloud backup support.

See all answers

Comparisons

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Dell EqualLogic PS series

May 2025

Download Dell EqualLogic PS series product report

Buyer's Guide

HPE MSA

May 2025

Download HPE MSA product report

Also Known As

EqualLogic PS series

HP StorageWorks MSA

Overview

EqualLogic PS Series arrays bring a new level of performance to service more of your most demanding applications and virtualization requirements, while delivering the simplicity of the EqualLogic management experience. Featuring six array configurations, including 2U/2.5" drive options with All Flash and Hybrid Arrays, it is ideal for companies and organizations with growing data and performance needs.

Dell Technologies

Whether you need best-in-class performance or are looking to get the most capacity for your investment, MSA has a fast, affordable solution for you. And every MSA comes with an intuitive setup and management interface anyone can master.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Sample Customers

FAW Foundry, AW Engineering, Unimat, eLongNet Information Technology, BDO Brasil, Odyssey Space Research

Femsa CSC, TTX, Rabobank

Buyer's Guide

Dell EqualLogic PS series vs. HPE MSA

April 2025

Free Report: Dell EqualLogic PS series vs. HPE MSA

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