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Dell EqualLogic PS series vs IBM XIV comparison

Dell Technologies and IBM are both solutions in the Modular SAN (Storage Area Network) category. Dell Technologies is ranked #7 with an average rating of 8.0, while IBM is ranked #10. Dell Technologies holds a 2.3% mindshare in MS, compared to IBM’s 1.2% mindshare. Additionally, 78% of Dell Technologies users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 85% of IBM users who would recommend it.
Dell EqualLogic PS series
Read 19 Dell EqualLogic PS series reviews
  • 337 Views
  • 94 Comparison Views
78% willing to recommend
IBM XIV
Read 6 IBM XIV reviews
  • 156 Views
  • 28 Comparison Views
85% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 2, 2025

IBM XIV and Dell EqualLogic PS Series are competing in the storage solutions market. IBM XIV seems to have the upper hand with its data reliability and performance, while Dell EqualLogic PS Series offers impressive virtualization and scalability features.

Features: IBM XIV provides robust scalability, focusing on data reliability and easy integration into IT ecosystems. Dell EqualLogic PS Series offers advanced virtualization, automatic load balancing, and simplified management.

Room for Improvement: IBM XIV could benefit from more competitive pricing, enhanced automation features, and better integration with third-party tools. Dell EqualLogic PS Series might improve on providing deeper analytical insights, more advanced data protection features, and enhanced interoperability.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM XIV offers straightforward deployment with reliable customer service, ensuring operational continuity. Dell EqualLogic PS Series provides seamless deployment with comprehensive support options, facilitating quick implementation.

Pricing and ROI: IBM XIV requires a higher initial setup cost but delivers favorable ROI through performance and efficiency. Dell EqualLogic PS Series boasts a competitive pricing structure and strong ROI, appealing to businesses focused on cost-effectiveness.

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To learn more, read our detailed Dell EqualLogic PS series vs. IBM XIV Report (Updated: June 2025).
Buyer's Guide
Dell EqualLogic PS series vs. IBM XIV
June 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
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
19
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
IBM XIV
Ranking in Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)
10th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
5.4
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Modular SAN (Storage Area Network) category, the mindshare of Dell EqualLogic PS series is 2.3%, down from 2.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM XIV is 1.2%, down from 1.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)
 

Featured Reviews

Abdul Rehman Abid - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
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Ajith Kandaramage - PeerSpot reviewer
Good value for money but issues with modular scaling
IBM XIV's most valuable features are NVME, especially when it comes to de-duplication, compression, and responsiveness I've been using IBM XIV for two and a half years. IBM XIV is stable. IBM XIV's scalability is adequate for our requirements, but because it's modular, you can't scale to larger…
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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

"The technical support for the solution was really good."
"The technical support for EqualLogic has been universally outstanding."
"The technical support is very good."
"Technical support, when we had access to it, was very good."
"Its high availability. It has a lot of redundancy and good management software as well as good alerting."
"If you have one datacenter fail, the VMs will start to run inside the other data center."
"​It has contributed to the implementation of virtualization and all its benefits.​"
"The product is very stable."
More Dell EqualLogic PS series pros
"Very easy to produce reporting data (Snaps). Very easy and fast for provisioning devices and Remote mirroring."
"Hands down, this is the easiest storage platform on the market to manage."
"As it spreads, a chuck of 1MB across the board means using all available spindles on the backend."
"IBM XIV's most valuable features are NVME, especially when it comes to de-duplication, compression, and responsiveness."
"Installation is amazingly easy."
"The performance and robustness of the systems are very good."
 

Cons

"There is no inline deduplication capability."
"The product is reaching the end-of-lifecycle."
"6510 and 6610 have two iSCSI connections in each controller. Why do 6110xxx members have only one, and why do the same members have the possibility of having an active iSCSI interface in the passive controller? It could make a lot of noise with a failover."
"The solution is out of date and the new version has a lot of advanced features."
"It is at the end of support and no longer supported. We have to move our VMware to another storage platform, and we have decided to use Dell PowerStore. We like Dell's products, and it is a new platform with a lot of features."
"The only challenging part in the tool was related to some site recovery area. In order to exploit the site recovery area, my company had to purchase additional VMware products."
"Dell EqualLogic PS series could improve by providing fiber channel connectivity. Fiber channel connectivity is not supported, which is a requirement of advanced applications, such as SAP HANA. SAP HANA recommends fiber channel connectivity, but the Dell EqualLogic PS series is only an ISCSI data storage."
"We need more space and we can't get any."
More Dell EqualLogic PS series cons
"The change form synchronous mirroring to asynchronous (and vice versa) without reconfiguration from scratch would be helpful."
"Until the drive is replaced, the pool_resizing is locked."
"IBM XIV's scalability is adequate for our requirements, but because it's modular, you can't scale to larger requirements."
"I encountered stability (performance) issues during enclosure or disk rebuild. Also some power supply issues due to malfunctions of ​circuits. Sometimes "internal" Snap sessions hang and consume pool capacity."
"I would rather have a web GUI served directly from the unit, and a CLI accessible directly through SSH."
"This product was not a good fit for our organization as we have a ton of latency sensitive applications and XIV was not able to keep up with IO + latency demand."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"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."
"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."
"Licensing is pretty straightforward."
"​It is a fair price."
"Initial packages include all upgrades and services."
"It seemed expensive at first, but the durability lowered the cost of ownership dramatically over time."
"There are annual maintenance costs beyond the original licensing period."
More Dell EqualLogic PS series pricing and cost advice
"No-license-required policy, unlike others where you need a license for everything. Just pay once and forget about licenses."
"We have a five-year total cost of ownership where we pay an initial amount and then annually for maintenance."
"If you are going to use the product behind an SVC, IBM will price the units lower, since you are likely not to use any of the advanced copy services."
"Licensing is straightforward."
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Company Size

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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
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Comparisons

HPE MSA vs Dell EqualLogic PS series Logo
HPE MSA vs Dell EqualLogic PS series
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More Dell EqualLogic PS series Competitors
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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
Dell EqualLogic PS series
June 2025
Dell EqualLogic PS series reportDownload Dell EqualLogic PS series product report
Buyer's Guide
Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)
May 2025
IBM XIV reportDownload IBM XIV product report
 

Also Known As

EqualLogic PS series
XIV
 

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

IBM XIV is a high-end, grid-scale storage system that excels in tuning-free consistent performance, ease of use and exceptional data economics, including inline, and IBM Real-time Compression. IBM XIV is ideal for hybrid cloud, offering predictable service levels for dynamic workloads, simplified scale management, including in multi-tenant environments, flexible consumption models — and robust cloud automation and orchestration through OpenStack, RESTful API and VMware. It offers security and data protection through hot encryption, advanced mirroring and self-healing and investment protection with perpetual licensing.

IBM
 

Sample Customers

FAW Foundry, AW Engineering, Unimat, eLongNet Information Technology, BDO Brasil, Odyssey Space Research
Celero, NaviSite, Technische Universit_t Mªnchen, Netflix Inc., Muhr und Bender KG, Pelephone Communications
Buyer's Guide
Dell EqualLogic PS series vs. IBM XIV
June 2025
Free Report: Dell EqualLogic PS series vs. IBM XIV
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