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Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers vs IBM Power Systems vs Oracle SPARC Servers 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:
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Rack Servers category, the mindshare of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is 27.5%, down from 28.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Power Systems is 9.0%, up from 8.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Oracle SPARC Servers is 3.7%, up from 3.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Rack Servers
 

Featured Reviews

Syed Masuood - PeerSpot reviewer
Handles workloads and diverse applications efficiently
We have a lot of VMs on Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers. On a single server, we have probably hosted 14 or 15 VMs. Out of these, 8 to 10 are continuously running, and four of them are backup VMs, so it can handle a good workload. For cybersecurity, it is only accessible on the intranet; it is not accessible through the web. We use it for local development purposes, and it is behind our firewall. Its security is strong. We handle a lot of test data for government and confidential customers. It is safe and strong locally. We have not experienced any security issues. Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers have helped to reduce unplanned production downtime if we need to replace a hard disk, instead of completely shutting a server, there is a hot swap feature. It is quite good in that aspect. Usually, for any activity, there is a downtime of about 30 minutes. It has saved a lot of time. We have tried AI workloads for a development environment for a government customer in Singapore. The servers are hosted in Singapore. It is an ML-based engine with AI. It is a government project where data is processed, and we run it on Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers. The benefit of running AI workloads on PowerEdge Servers is that it is easy to allocate memory. The application we are running is memory intensive. It is pretty easy to scale memory and storage.
Rohintan-Karanjia - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers security features, including HIPs, Postgres, intrusion prevention systems, and AI for specific tasks
We've found that sometimes, certain setups require better servers. Ideally, the next level of model that IBM offers would be perfect for those situations. Sometimes, the availability of additional services can be a challenge for some software. Certain IBM software takes time to deliver to the client. It can be slow. So deployment is an area for improvement.
Abdul-Salam - PeerSpot reviewer
A rock-solid OS and rich virtualization features for hosting many VMs on one box
Oracle doesn't have a good roadmap for the solution because they are moving to the x86 platform. Oracle is focusing on the cloud platform with a PCA and standard x86 architecture. Linux is their other OS and is mostly in the cloud. We don't see much development happening on Solaris even though it came as an acquisition from Sun Microsystems. Eventually, the solution and its platform will die because there has been no new development on the Solaris end and we haven't seen new servers in the last five years. At this point, we are pretty sure there is no real roadmap or future for the solution. There is a shortage of expert engineers because Oracle is not pushing the technology. It is hard for us to find engineers because the number of people supporting us has considerably reduced.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The feature of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers that I value the best is the iDRAC, as it is extremely good and simplifies tasks."
"The iDRAC helps us monitor and manage our systems."
"The solution is easy to use and has good performance."
"The initial setup is pretty straightforward."
"The quality of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is excellent; they never experience downtime."
"My favorite features of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers have been the redundancy and reliability."
"Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are 100% stable and reliable."
"The reliability of its hardware and the support they provide are valuable."
"We found working with IBM Power Systems that LPM is the most valuable feature."
"On the security side, we get regular security patch updates and system hardening. There are free tools available to harden the system."
"The most valuable features of the solution are disaster recovery, replication, and the ability to migrate to another location."
"Power VM gives us the flexibility to increase or decrease machine resources when required."
"The initial setup is simple and straightforward."
"It is a very scalable solution."
"IBM Power Systems are secure and have fast processing."
"The main feature that I have found most valuable is PowerVM - its virtualization feature which is the most powerful."
"The performance is the best feature."
"The most valuable features of the solution stem from the fact that Oracle Database functions very well with Oracle SPARC Servers."
"I have found the LDAP facilities most valuable. In addition, I like the CPU."
"The processor is very helpful and the licensing is very flexible."
"The Oracle server is very powerful. They are more powerful and durable compared to Intel hardware. Which has been a benefit to our organization."
"Our customers are happy with many features in Oracle SPARC Servers, like the automatic ASR feature."
"The operating system is rock solid and the best I have ever used."
 

Cons

"There might be room for improvement in terms of efficiency, particularly with PowerEdge servers."
"PowerEdge could have more configuration options, such as the ability to combine different CPUs, memory volumes, data storage, and memory."
"The GUI could be improved. I primarily work with the command line, which enables you to do many things faster."
"I've had some trouble where the customers are not happy with the Toshiba drives, and it's a challenge when it comes to specific requests for Dell to a non-deviate, and only use Seagate drives."
"Although PowerEdge's price is high."
"They need improvement in spare part availability in Argentina, but the servers are very good from a hardware point of view."
"When interacting with customer support, it defaults to Arabic because of our region. However, most of the experts here are not familiar with Arabic. We would like English as an alternative language for easy interaction."
"The pricing always has room for improvement."
"The solution is quite expensive."
"There are improvements that can be made on the technical side."
"No available price list is on the web. Due to this, the customer cannot compare pricing."
"One of the main challenges with IBM Power Systems is the functionality of live partnership mobility."
"In Power6, latency was an issue, but nowadays, we are on Power8, which doesn't have any such problems. Sometimes, we have issues when we are moving to a new version, which is the case with almost every company. Some new issues or problems show up suddenly, and you do not have the time to research and find the solution. That's when we contact IBM technical support."
"In the next release, I would like to see additional graphical dashboards to help the administrators access information more easily."
"Software testing and the compatibility of software products that are available in the market should be addressed."
"The pricing is high."
"Oracle doesn't have a good roadmap for the solution because they are moving to the x86 platform."
"They have declared the end of life of the hardware."
"They need some sort of modeling because IBM has different types of models."
"Like IBM, Oracle SPARC Servers should be able to run other open operating systems like Linux."
"Oracle SPARC Servers should be fine-tuned well enough to work with the other servers and software products in the market, as it is an area where Oracle SPARC Servers lack."
"The solution could improve by giving a clear roadmap about the future. I'm not seeing a lot of improvements on the OS side of the software. They need to work more on the operating system."
"I would like to see a reduced price point."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The cost structure associated with Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers aligns closely with the prevailing norms established within the information technology hardware sector."
"The price is reasonable. You have to pay if you want quality. When we purchase something, we have to do some market analysis, and I haven't seen a significant difference compared to other solutions."
"The price of Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers is reasonable compared to other solutions."
"The high cost of Dell PowerEdge Rack Server licenses is attributed to the pre-installed Windows Server operating system from Microsoft."
"The solution is expensive."
"The product is cheaper than HP servers, but the price could always be better."
"It's abundantly clear that the specific licensing requirements will be dictated by the intricacies of the machinery we deploy."
"Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers are very expensive."
"IBM Power is more expensive than other rack-mount servers, and you have to have a license for everything, including cores and memory."
"Its price is too high."
"IBM Power Systems is a really expensive product."
"The cost model is great. There is so much built in to the technology, that if you know how to use it you can save yourself a lot of money."
"Why should I be charged for that use rather than a single CPU, a single socket?"
"It is designed for a large workload, as opposed to a small workload. For our circumstances, and even as an independent, I can't buy a Power system to experiment on. It can't happen. You cannot buy them."
"When there is an error in the SAS drive of 10,000 RPM, my company buys support for 1,500 USD."
"Price-wise, I rate the solution a five out of ten."
"The licensing is flexible."
"My company makes yearly payments toward the licensing costs attached to the solution."
"Oracle SPARC Servers are expensive to manage, this is because after five years Oracle will increase the support charges for the hardware. The licensing policy for Oracle is different for Intel and Sparc. It will cost you less if you use your Oracle hardware with Oracle SPARC Servers."
"The hardware is expensive but it has very rich virtualization features that make it economical."
"The application running on it is very important to us and this makes the price worth it."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
21%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Educational Organization
6%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
6%
Financial Services Firm
23%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

When shopping for a rack server, would you go with Dell EMC Poweredge or Lenovo Thinksystem?
Our organization ran comparison tests to determine whether the Dell EMC Poweredge or Lenovo Thinksystem rack servers ...
What do you like most about Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers?
It has helped us reduce unplanned downtime by 20% to 30%.
What needs improvement with Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers?
Mainly, I would like to improve the speed of storage response. We would like to improve our performance by using disk...
What do you like most about IBM Power Systems?
IBM Power Systems provides very good performance and stability compared to other brands or processors.
What needs improvement with IBM Power Systems?
There are definitely areas for improvement, but that's not really from the technological side of things. I rarely fin...
What is your primary use case for IBM Power Systems?
I use IBM Power Systems for online transactional processing, and in parts, also for online analytical processing. We ...
What do you like most about Oracle SPARC Servers?
The most valuable features of the solution stem from the fact that Oracle Database functions very well with Oracle SP...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Oracle SPARC Servers?
My company makes yearly payments toward the licensing costs attached to the solution. My company's clients, who have ...
What needs improvement with Oracle SPARC Servers?
Oracle products are usually fine-tuned with the software of other Oracle products, like Oracle WebLogic Server Servic...
 

Also Known As

PowerEdge R
IBM OpenPOWER LC
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

NxtGen Datacenter, Medien-Service Untermain (MSU), Exasol, IndigoVision, Dayco
Cipher
University Hospitals Leuven, B&H Photo, Tuscon Electric Power, IS Nordic, Siemens
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell Technologies, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Lenovo and others in Rack Servers. Updated: August 2025.
865,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.