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Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers vs Oracle SPARC Servers comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 8, 2024

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 PowerEdge Rack Servers
Ranking in Rack Servers
1st
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
209
Ranking in other categories
Converged Infrastructure (3rd), Data Center Networking (4th), Blade Servers (5th)
Oracle SPARC Servers
Ranking in Rack Servers
8th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
8.0
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Rack Servers category, the mindshare of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is 27.4%, down from 28.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Oracle SPARC Servers is 3.7%, down from 3.8% 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.
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

"Overall, I rate Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers nine to ten as the product has maintained a strong reputation over time."
"I like a feature they call iDRAC. It's a feature that allows you remotely power on and off the server."
"They have superior customer support compared to Supermicro, which does not cater to enterprise-level needs."
"One of the key reasons we integrate Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers, particularly the ID Rack model, is for its remote monitoring and administration capabilities."
"The best features of the Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are the service, the availability of the equipment, and the relational price quality."
"The solution is very strong and reliable."
"Customer support is usually really good for Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers."
"From a cost perspective, they are much more beneficial for clients. We also get the pro deployment support from Dell for new deployments at the client's data center or service provider's data center, along with maintenance services until the end of the term."
"The processor is very helpful and the licensing is very flexible."
"I have found the LDAP facilities most valuable. In addition, I like the CPU."
"The most valuable features of the solution stem from the fact that Oracle Database functions very well with Oracle SPARC Servers."
"The performance is the best feature."
"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

"One area where PowerEdge could improve is the challenge of keeping technology consistent over the years."
"The pricing could be better, as budget is always a huge thing for us. Anytime we can get better pricing, it helps convince the business to adopt it."
"On the MX7000 platform, they should continue to release better and faster blades."
"I have used these servers in a government project along with Nutanix, and there is a security restriction. I do not know if it is from Dell's side or Nutanix's side. From the host, you cannot read the external hard drive data inside a VM."
"I would like to see the pricing improved."
"The shipment times could be improved. Sometimes we have to wait four or five days before we get the actual servers. It could even be longer. Sometimes it is many days."
"The licensing of the different formats of the iDRAC is somewhat annoying."
"There is room for improvement in certain aspects of the deployment process as it is a bit complex."
"Oracle doesn't have a good roadmap for the solution because they are moving to the x86 platform."
"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."
"Like IBM, Oracle SPARC Servers should be able to run other open operating systems like Linux."
"They have declared the end of life of the hardware."
"I would like to see a reduced price point."
"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."
"They need some sort of modeling because IBM has different types of models."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"One of the clients has been offered a price of $18,000 instead of the regular price of around $25,000."
"The solution's analytics helped to decrease production downtime by at least 30%."
"It is very competitive. I have not been too involved in the licensing, but from a hardware perspective, I always find them to be competitive."
"It's abundantly clear that the specific licensing requirements will be dictated by the intricacies of the machinery we deploy."
"Dell is somewhat more expensive than HPE."
"If price isn't a concern, I would recommend it."
"When you compare public cloud solutions to PowerEdge in terms of cost, initially the cost of Dell servers or Dell technology was really high. However, right now it's on par or, maybe, even cheaper when we use Dell hardware. If we don't swap it out in three years and if we stretch it to four or five years, then we can get even more of an ROI versus cloud cost."
"Dell is priced better than alternative solutions."
"The hardware is expensive but it has very rich virtualization features that make it economical."
"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 application running on it is very important to us and this makes the price worth it."
"The licensing is flexible."
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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
24%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
8%
 

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 were the better fit for us. We ultimately decided to go with Dell EMC Poweredge....
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 disks without rotation. The price is better now, and I think it will be better in th...
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 SPARC Servers.
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 paid for the licensing costs attached to the solution, have also engaged with so...
What needs improvement with Oracle SPARC Servers?
Oracle products are usually fine-tuned with the software of other Oracle products, like Oracle WebLogic Server Services, Oracle Database, and Oracle Core Banking Software and Solutions, as all the ...
 

Also Known As

PowerEdge R
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

NxtGen Datacenter, Medien-Service Untermain (MSU), Exasol, IndigoVision, Dayco
University Hospitals Leuven, B&H Photo, Tuscon Electric Power, IS Nordic, Siemens
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers vs. Oracle SPARC Servers and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
862,077 professionals have used our research since 2012.