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Dell PowerEdge VRTX vs FlexPod XCS comparison

Dell Technologies and NetApp are both solutions in the Converged Infrastructure category. Dell Technologies is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.2, while NetApp is ranked #6 with an average rating of 8.4. Dell Technologies holds a 19.9% mindshare in CI, compared to NetApp’s 9.3% mindshare. Additionally, 90% of Dell Technologies users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 96% of NetApp users who would recommend it.
Dell PowerEdge VRTX
Read 20 Dell PowerEdge VRTX reviews
  • 1,491 Views
  • 495 Comparison Views
90% willing to recommend
FlexPod XCS
Read 295 FlexPod XCS reviews
  • 490 Views
  • 216 Comparison Views
96% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 2, 2025

FlexPod XCS and Dell PowerEdge VRTX compete in the integrated IT solutions category. FlexPod appears to have the upper hand due to its robust scalability and integrated management across multiple vendors.

Features: FlexPod XCS focuses on integration, flexibility, and unified management, excelling in scalability for large-scale deployments. Dell PowerEdge VRTX is designed for affordability with a compact design, offering easy setup and efficient resource usage, ideal for small to mid-sized organizations.

Room for Improvement: FlexPod users seek more streamlined support processes, unified management interfaces, and enhanced cloud integration. Dell PowerEdge VRTX could improve by adding advanced networking features, scalability options, and support for emerging storage technologies.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: FlexPod XCS provides a consistent deployment experience across on-premises and hybrid cloud environments, supported by vendor collaborations, though multiple vendor support can be challenging. Dell PowerEdge VRTX is praised for simple setup and management with generally positive customer service, although response times may vary.

Pricing and ROI: FlexPod XCS is costlier but perceived as a worthwhile investment for its comprehensive features and favorable long-term ROI, especially in large deployments. Dell PowerEdge VRTX offers an affordable, practical solution for midsized enterprises, considered cost-effective compared to competitors.

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To learn more, read our detailed Dell PowerEdge VRTX vs. FlexPod XCS Report (Updated: April 2025).
Buyer's Guide
Dell PowerEdge VRTX vs. FlexPod XCS
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 PowerEdge VRTX
Ranking in Converged Infrastructure
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
20
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
FlexPod XCS
Ranking in Converged Infrastructure
6th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
295
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Converged Infrastructure category, the mindshare of Dell PowerEdge VRTX is 19.9%, down from 21.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of FlexPod XCS is 9.3%, up from 9.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Converged Infrastructure
 

Featured Reviews

Lakshmanan A - PeerSpot reviewer
A very good online UI and fit for lower budgets but nodes don't sync with the server
Our company uses the solution for 15 mediums with virtual machines.  The online UI is very good in comparison to others.  The nodes should be synced with the server so that the solution can be used from the cloud when any or all nodes are down.  I have been using the solution for five years.…
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Chris Haight - PeerSpot reviewer
Integrates everything so you are using fewer tools
The traditional UCS Blades do not take much storage internally. You would be challenged to create an HCI (Hype converged Infrastructure) solution on FlexPod / UCS or any other solution that pools internal storage. Now, with UCS X-Series, you can carve off an HCI solution, software defined pooled solution if you want. This was one area of improvement that I wanted to see and can now realize with the refresh of the Cisco UCS infrastructure. With modern modular infrastructure, RESTful API has been added, there are more integrations, ServiceNow and vCenter along with tighter plug-ins. There is cross-user interface launching, for example with Windows Admin Center. The solutions are using Ansible and Terraform for deploying infrastructure as code. All the improvements that I wanted from the last gen are here or coming. With modern workloads and GPU use on the rise, adding GPUs to modern modular infrastructure will have some pros and cons. Typically, you can add one or two GPU's to a blade with no or little trade off. With the UCS X-Series, if you are doing a GPU farm, then you may have to sacrifice compute blades in the front slots to put in a GPU tray / module. A chassis holds eight compute blades, but if you are adding a ton of GPUs, a single GPU tray or more will reduce your blade count by as many GPU trays you add. This is not just a Cisco UCS X-Series problem. It is an industry problem with modular infrastructure and one that I would like to see get solved! I am looking into one such solution, VMware BITFUSION where you can send CUDA requests over the network to a BITFUSION server with the results sent back to the requestor, early stages here and only scratched the surface thus far. With Cisco UCS X-Series, I would like to see the fabric interconnects built into the chassis instead of being external. With the fabric interconnects, the real footprint of UCS X-Series is 9U, where some of the competing solutions are 7U and have collapsed the network fabric into the chassis. This is another thing that I would like to see from Cisco, though, not really on the NetApp side of the fence, NetApp is solid storage.
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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 most valuable feature is the combined management in one box."
"From a hardware perspective, it's interesting. The selling point of VRTX is that everything is built-in. For a small company that doesn't have a server room or the capabilities of hosting several servers, VRTX has four blades. The equivalent in regular server models would be four servers, which is a minimum of 4U, but it could easily be 8U, and then it would have storage. The storage is included inside the enclosure, and it would require a storage unit. It would also require connectivity, which would be ethernet or another protocol switch. From a software perspective, it's a little bit more integrated. You have an integrated way of managing the whole thing, including storage and networking. It has an internal network that can also be useful. I know for a fact that Dell is almost fazing out the product, and it is not that available anymore because it will just cannibalize their sales. They want to sell the more expensive stuff."
"It is pretty easy to install."
"We were satisfied after we upgraded to a professional next-day on-site support."
"We started off with a base because we started our infrastructure with Dell and we always propose or prefer Dell which is easier to manage the warranty than with different vendors."
"It's a good solution when you don't need a lot of IT."
"While I cannot say Dell is better than HP or IBM, Dell has a strong presence here in Qatar. We can recommend Dell because of that strategic factor."
"It is simple to use and it's user-friendly."
More Dell PowerEdge VRTX pros
"Software flexibility. Everything is fully configurable. The reliability results from the design. Elements are well projected (disks, blade, network, etc.). No single point of failure is identifiable."
"It's amazingly scalable. It just works. It can expand to large MetroClusters and keep expanding."
"I see the most value in the UCS portion. I love Cisco UCS."
"Our performance increase has been about 15 percent from what we previously used."
"The ability to create vDisks on NFS exports is an added advantage. This is very helpful when we reach RDM limit."
"It is extremely stable and well-supported because of the leadership and partnerships put in place."
"It is scaling to our needs. We don't have any issues."
"The flexibility and data deduplication have been the biggest practical applications."
More FlexPod XCS pros
 

Cons

"The problem is with our configuration. We know we can use PowerEdge for hyper-convergence if we have PowerEdge and configure vSAN. We will be able to achieve what VxRail is being able to provide, but we need to migrate it to a new infrastructure instead of changing our existing. It will be much more difficult for us."
"I'd like to be able to increase capacity."
"The nodes should be synced with the server so that the solution can be used from the cloud when any or all nodes are down."
"VRTX is a bit simplified to the extent that it is a mainstream type of solution for small businesses. If a company needs a more complex solution or something that is a time saver or has more power or scalability, it is probably not the best solution. However, when a company grows and its needs grow, this type of environment can be definitely migrated towards a lab environment or pre-prod testing, not necessarily production. It can still have a second life for the other types of use."
"It would be better to have a compact version of this solution for customers that have a small office and don't require a proper data center with power or an industrial type HP."
"Management of storage and networking is web-based, slow, and difficult."
"The support must be improved."
"Dell PowerEdge VRTX can improve by providing support for M2 drives."
More Dell PowerEdge VRTX cons
"Hyper-V is not as well supported by NetApp and Cisco as VMware is, which is something that should be improved."
"I would like to see more storage-related features."
"I have noticed a lot of customers, they will kick it over the fence. It is FlexPod; it is that mystery animal. The room for improvement is to better present it to those users, so they will not have to be afraid of it."
"You must build each block separately, that's a disadvantage sometimes."
"We would like them to have better features to integrate with the cloud."
"I would like to see increased performance."
"I would like to see drag and drop connectivity to Azure and Amazon."
"It takes a very sophisticated group of people to run and maintain NetApp and Cisco products."
More FlexPod XCS cons
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"This product is more reasonably-priced than similar solutions by HPE."
"On the scale of pricing, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I would rate it as a three. I am familiar with the overall cost, which involves licenses from Dell and VMware, among others, making it a combination of various license types."
"The solution is less expensive than competitors."
"Fully configured, it costs about $50,000 or $55,000. I did purchase a used one or refurbished one. I have been very happy with it so far. Even if it is an older unit, it doesn't look like its age, and I would say it has been a great choice so far for me. Obviously, I would have thought twice if I had to pay for a brand new one because it is still an older technology with the risk of being discontinued. I talked to Dell, and they're still selling it, but they're not promoting it. They're promoting another line of products right now for hyper-converged, which are much more expensive."
"The tool's pricing is fine."
"The solution price of Dell PowerEdge VRTX could be reduced. However, when comparing the price of Dell PowerEdge VRTX to other solutions, such as HP and Lenovo, it was the best price for what they offer."
"We bought a license for seven years."
"We are renewing the support and we are purchasing the license for the software."
"Buy storage based on the solutions you need, the technologies you need, and what will make your life a lot easier down the road."
"It has saved us hundreds of man-hours by using this converged infrastructure."
"The NetApp portion was a $5 million investment five years ago. That has served the customer well over five and a half years."
"The total cost of ownership with this solution is good."
"It created lower total cost of ownership. Previously, we had disparate storage and servers, and there were bits of kits everywhere. Now, we have two data centers with almost identical setups in both."
"You get better management and orchestration, but it still costs you money."
"Everything is purchased, so we do not do any leasing with this product."
"It is cost-effective."
More FlexPod XCS pricing and cost advice
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Comparison Review

it_user244362 - PeerSpot reviewer
Aug 30, 2015
Nutanix vs. VMware EVO:RAIL vs. FlexPod
Originally posted at www.storagegaga.com/dont-get-too-drunk-on-hyper-converged/ I hate the fact that I am bursting the big bubble brewing about Hyper Convergence (HC). I urge all to look past the hot air and hype frenzy that are going on, because in the end, the HC platforms have to be aligned…
Read full review
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
21%
Computer Software Company
13%
Government
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Manufacturing Company
20%
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Educational Organization
11%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Dell PowerEdge VRTX?
The system is very intuitive.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell PowerEdge VRTX?
The cost of Dell PowerEdge VRTX is high, making it difficult for small and medium businesses to bear. I would rate the pricing as seven out of ten.
See all answers
What needs improvement with Dell PowerEdge VRTX?
It would be much better for customers if Dell could provide firmware updates even after the end of the product's life, enabling them to manage and keep their hardware for a longer time.
See all answers
What do you like most about FlexPod?
The system is designed for easy scaling. Because we define everything clearly. So when we plug the system in, we apply the profile, and it scales easily.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for FlexPod?
The pricing is not cheaper, but stability is more important for us now. We focus on business gains, not static numbers. Following XCS rules ensures a stable environment, which is crucial. For me, C...
See all answers
What needs improvement with FlexPod?
FlexPod should focus more on automation. Integrating an automation tool with FlexPod would enable customers to leverage automation capabilities. More automation would be helpful. Currently, we cont...
See all answers
 

Comparisons

HPE ConvergedSystem vs Dell PowerEdge VRTX Logo
HPE ConvergedSystem vs Dell PowerEdge VRTX
Compared 68% of the time
IBM PureSystems vs Dell PowerEdge VRTX Logo
IBM PureSystems vs Dell PowerEdge VRTX
Compared 12% of the time
Dell VxBlock System vs Dell PowerEdge VRTX Logo
Dell VxBlock System vs Dell PowerEdge VRTX
Compared 9% of the time
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Dell PowerFlex vs FlexPod XCS Logo
Dell PowerFlex vs FlexPod XCS
Compared 31% of the time
Oracle Private Cloud Appliance vs FlexPod XCS Logo
Oracle Private Cloud Appliance vs FlexPod XCS
Compared 15% of the time
Dell VxBlock System vs FlexPod XCS Logo
Dell VxBlock System vs FlexPod XCS
Compared 12% of the time
HPE Hyper Converged vs FlexPod XCS Logo
HPE Hyper Converged vs FlexPod XCS
Compared 12% of the time
VMware vSAN vs FlexPod XCS Logo
VMware vSAN vs FlexPod XCS
Compared 10% of the time
More FlexPod XCS Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
Dell PowerEdge VRTX
May 2025
Dell PowerEdge VRTX reportDownload Dell PowerEdge VRTX product report
Buyer's Guide
FlexPod XCS
May 2025
FlexPod XCS reportDownload FlexPod XCS product report
 

Overview

PowerEdge VRTX modular infrastructure platform integrates servers, storage, networking and management together in a single compact chassis.

Dell Technologies

FlexPod XCS is the secure platform your applications need from edge to cloud. Easily manage your suite of cloud-native, edge, and enterprise apps. Integrate advanced cloud services without compromising performance, security, reliability, or scale.

NetApp
 

Sample Customers

University of Dundee, GE Healthcare Japan
University of Sao Paulo, WD-40, The Commonwell Mutual Insurance Group
Buyer's Guide
Dell PowerEdge VRTX vs. FlexPod XCS
April 2025
Free Report: Dell PowerEdge VRTX vs. FlexPod XCS
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