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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
  • 1,585 Views
  • 502 Comparison Views
90% willing to recommend
FlexPod XCS
Read 295 FlexPod XCS reviews
  • 500 Views
  • 228 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

"This process is very good, with a processor that has 32 cores, which is sufficient to meet my qualifications and needs."
"With Dell PowerEdge VRTX, there are fewer points, and it is easier to troubleshoot and find your way around it."
"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."
"Dell PowerEdge VRTX supports a lot of memory which has allowed us to keep our system size smaller."
"The security is very good on the solution."
"The system is very intuitive."
"The main advantage, as I observed, was Dell VMware, which was pre-installed on the device."
"We now find that the solution is quite stable."
More Dell PowerEdge VRTX pros
"FlexPod provides very small footprint. We can have it in our offices without bothering with extra cooling, as it is a small unit."
"Not a perfect ten because it could use better integration on the network side between UCS and the switching layerKnowing that everything works, having a single place to be able to find out compatibility and things like that are the biggest benefits of this solution. The fact that LACP is not supported on UCS blades isn't so great. It would be nice if it was."
"The most valuable thing for me is the shorter time to market."
"FlexPod gives us the opportunity to deploy a product which is fully built and racked with minimal touch installation when it arrives onsite, so we can do all the configuration remotely."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is that there is one call for support."
"With FlexPod, it is about the synergy of the server, the storage, and the whole management layer. Together, it is really about minimizing staff. You don't have to hire more people. You can work with the minimum level of resources and the availability is really good. We have had very little downtime."
"The solution can be innovative when it comes to cloud computing storage and networking."
"This solution has helped to make more things consistent within our organization."
More FlexPod XCS pros
 

Cons

"When we first started with this product, we had some difficulty with it."
"The scalability is limited with one chassis and the amount of storage it will give you, but it is mainly used for small offices."
"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."
"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."
"We've had general issues related to the solution being difficult."
"The scalability could be better."
"Management of storage and networking is web-based, slow, and difficult."
"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."
More Dell PowerEdge VRTX cons
"I would like to see more CVDs and more published designs around a multi-hypervisor approach within a single pod."
"You must build each block separately, that's a disadvantage sometimes."
"I'd like to see some more Ansible integration for automation purposes. We automate everything else with Ansible, so it would be great if we could automate our FlexPod with Ansible as well."
"Upgrades are always scary because you just don't know. Nobody has six or seven different systems sitting around that you can test on before you go into production data."
"Setting up a Cisco USC environment can be complex."
"It would be very helpful if the upgrades for Cisco, VMware, and NetApp could be bundled together and performed at the same time."
"Cisco support is much slower. Opening cases with Cisco tech is sometimes a bit tedious. The return time for less important calls can be slower. Even Priority 1 calls can sometimes be a bit long and they will have to call me back."
"There could be room for improvement in terms of offering more flexibility in CBD options."
More FlexPod XCS cons
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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 tool's pricing is fine."
"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 solution is less expensive than competitors."
"We are renewing the support and we are purchasing the license for the software."
"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."
"This product is more reasonably-priced than similar solutions by HPE."
"We bought a license for seven years."
"It is cheaper than other products. For example, Dell EMC VxBlock is more expensive."
"FlexPod has saved data center costs, due to the fact that we reduced our footprint for storage in a big way. We went from three complete racks down to a 2U storage array for more than 300 terabytes of storage."
"Make sure that you engage as much with whom you are buying from as a partnership, not just as a purchase."
"Pricing and licensing is very affordable from a FlexPod perspective."
"Cost is the primary factor behind why I would not give this product a perfect rating."
"We have saved time, money, space, and power consumption on new service deployments. We have a data center in Toronto which had ten racks on one of the new servers. This was all reduced to two racks with six chassis, which is amazing."
"The scalability is very expensive."
"Buy storage based on the solutions you need, the technologies you need, and what will make your life a lot easier down the road."
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%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Manufacturing Company
20%
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Educational Organization
10%
 

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

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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 11% of the time
More FlexPod XCS Competitors
 

Product Reports

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