Dell PowerEdge VRTX vs FlexPod XCS comparison

"Dell PowerEdge VRTX's most valuable feature is its reliability. It offers a good experience for my IT teams."

"It's a good solution when you don't need a lot of IT."

"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."

"We now find that the solution is quite stable."

"The security is very good on the solution."

"Dell PowerEdge VRTX supports a lot of memory which has allowed us to keep our system size smaller."

"The most valuable feature is the combined management in one box."

"The system is very intuitive."

"The best thing about this solution is the tight integration with VMware, Cisco, and NetApp from both a hardware and software perspective."

"FlexPod is easy to setup, maintain and has great stability."

"The ease of expansion is the most valuable feature."

"The nice thing about NetApp is the ease of administration. We have a new storage admin who did not do storage at all, and he has fallen right in with it. There are no real issues."

"The assurance and the peace of mind that we get from knowing if we had an issue with either the NetApp equipment, Cisco equipment, or our VMware enviroment, we can call one number for support, then everyone works together and nobody is pointing fingers all over the place."

"I really like the architecture and I like the fact that on the storage side I can swap it out. Right now I'm on NetApp, I might go to Pure Storage. I have the flexibility. But as far as the equipment itself, the way it's all bundled together, from the UCS perspective, its rock solid."

"The feature I have found most valuable is data protection."

"I would rate technical support as a 10 out of 10. They are good and responsive."

"The storage can be improved."

"Dell PowerEdge VRTX can improve by providing support for M2 drives."

"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."

"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 support must be improved."

"The scalability is limited with one chassis and the amount of storage it will give you, but it is mainly used for small offices."

"When we first started with this product, we had some difficulty with it."

"In the SolidFire interface, if you use the GUI, you have to create one run at a time, or one device at a time, which is something that needs to be fixed."

"We would like FlexPod to have more power, though it is not lacking in power now."

"We have had bugs which have been released, even though they have been minor."

"The FlexPod service and support could be improved."

"They just announced that they are going to move it along with Intersight from Cisco. That can be a private or public cloud, which is one of the areas where it can grow more and has a lot of potential."

"I'd like to see a little bit simpler management pane. Using UCS Director to front everything is good but for a lot of that upper mid-market, it's probably a little bit of overkill for what they need. They just want a nice, simply portal to go through and see what's going on. So if there was something that was middle of the road, it would be well received."

"The only support call that we have had in six years was related to an ONTAP upgrade, where one of the controllers didn't patch properly."

"There are too many management products: System Insight Manager, Oakum, etc. There are a lot of them and you have to know which one to use at which time. Whereas, with competitors, they have a single pane of glass view which has everything in it."

"We are renewing the support and we are purchasing the license for the software."

"We bought a license for seven years."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"The tool's pricing is fine."

"This product is more reasonably-priced than similar solutions by HPE."

"The cost is a little high."

"As a whole, it is inexpensive, and it uses the least amount of parts."

"We have saved time with Snapshots, SnapMirrors, and backup and DR capabilities versus other platforms that we have looked at in the past."

"We have seen our data center rack space collapse about 90 percent. We have a data center which only has two racks now out of the 20 that were there previously."

"It is expensive. My company is small. When you look at the price point, this is a big thing for us to invest in."

"Cost is the primary factor behind why I would not give this product a perfect rating."

"Make sure that you engage as much with whom you are buying from as a partnership, not just as a purchase."

"We have saved time and money for new service deployments."