Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs Hitachi NAS Platform comparison

Dell Technologies and Hitachi Vantara are both solutions in the NAS category. Dell Technologies is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.7, while Hitachi Vantara is ranked #11 with an average rating of 8.0. Dell Technologies holds a 15.4% mindshare in N, compared to Hitachi Vantara’s 2.6% mindshare. Additionally, 97% of Dell Technologies users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Hitachi Vantara users who would recommend it.

Dell PowerScale (Isilon)

Read 78 Dell PowerScale (Isilon) reviews

11,193 Views
5,597 Comparison Views

97% willing to recommend

Hitachi NAS Platform

Read 12 Hitachi NAS Platform reviews

974 Views
974 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Dell PowerScale (Isilon)

Hitachi NAS Platform

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 7, 2024

Hitachi NAS Platform and Dell PowerScale are competing in the enterprise storage solutions category. Hitachi NAS Platform appears to have the upper hand in pricing and support, whereas Dell PowerScale excels in scalability and performance.

Features: Hitachi NAS Platform is known for its high data throughput, efficient data management, and advanced security features. Dell PowerScale offers seamless integration, comprehensive analytics, and exceptional scalability, making it highly suitable for large-scale deployments.

Room for Improvement: Hitachi NAS Platform could enhance its scalability and integration features to better compete with larger deployments. Improvements in handling mixed workloads and expanding analytics capabilities are also potential areas. Dell PowerScale could benefit from simplifying its deployment process and improving customer support responsiveness. Additionally, it may need to address initial setup costs to appeal more broadly to budget-sensitive enterprises.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Deployment with Hitachi NAS Platform tends to be straightforward, supported by an effective customer service team. Dell PowerScale also provides a good deployment model; however, its support quality may sometimes fall short, which can affect the overall implementation experience.

Pricing and ROI: Hitachi NAS Platform typically presents lower initial setup costs, offering an appealing choice for businesses with budget concerns while still promising satisfactory ROI. Dell PowerScale, though costlier upfront, offers substantial ROI over time with its robust features, appealing to enterprises with strategic long-term investment goals focused on scalability.

To learn more, read our detailed Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs. Hitachi NAS Platform Report (Updated: February 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs. Hitachi NAS Platform

February 2026

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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 PowerScale (Isilon)

Ranking in NAS

2nd

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

File and Object Storage (2nd)

Hitachi NAS Platform

Ranking in NAS

11th

Average Rating

7.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the NAS category, the mindshare of Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is 15.4%, down from 17.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Hitachi NAS Platform is 2.6%, down from 2.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

NAS Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Dell PowerScale (Isilon)	15.4%
Hitachi NAS Platform	2.6%
Other	82.0%

NAS

Featured Reviews

Bill Engelmeyer

Systems Engineer at Unisity LLC

Flexibility and reliability have supported seamless data growth

I cannot think of anything to improve about Dell PowerScale (Isilon). The hardest challenge we have is due to how we've bought things over time. The way that we moved to the PowerEdge platform for the newer systems creates a scale problem as I still buy the older style systems, which are more dense storage. They're different chassis, so the problem we run into in the data center is the depth of the actual equipment. The newer equipment, if we buy an FX910 or a 900, it's a lot shorter in scale than if I buy an 83,000, which is much bigger. This makes it more complicated for deployment.

Read full review

Mir Gulzar Ahmed

IT Manager at Synergy Computers

Needs standalone functionality but provides a robust NAS solution for existing SAN environments

I would suggest that Hitachi make a NAS box that can work independently, without relying on SAN connectivity. The current solution only suits customers who already have a Hitachi SAN environment and want to add NAS protocols like NFS and CIFS. It's not suitable for customers without an existing SAN, as they would first need to acquire the SAN infrastructure before adding NAS functionality.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We use the solution internally to support our own managed servers and run our own support center."

"This has been a valuable solution for our business overall. It offers business continuity and replication features."

"Dell PowerScale includes a wealth of features that are important from a security and recovery perspective."

"My experience with Dell as a vendor is pretty good; they are probably one of the best in the industry."

"For maximizing storage utilization, PowerScale is great. When you write the data to it, it spreads it out to all the nodes, so you get all the performance from the entire pool."

"Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is brilliant for scalability and really, really good in that regard."

"The single pane of glass for both IT and for the end-user is a valuable feature. On the IT side, I can actually control where things are stored, whether something is stored on solid-state drives or spinning drives... The single pane of glass makes it very easy to use and very easy to understand. We started at 100 terabytes and we moved to 250 and it still feels like the exact same system and we're able to move data as needed."

"Since it can scale so easily, as long as I have money to buy more nodes, I can grow it as big as I need to. That is important in our business. As sequencing technologies continue to evolve, and as those technologies evolve, the amount of data generation never gets smaller. It just always seems to get bigger. This is one of the absolute key aspects: We can grow on demand without having to forklift stuff."

More Dell PowerScale (Isilon) pros

"The reliability and scalability of Hitachi NAS Platform are valuable features."

"The most valuable feature is its ability to handle a high number of users while maintaining both stability and performance."

"The Hitachi storage platform is highly scalable and highly available."

"Hitachi NAS has improved my storage operations significantly."

"The pricing of this solution is good, which is an advantage that positions this product well."

"It creates a NAS environment on top of Hitachi SAN, which facilitates customers who need NAS protocols along with their existing SAN portfolio."

"Hitachi is reliable with high availability and solid performance. It performs well regardless of the workload."

"Simple and extremely reliable."

More Hitachi NAS Platform pros

Cons

"The legacy file system for Epsilon didn't scale into the cloud and didn't have a separate OS. It would be key if this was made possible."

"We're still fairly new with it. It's been a pretty positive experience thus far. However, they could improve implementation, as we had to rack and stack it ourselves."

"It is a bit higher priced than some of the other systems."

"Improvements could be made on the object storage side."

"The solution’s interface and pricing could be improved."

"Because of the magic that it does 'under the hood,' it is very difficult to find out within the system where all your storage is going. That's a little bit of a ding that we have on it. It does so much magic in order to protect itself from drive failures or multiple drive failures, that it automatically handles the provisioning and storage of your data. But by doing that, finding out why a file of a certain size, or a directory of a certain size, is using more storage than is being reported in InsightIQ, is very difficult to discern."

"The support offered by the product is an area of concern where improvements are required."

"The management and monitoring tools comprise a disparate suite of products and the roadmap is very unclear. We've got four different products that look after the Isilon, management-wise, and it's a bit of a mess."

More Dell PowerScale (Isilon) cons

"The monitoring tool is not well developed."

"I would like to see the inclusion of support for cloud-connectivity to providers like AWS."

"There are insufficient improvements in certain areas."

"Hitachi NAS Platform needs to improve by offering a unified storage solution. Due to budget constraints in regions like Southeast Asia, customers prefer a single machine that can handle all problems, which the current platform does not provide."

"I would suggest that Hitachi make a NAS box that can work independently, without relying on SAN connectivity."

"For the Hitachi NAS Platform, the tools are basic and don't provide much insight."

"Hitachi NAS Platform's pricing could be reduced. It is high compared to other competitors."

"Hitachi NAS Platform is expensive."

More Hitachi NAS Platform cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is a really expensive solution."

"The general cost for a system like this is expensive. The total cost depends on your use case. You need to pay for every additional feature that you use."

"The price of Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is reasonable."

"It is an expensive product with a high storage capacity suitable for large data requirements."

"Our company finds the pricing high, but it decreases over time."

"Price was also a significant factor in our decision to go with PowerScale. The team at EMC, now Dell EMC, came through with a highly competitive offer that tipped the scales towards their solution. There was only one other solution around the same price point, but it could not match PowerScale on features. That other solution is no longer on the market."

"The solution's licensing cost varies based on capacity and performance requirements."

"The price of the solution can fluctuate. The price can be competitive or other times not. The price of the solution could be better."

More Dell PowerScale (Isilon) pricing and cost advice

"Hitachi NAS Platform’s price is high and depends on SCSI disc capacity."

"Costs are based on the features and it is a considerable amount."

"I would rate the solution's pricing six to seven out of ten."

"This solution is priced well and there are no costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."

"It is a highly-priced product."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

Government

Manufacturing Company

13%

Educational Organization

10%

Energy/Utilities Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	17
Midsize Enterprise	20
Large Enterprise	43

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	5
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	2

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Dell EMC PowerScale (Isilon)?

The solution provides massive performance, scalability, efficiency, and ease of management.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell EMC PowerScale (Isilon)?

Regarding pricing, Isilon can be cost-efficient; if you are using more capacity nodes without needing more performance, it won't affect your budget much. However, multiple factors play a role in de...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Dell EMC PowerScale (Isilon)?

One downside of Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is that it is really complicated to configure. It is not something you can just sit down and do in an hour. It is time-consuming, and many companies that I ...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Hiachi NAS Platform?

The pricing for the Hitachi NAS is higher compared to other NAS solutions since the NAS protocol is provided on top of the existing SAN environment, requiring an additional device for NAS functiona...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Hiachi NAS Platform?

For the Hitachi NAS Platform, the tools are basic and don't provide much insight. They can continue to improve the interface to keep it up-to-date, and maybe add some new features or better ways of...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Hiachi NAS Platform?

We sell the Hitachi NAS Platform, and it is the best product for our customers. I sell it to banks, telecom companies, and other enterprises at the enterprise level. We have a cluster with Hitachi ...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 20% of the time

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Compared 10% of the time

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Compared 7% of the time

Dell ObjectScale vs Dell PowerScale (Isilon)

Compared 5% of the time

Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform vs Dell PowerScale (Isilon)

Compared 2% of the time

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Compared 14% of the time

Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform vs Hitachi NAS Platform

Compared 11% of the time

LSI ONStor Clustered NAS Gateways vs Hitachi NAS Platform

Compared 11% of the time

Spectra Verde NAS vs Hitachi NAS Platform

Compared 9% of the time

HPE 3PAR StoreServ vs Hitachi NAS Platform

Compared 9% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Dell PowerScale (Isilon)

February 2026

Download Dell PowerScale (Isilon) product report

Buyer's Guide

NAS

February 2026

Download Hitachi NAS Platform product report

Also Known As

PowerScale, Dell EMC Isilon

Hitachi NAS

Overview

Dell PowerScale leads in unstructured data management with unified file and object storage, massive scalability, security, and cloud adaptability, enhancing AI, analytics, and enterprise applications with exceptional performance and resilience.

Dell PowerScale Isilon provides a comprehensive platform for unstructured data, excelling in scalability, management, and performance. With features like single-pane management, SyncIQ, and SmartQuotas, it handles large datasets with flexibility and robust security. Its multi-protocol support and seamless expansion improve operational efficiency. While it offers strong data protection, enhancements in cloud integration, cybersecurity, and performance are sought. Users note potential for cost reductions and streamlined configurations and mention desired improvements in object storage handling and NFS support.

What are the key features of Dell PowerScale Isilon?

Single-pane management: Simplifies data control and monitoring through a unified interface.
SyncIQ: Ensures efficient data replication for business continuity.
SmartQuotas: Provides intelligent quota management for optimized storage allocation.
Multi-protocol support: Facilitates cross-platform data access and integration.
Seamless storage expansion: Allows effortless scaling to accommodate growing data needs.

What benefits should users consider when reviewing Dell PowerScale Isilon?

Operational efficiency: Reduces workload with easy management and automation.
Enhanced security: Offers comprehensive data protection and recovery options.
Scalability: Supports large-scale data storage with flexible growth capabilities.
Performance: Delivers high-speed data processing for demanding applications.
Integration flexibility: Adapts to on-prem and hybrid cloud environments for diverse deployment needs.

Organizations across industries utilize Dell PowerScale Isilon for large-scale unstructured storage, supporting applications like video archiving, genomic data storage, and high-resolution imaging. Educational institutions, research centers, and media enterprises rely on its scaled-out storage capabilities, providing centralized, secure storage for diverse applications in hybrid, cloud, and on-prem environments.

Dell Technologies

Hitachi NAS Platforms help you with file sharing, file server consolidation and application storage for Oracle, Microsoft and virtual environments. Deploy the highest performance per node in the industry. Apply capacity efficiencies that let you actually do more, but with a lot less. Realize significant cost savings for your organization.

Hitachi Vantara

Sample Customers

OMRF, University of Utah, Translational Genetics Research Institute, Arcis, Geofizyka Torumn, Cyprus E&P Corporation, Colburn School, Columbia Sportswear, Harvard Medical School, University of Michigan, National Library of France,

Intersect Australia

Buyer's Guide

Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs. Hitachi NAS Platform

February 2026

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