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Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs Hitachi NAS Platform comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 7, 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 PowerScale (Isilon)
Ranking in NAS
2nd
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
66
Ranking in other categories
File and Object Storage (3rd)
Hitachi NAS Platform
Ranking in NAS
14th
Average Rating
6.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the NAS category, the mindshare of Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is 17.7%, up from 17.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Hitachi NAS Platform is 2.7%, down from 3.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
NAS
 

Featured Reviews

Scott Taylor - PeerSpot reviewer
Manages large data sets efficiently with hybrid cloud integration
My organization is quite large, with about 30,000 employees. The growth has been substantial in areas such as radiology and genomics. One of the best features we've utilized recently is offload to cloud pools due to capacity constraints on-premise. We didn't want to expand Dell PowerScale (Isilon) straight away, so we utilized cloud pools to offload some data to Azure. That's really saved us in certain areas as we didn't have funding to expand Dell PowerScale (Isilon) until next year, which is why we utilized the cloud pools functionality to offload.
Mir Gulzar Ahmed - PeerSpot reviewer
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Dell PowerScale includes a wealth of features that are important from a security and recovery perspective."
"The solution's scalability is very good."
"Features like ransomware protection, file lock retention, and third-party integrations (e.g., Superna for ransomware protection) are significant benefits."
"The most valuable feature of Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is all the capabilities together."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is the unlimited scalability. The tool has high availability and high storage capacity."
"The solution's most valuable features are scalability and flexibility."
"The solution has simplified management by consolidating our workloads. Rather than managing all the different workloads on different storage arrays, Windows Servers, etc., we just have one place per data centre where we manage all their unstructured data, saving us time."
"Customer service has been really good."
"Hitachi NAS has improved my storage operations significantly."
"The most valuable feature is its ability to handle a high number of users while maintaining both stability and performance."
"Hitachi is reliable with high availability and solid performance. It performs well regardless of the workload."
"The product has valuable features for data migration."
"The product’s technical support services are good."
"Hitachi NAS has improved my storage operations significantly."
"The reliability and scalability of Hitachi NAS Platform are valuable features."
"It creates a NAS environment on top of Hitachi SAN, which facilitates customers who need NAS protocols along with their existing SAN portfolio."
 

Cons

"The cost of Dell PowerScale is currently high and there is room for improvement."
"We lost our technical sales reps about two years ago. We haven't gotten one assigned to us and we'd love to have one."
"There aren't many templates still coming out for it. They need to provide templates so we can copy and paste what we've done in the past to future, new things."
"Improvements could be made to reduce the costs and the high level of knowledge needed to maintain and use them. We had old hard drives with moving parts in Dell PowerScale, and due to this, we must switch to a more efficient environment with all-flash."
"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."
"Isilon has limitations on the number of files that can be generated."
"The only thing that I think PowerScale could do better is improving the HTTP data access protocol. At the present, you cannot protect access to data via HTTP or HTTPS the same way that you can secure data access through other protocols like NFS or SMB[...]the Unified Permission Model that would allow a user to authenticate before being able to access a private file, does not apply."
"The product needs to improve CLI since commands are complex. The search option is also difficult since you must give the full path."
"I encounter challenges while installing the upgrades for the product."
"The monitoring tool is not well developed."
"I rated Hitachi NAS a seven out of ten, primarily due to the interface or insufficient improvements in certain areas."
"I do not like Hitachi NAS because it's an old-school NAS solution, compared to the other, newer-type solutions such as Isilon from Dell or Qumulo."
"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."
"Hitachi NAS Platform is expensive."
"I would suggest that Hitachi make a NAS box that can work independently, without relying on SAN connectivity."
"The Hitachi NAS Platform is too complicated, not simple, and not cost-effective, sometimes being inappropriate for most situations."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is excellent."
"Pricing for this solution is reasonable."
"The price of the solution can fluctuate. The price can be competitive or other times not. The price of the solution could be better."
"We paid an additional fee to have Dell's ProDeploy Plus team implement it."
"It is an expensive product with a high storage capacity suitable for large data requirements."
"Dealing with the product costs and licensing areas is getting easier since Dell is simplifying the licensing process and licensing packages offered to users."
"I always want things to be less expensive. However, I would say the pricing is fair. Their costs are in alignment with their competitors. It is a good value for the money."
"It is an expensive solution."
"This solution is priced well and there are no costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."
"Hitachi NAS Platform’s price is high and depends on SCSI disc capacity."
"I would rate the solution's pricing six to seven out of ten."
"Costs are based on the features and it is a considerable amount."
"It is a highly-priced product."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Healthcare Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
15%
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Educational Organization
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell EMC PowerScale (Isilon)?
We have to go through a certified reseller for Dell PowerScale (Isilon). From a value standpoint, it performs very well.
What needs improvement with Dell EMC PowerScale (Isilon)?
There will always be room for improvement with Dell PowerScale (Isilon). They should add some new services that should be for on-premises, and more analytics should be there for the data, allowing ...
What do you like most about Hiachi NAS Platform?
The product has valuable features for data migration.
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...
What needs improvement with Hiachi NAS Platform?
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 an...
 

Also Known As

PowerScale, Dell EMC Isilon
Hitachi NAS
 

Overview

 

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
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs. Hitachi NAS Platform and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
863,901 professionals have used our research since 2012.