Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs VAST Data comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

Dell PowerScale (Isilon)
Ranking in File and Object Storage
3rd
Average Rating
9.0
Number of Reviews
49
Ranking in other categories
NAS (1st)
VAST Data
Ranking in File and Object Storage
9th
Average Rating
10.0
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
All-Flash Storage (18th), NVMe All-Flash Storage Arrays (9th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2024, in the File and Object Storage category, the mindshare of Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is 8.0%, down from 8.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VAST Data is 3.7%, up from 2.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
File and Object Storage
Unique Categories:
NAS
26.5%
All-Flash Storage
3.6%
NVMe All-Flash Storage Arrays
8.4%
 

Featured Reviews

YannisAlexandris - PeerSpot reviewer
Feb 16, 2024
Addresses the customer's need for a global rather than discrete file system
The maintenance depends on the time you are willing to invest in learning about the platform. It varies for each individual, and if you have people eager to learn, it can make a significant difference. IBM built its sources of disk management which control costs. They don't rely on purchasing from vendors. For example, Dell PowerScale doesn't manufacture the disks; instead, they source them from suppliers or engage in patching. They do not produce the disks themselves; they procure them. IBM can utilize gateways that offer a similar file system to PowerScale. These gateways provide both block storage and file services. This is different from PowerScale because when purchasing PowerScale, you acquire building blocks including CPU and memory. This configuration lacks the flexibility to adapt to various infrastructures. While this setup can be configured, it may pose limitations. You can customize security settings within the tool, including access and file-level permissions. This focuses on enabling 'write once' capabilities, making it challenging to alter data without appropriate authorization. It would be impossible to tamper with unless an individual gains access by obtaining administrator credentials. Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.
Alan Powers - PeerSpot reviewer
May 3, 2023
Stability-wise, a device that has been up and running for years
The solution is useful for machine learning and scientific applications, including computer simulations The failover capability and resiliency are some of the solution's valuable features. The big thing is resilience because it has richer coding in it, so multiple devices can't fail. Also, one…

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 features of the solution are flexibility and ease of implementation."
"It has allowed us to have more consistent quality controls. It has also allowed us to expand the number of servers in clients processing and accessing data, allowing us to get a lot bigger projects out the door."
"The best thing is that it works. We don't have to maintain it too much; we usually upgrade once a year."
"Ability to scale the number of nodes without having to build additional clusters."
"It's easy to manage. The web UI is very intuitive, and there's CLI also that you can use to manage it."
"The recent introduction of inline deduplication and compression has drastically improved our efficiency ratios to make it an economical product. This solution has also had a positive impact on our employees' productivity because it reduces the amount of admin that our staff needs to handle."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is the unlimited scalability. The tool has high availability and high storage capacity."
"I don't have to rebuild the cluster to add a node."
"This has been one of the most reliable storage systems that I have ever used."
"The solution is useful for machine learning and scientific applications, including computer simulations."
 

Cons

"The replication could lend itself to some improvement around encryption in transit and managing the racing of large volumes of data. The process of file over and file back can be tedious. Hopefully, you never end up going into a DR. If you do go into a DR, you know the data is there on the remote site. However, in terms of the process of setting up the replicates and filing them back, that is just very tedious and could definitely do with some improvement."
"The biggest weakness is small file handling. Small file compression options are not enabled out of the box. It would be good to have this enabled by default."
"There are some missing features in the product, especially when our company needs to do some tape backup, and we see that the tool doesn't have integration capabilities."
"The solution isn't suitable for small environments or small customers."
"The product needs to improve CLI since commands are complex. The search option is also difficult since you must give the full path."
"The product’s expansion capacity, pricing clarity, and ease of use need improvement."
"The solution's rate structure or rate redundancy needs to be improved."
"Dell PowerScale can improve on its multi-tenant part because as a service provider, we have bigger clusters in data centers where we can serve multiple customers and grant them dedicated management points and automation features that can be managed in a multi-tenant environment."
"The write performance could be improved because it is less than half of the read performance."
"The read/write ratio is an area in the solution with some flaws and needs improvement."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution's licensing cost varies based on capacity and performance requirements."
"The price of the solution is high."
"Pricing for this solution is reasonable."
"Dealing with the product costs and licensing areas is getting easier since Dell is simplifying the licensing process and licensing packages offered to users."
"This solution is priced slightly higher than others on the market but does offer good quality. With this solution's data reduction and compression, we were able to purchase less. Costs have dropped because of the data rate of compression and deduplication."
"Our company finds the pricing high, but it decreases over time."
"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."
"We paid an additional fee to have Dell's ProDeploy Plus team implement it."
"We acquired VAST Data as a one-time, capital purchase."
"Price-wise, VAST Data is not the cheapest, not the most expensive one."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
24%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
19%
Manufacturing Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
10%
University
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

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)?
Dell PowerScale is expensive on the start-up side but we can recoup those costs quickly by not having to reapply the savings to other equipment.
What do you like most about VAST Data?
The solution is useful for machine learning and scientific applications, including computer simulations.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for VAST Data?
Price-wise, VAST Data is not the cheapest, not the most expensive one.
What needs improvement with VAST Data?
The read/write ratio is an area in the solution with some flaws and needs improvement.
 

Also Known As

PowerScale, Dell EMC Isilon
No data available
 

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,
Norwest Venture Partners, General Dynamics Information Technology, Ginkgo Bioworks
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs. VAST Data and other solutions. Updated: July 2024.
793,295 professionals have used our research since 2012.