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Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs Veeam Data Platform comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
7.0
Dell PowerScale offers efficient scaling, central management, and cost-effective performance, enhancing workload handling and energy savings for businesses.
Sentiment score
7.4
Veeam Data Platform reduces backup time, management efforts, and costs, offering quick ROI through efficiency and uptime improvements.
Despite being more expensive than Huawei, it is stable and most enterprises accept the price due to its stability.
Senior System Engineer at Atlas Security
In terms of Dell PowerScale (Isilon) specifically, we have seen a return on investment due to faster performance than our last few storage arrays, and the general usability is a lot better.
Storage & Data Protection Specialist at General Dynamics Land Systems
The second cluster of Dell PowerScale (Isilon) gives us flexibility for small things like code upgrades, all the way to scenarios where we have lost this data center or data, allowing us to check if data is still intact on the other side.
Senior System Engineer at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.2
Dell PowerScale support receives mixed reviews, with notable praise for technical expertise but issues with initial interactions and language barriers.
Sentiment score
7.4
Veeam Data Platform receives high praise for effective support, despite some communication challenges and occasional slow response outside business hours.
Support online is definitely a ten out of ten.
Pre-Sale Engineer at Arab Operators
Dell provides support within four hours, and they always fulfill their promises.
Senior System Engineer at Atlas Security
They have managed previous issues well.
IT Manager at Regional Health Services
Most cases are handled perfectly.
Applications section Head at Raya Integration
I would rate their technical support a 10 out of 10.
Sr. Production Analyst at a logistics company with 1,001-5,000 employees
The escalation from first, second to third tier is sometimes very long-lasting, but the resolve rate is quite high.
Managing Director at INT/box GmbH
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.0
Dell PowerScale (Isilon) offers scalable, efficient storage with easy expansion and integration, ideal for enterprise data needs and future growth.
Sentiment score
7.5
Veeam Data Platform is scalable, adaptable, and suitable for diverse environments, with some cost concerns on additional licenses.
We started on PowerScale with around about 300 terabytes and are now two and a half petabytes, still on the same file system.
Storage Architect at a educational organization with 10,001+ employees
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.
Senior Infrastructure Specialist at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
Dell PowerScale is highly scalable, as evidenced by the reduced physical hardware and the efficient use of rack space.
Senior Engineer at Continental Tire
It involves acquiring additional licenses as needed.
Solutions Architect at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
I would rate the scalability part of Veeam Data Platform 10 out of 10 because we have the ability to scale out the product at any time with scale-out backup repositories and can add licenses as needed.
Associate Technical Specialist at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
In order to scale Veeam Data Platform, we have to pay a lot more money.
L3 Infrastructure Engineer at Specsavers
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.0
Dell PowerScale impresses with high uptime, reliability, and adaptability, making it ideal for stable business operations and data integrity.
Sentiment score
7.8
Veeam Data Platform is praised for high stability, reliability, quick issue resolution, and continuous improvement through updates.
Since we have good protection levels, the data is secured and replicated across the disks.
Pre-Sale Engineer at Arab Operators
I assess the stability and reliability of Dell PowerScale (Isilon) as perfect.
Storage & Data Protection Specialist at General Dynamics Land Systems
I find the product to be resilient and stable. There's no downtime and no crashes.
Senior Infrastructure Specialist at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
There are no issues with stability in Veeam Data Platform.
Solutions Architect at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
I can say the stability of Veeam Data Platform is almost 8 to 9, as the cluster functionality was not there in earlier platforms such as version 12, but is provided in version 13.
Associate Technical Specialist at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
 

Room For Improvement

Dell PowerScale (Isilon) needs cost reduction, simpler configuration, better scalability, improved interface, and enhanced cloud integration.
Veeam Data Platform needs better integration, speed, support, flexibility, and affordability to meet user demands for large environments.
Hardware failures under warranty should be addressed within the promised timeline.
Senior Engineer at Continental Tire
I would want to see more AI features with Dell PowerScale (Isilon).
Storage & Data Protection Specialist at General Dynamics Land Systems
If I could improve one thing on Dell PowerScale (Isilon), it would be better object storage as it recently breached into S3, and that capability could be broadened.
Senior System Engineer at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
The improvement we would like to see is the option to scale Veeam Data up in smaller sections rather than large sections, which requires paying much more.
L3 Infrastructure Engineer at Specsavers
Reducing it by 20% would make it more accessible to a broader range of customers.
Solutions Architect at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
OpenStack is something Veeam Data Platform doesn't support, and they haven't indicated that they will support it in the future.
Applications section Head at Raya Integration
 

Setup Cost

Dell PowerScale's cost is justified by its features, scalability, and flexible licensing, catering to diverse performance needs.
Veeam Data Platform offers reasonable pricing with predictable per-CPU socket licensing but can be costly for smaller businesses.
It's quite expensive for the amount of storage we have.
Senior Infrastructure Specialist at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
My experience with pricing, setup costs, and licensing for Dell PowerScale (Isilon) shows it's a premium platform, so it's a big amount of money.
Storage Architect at a educational organization with 10,001+ employees
The pricing is excellent.
Director, Information & Communication Technology & Digital Transformation at a educational organization with 201-500 employees
I don't consider the price expensive given its importance.
Sr. Production Analyst at a logistics company with 1,001-5,000 employees
A reduction of 20% in the current cost would make the solution more attractive to clients.
Solutions Architect at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
Veeam Data Platform is more expensive than OpenStack because we pay for it in US dollars, while we pay for OpenStack in Egyptian pounds.
Applications section Head at Raya Integration
 

Valuable Features

Dell PowerScale provides scalable, efficient management, robust security, and seamless integration, enhancing data storage and protection across platforms.
Veeam Data Platform offers ease of use, fast backups, reliable restores, seamless integration, and comprehensive insights for versatile backup strategies.
Dell PowerScale offers high scalability and stability as well, making it a valuable solution for enterprises.
Senior System Engineer at Atlas Security
In our AI initiatives, Dell PowerScale (Isilon) plays a significant role in data analysis, data fusion; principally, it is involved in data analysis, data extraction, and statistical analysis.
Senior Technologist at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
Single files are limited to four terabytes in our configuration, however, the system can support up to 16 terabytes, so we can scale based on that too.
Systems Engineer at Unisity LLC
The platform is user-friendly, comprehensive, and compatible with numerous market solutions, including virtualization and bare metal servers.
Solutions Architect at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
The most important aspect of this platform is data security with immutable data in the storage.
Sr. Production Analyst at a logistics company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Veeam Data Platform is valuable for its stability and the ability to easily contact support for assistance.
L3 Infrastructure Engineer at Specsavers
 

Categories and Ranking

Dell PowerScale (Isilon)
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
72
Ranking in other categories
NAS (2nd), File and Object Storage (2nd)
Veeam Data Platform
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
430
Ranking in other categories
Backup and Recovery (1st), Cloud Backup (1st), Virtualization Management Tools (3rd), Disaster Recovery (DR) Software (2nd), Cloud Monitoring Software (10th)
 

Mindshare comparison

Dell PowerScale (Isilon) and Veeam Data Platform aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is designed for NAS and holds a mindshare of 15.7%, down 17.4% compared to last year.
Veeam Data Platform, on the other hand, focuses on Backup and Recovery, holds 8.5% mindshare, down 17.8% since last year.
NAS Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Dell PowerScale (Isilon)15.7%
Dell PowerStore10.2%
NetApp FAS Series10.2%
Other63.900000000000006%
NAS
Backup and Recovery Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Veeam Data Platform8.5%
Commvault Cloud4.9%
Rubrik4.6%
Other82.0%
Backup and Recovery
 

Featured Reviews

BE
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.
JitendraSadaye - PeerSpot reviewer
Associate Technical Specialist at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Backup operations have become reliable and reporting now simplifies hybrid cloud protection
Veeam Data Platform has Veeam Enterprise Manager as well as Veeam ONE as valuable features, which allow us to generate various kinds of reports that are required for the customer. Instant VM Recovery is a good feature of the high-speed recovery features in Veeam Data Platform, and Continuous Data Protection (CDP) is also a good feature. Ransomware protection is a good feature added in Veeam Data Platform from version 12 onwards, and the ability to create immutable repositories is also a good feature in Veeam. The analytics part of Veeam Data Platform is a good solution because I have worked on various backup technologies such as EMC NetWorker and NetBackup. However, I have not used the analytical parts currently but will check it out. Streamlining processes as well as saving money are benefits that Veeam Data Platform provides for the end user, as it allows for application-aware backups and database backups without the need for various kinds of licenses that other backup software requires. Veeam offers socket-based licenses, instance-based licenses, and capacity-based licenses, which is a great feature.
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Comparison Review

it_user159711 - PeerSpot reviewer
Architect at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Nov 9, 2014
VMware SRM vs. Veeam vs. Zerto
Disaster recovery planning is something that seems challenging for all businesses. Virtualization in addition to its operational flexibility, and cost reduction benefits, has helped companies improve their DR posture. Virtualization has made it easier to move machines from production to…
 

Answers from the Community

GG
Presales Manager, Hybrid IT Architect at Netmind
Nov 19, 2021
Nov 19, 2021
Assuming you want to keep the data within the datacenter, there are a few options: For Small deployments (~20-100TB's), you could mount share(s) on any backup (media) server and backup the data up over the network using a file-system agent - Veeam could easily support this. For Medium deployments (~100TB - 1PB), you could use any backup system that supports NDMP. Not sure if Veeam supports NDMP...
2 out of 5 answers
SimonClark - PeerSpot reviewer
Cyber Security Advisor - Director at Fort Net UK
Jul 5, 2021
There are a number of alternative cloud solutions available e.g. Druva.  However, if the price is a key factor then you may benefit from by using an Managed Service Provider (MSP). MSP's white label large, credible & established platforms. They provide the same level of speed, uptime, resilience and security as a key brand name but can be as much as half the price. The management of the backup will be optionally yours or fully outsourced to the MSP.  Another benefit of the MSP model is that they will have other skills to complement your own internal resources potentially adding further layers of security and backend IT people to support your operation.
CvanderH - PeerSpot reviewer
System Architect at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
Jul 5, 2021
I have no experience with Dell EMC PowerScale though I do know that it is supported by Veeam.  A Veeam Scale Out Backup Repository can distribute the load across the PowerScale cluster via multiple Backup Repository Extents each defined to use a different cluster node DNS A record and path. When backups exceed the maximum file size limitation even with Veeam deduplication and compression, other considerations should be made.   Note:  Disable the write coalescer on the share directory and all sub-directories used by Veeam. PowerScale is a complex system and therefore I would advise you to contact Veeam experts on how to deploy Veeam in accordance with PowerScale. But a Scale Out Back Repository is an option, also XFS with reflink supports any Dell EMC PowerScale (Isilon) configuration.  MSP's are fine too if you are comfortable with having data outside your datacenter.   dsmISI VEEAM (general-storage.com)
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
8%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business17
Midsize Enterprise18
Large Enterprise39
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business217
Midsize Enterprise99
Large Enterprise139
 

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)?
As for my experience with the pricing, setup cost, and licensing, we have had Dell PowerScale (Isilon) for a while now, so we are basically on the renewal track all the time. We did not find it to ...
What needs improvement with Dell EMC PowerScale (Isilon)?
Dell PowerScale (Isilon) can be improved by enhancing the ability for more native data mover technologies that offer security and resiliency features.
Major Differences Between These 4 Backup and Disaster Recovery Solutions?
Comparing the features of the four is not the right approach. You need to develop a list of requirements for backup and DR that are specific to your organization and then compare each of the four ...
How do the backup solutions of Veeam and Veritas compare?
Technically, Veeam is best for hyper-v & VMWare replications, snapshots, HA failover, also support for file system backups inside VMs., support for tape library & FC too. But Veritas Netbac...
How does Nakivo compare with Veeam Backup & Replication?
Nakivo is my favorite backup software. Below are the main benefits of Nakivo compared to Veeam 1. Low cost. 2. Backup storage with global deduplication (this is the main requirement of a backup sol...
 

Also Known As

PowerScale, Dell EMC Isilon
Veeam Backup & Replication, Veeam ONE, Veeam Backup & Replication
 

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,
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