NetApp AFF and Dell PowerStore compete in the flash storage solutions sector, each offering unique strengths. NetApp AFF excels in protocol flexibility and low latency, making it preferred for high-IO applications, while Dell PowerStore is recognized for its storage efficiency and intelligent automation.
Features: NetApp AFF is highly valued for its speed and efficiency, particularly useful for managing high-IO applications like Hadoop and SAP. It offers the flexibility of multiple protocols and SnapMirror replication for quick data recovery. Clustered Data ONTAP integration enables seamless, non-disruptive upgrades, important for dynamic environments. Dell PowerStore leverages advanced NVMe technology for performance enhancement. It supports both compute and storage expansion seamlessly integrated into VMware environments. Users benefit from its adaptability and built-in intelligent automation for optimal storage management.
Room for Improvement: NetApp AFF could enhance its global management tools and analytics to improve real-time monitoring. Its pricing model is considered high, and scalability options need simplification. Dell PowerStore needs robust NAS functionality and more straightforward integration with existing systems. Initial setup complexity and the price-performance ratio are other areas needing improvement. Additional features like synchronous replication would increase its competitiveness.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Both NetApp AFF and Dell PowerStore support on-premises, cloud, and hybrid deployments, but differ in user experiences. NetApp AFF integrates seamlessly into existing ecosystems despite a steep initial learning curve. Its customer service receives high praise, though resolving complex issues swiftly can be challenging. Dell PowerStore is generally noted for straightforward deployment and easy integration with Dell's ecosystem, particularly within VMware environments. Customers enjoy responsive technical support, though concerns about initial setup complexity and long-term service exist.
Pricing and ROI: While NetApp AFF is described as expensive, it includes features like SnapMirror without additional fees, justifying its cost for performance improvements. Dell PowerStore is favorably priced, especially for NVMe deployments, but the high cost of SSD storage expansions is noted. Both solutions offer strong ROI potential, contingent on deployment scale and chosen features, yet cost considerations differ between the two.
Pure Storage FlashArray//X is the world’s first enterprise-class, all-NVMe flash storage array. It represents a new class of storage – shared accelerated storage, which is a term coined by Gartner – that delivers major breakthroughs in performance, simplicity, and consolidation.
Dell PowerStore stands out for its high performance, flexibility, and easy integration with VMware. It offers notable data compression and deduplication capabilities while providing powerful NVMe support and machine learning to optimize IT operations.
Dell PowerStore is designed to offer a comprehensive approach to IT infrastructure by enhancing performance and simplifying management. It is particularly suitable for companies that require scalable solutions to increase compute or capacity independently. Featuring built-in intelligence, PowerStore allows efficient storage consolidation and reduced footprint, while integration with CloudIQ enhances monitoring and analytics. However, there are areas for improvement, such as stability, enterprise features, and the user interface. Pricing is high, and support responsiveness needs attention. Organizations primarily use PowerStore for VMware environments, storage, and data protection, supporting high-performance databases and VMware workloads. It is utilized in data centers for disaster recovery and hybrid setups.
What are the key features of Dell PowerStore?In industries like IT, finance, and healthcare, Dell PowerStore supports efficient data management and enhances infrastructure performance. Organizations leverage it to manage extensive data, streamline virtualization processes, and facilitate migration from legacy systems, while integrating cloud and on-premises infrastructures for improved operations.
The NetApp A-Series and C-Series are AFF storage arrays that deliver high performance, scalability, and simplified data management for a wide range of workloads. They are designed for organizations that need to improve the performance and agility of their applications, while also reducing costs and complexity.
NetApp A-Series and C-Series feature a scale-out architecture that can be scaled to meet the needs of your growing business. They also support a wide range of built-in data protection and data security features, including snapshots, replication, disaster recovery, and autonomous ransomware protection.
AFF A-Series all-flash systems deliver industry-leading performance, density, scalability, security, and network connectivity.
AFF C-Series systems are suited for large-capacity deployment as an affordable way to modernize your data center to all flash and also connect to the cloud.
NetApp AFF Benefits
NetApp AFF Features
Reviews from Real Users
NetApp AFF stands out among its competitors for a number of reasons. Two major ones are its high performance and simplicity. PeerSpot users take note of the advantages of these features in their reviews:
PeerSpot user and Storage Administrator, Daniel Rúnar Friðþjófsson, comments “AFF has helped to simplify our infrastructure, while still getting very high performance for our business-critical applications. Having all these things working well on one solution is really good. We run this as the backbone for both Hyper-V and VMware as well as an archive location for Rubrik. So, it is great having one solution that can do it all.
Because of the ease of it all, you have a highly tunable, high-performance storage system that alleviates a lot of problems. With its ease of management, you can quickly get your work done and go onto the next thing on your list.”
Additionally, Mohan Reddy, Sr. Technology Architect at a Pharma/Biotech company comments on how “NetApp's ONTAP data management software has also made tasks simpler for us. There's no question about that. It has helped us run operations very quickly, saving us a lot of time. Before ONTAP, we used to spend a long time doing regular operations, but with the latest version of the tool, our day-to-day operations are much quicker and easier.”
We monitor all All-Flash Storage reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.
