Dell SC Series vs IBM System Storage DS8000 Series comparison

"The most valuable feature is the speed for the end-user."

"In terms of performance with mixed workloads, the SC Series is pretty good."

"One of the most valuable features is the capability to switch between all-flash to hybrid, which have have actually done for one of our arrays. We started with the hybrid, with the limited if I'm not mistaken, and then over a period of time, we swapped all the hybrids with the SSDs. This was one of the big features because it gave us the capability to not stick with just one kind of media. Secondly, since it has sorted clustering, we were able to bring in the newer boxes and have it all clustered together. These were the two main features that we really looked into, which benefited our use case from an expansion/growth perspective. Another valuable feature is the ease of management."

"The customers really appreciate that the storage is cost-effective and that has enterprise features."

"We like the integration, the nodes themselves, the way that everything is integrated together, and it seems like it's less hardware to keep up with while speed and performance seem to be good on the hardware side."

"Dell SC Series offers a lot of performance, being one of the best performing storages Dell ever made."

"The performance was staggering and it was more than what we paid for."

"The most valuable feature is the ability to replicate. We are running a financial company and it needs to be available 24/7. We can't afford any downtime."

"We have had no outages now for literally six years and that's really impressive."

"The high throughput feature is the most powerful thing in this product."

"The Global Copy and Global Mirror features are the solution's most valuable aspects."

"These are global mirror and replication for DR, which allow us to do a lot of DR testing."

"The high throughput feature is the most powerful thing in this product."

"I really recommend the IBM DS8000 solution as it is the most advanced technology available for storage solutions."

"The solution is very stable; there aren't any problems there at all as it doesn't have bugs or glitches and doesn't crash or freeze, and we've found it to be very reliable."

"The main benefit is from the standpoint of recovery; recovery time and being able to quickly replicate data."

"This solution could be improved if overall performance was improved and operated with a higher speed and supported a higher volume of RAM."

"We can definitely see a need for it being a multi-controller system for customers who want to scale beyond the current capability. That's always a downside. A lot of the new systems are scaling vertically, they scale out, and the Compellent, of course, is controllers with shelves under it, so you don't scale out with it, unless you add another one. But if you do, they don't talk to each other, like some of the other solutions that we sell."

"Technical support should respond more quickly because the turnaround time is very high."

"The interface could be improved. It should have an application point of view."

"One option I would like to see is, when you're up on the view-screen, to be able to incorporate getting to what HPE call the iLO, the Integrated Lights-Out. To be able to get that instead of having to go back and trying to find IP addresses and re-institute those would be good. It would be good to be able to that put on the initial splash screen."

"Dell SC Series is no longer available, while Dell PowerStore, which supports NVMe over TCP, is different and not very affordable."

"I would rate the SC Series at seven out of ten right now. That might change as future releases come out and more functionality comes into the product."

"The lower model, the 3000, should have duplication. It doesn't right now. It's only from 5000 that this is offered, but it depends on the performance. It could be they don't offer it on lower models because the duplication is too much of a burden to the performance."

"The GUI isn't as user-friendly as other options."

"The pricing of the solution is difficult to deal with. Lower pricing would be preferred."

"I would like it to be easier to use. Some of it is so complex that we've got a lot of scripts and automation and things tied around it."

"The solution should embedded replication switches into the hardware instead of using them externally."

"On the open system side, it's a little different."

"We need the GUI feature to be improved. If the GUI is good, then it is easier to manage with just the clicks, rather than going in with CLI and commands to do the stuff."

"The GUI isn't as user-friendly as other options."

"Sometimes when we do encounter problems, but not a complete system shutdown, that gets a little bit frustrating."

"We have the basic license for the use of this solution and it is a permanent license. The overall cost could be less, it is expensive."

"We were able to afford two tiers of flash storage at a price where the competition was giving us one tier or just a handful of discs."

"We have reviewed many platforms over the years. It is probably the best solution for its value."

"Support typically depends on the array. It can range anywhere from $7,000 to a couple of hundred thousand dollars."

"It is one of the most cost effective systems for us. We have been able to run it longer than most, getting the most benefit and money out of it."

"The SC Series was priced fairly. I wouldn't call it either expensive or cheap because we had a very tight budget, so if they were able to fit in that type of budget, they met our expectations."

"The maintenance is usually pretty good. It's not like some of the others where they increase it in the fourth, fifth, or sixth years."

"The pricing of this solution is competitive."

"The license is very expensive."