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Dell SC Series vs IBM System Storage DS8000 Series comparison

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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:
 

Categories and Ranking

Dell SC Series
Ranking in Frame-Based Disk Arrays
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
55
Ranking in other categories
All-Flash Storage (23rd)
IBM System Storage DS8000 S...
Ranking in Frame-Based Disk Arrays
3rd
Average Rating
9.4
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Frame-Based Disk Arrays category, the mindshare of Dell SC Series is 15.4%, up from 10.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM System Storage DS8000 Series is 15.3%, down from 31.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Frame-Based Disk Arrays Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Dell SC Series15.4%
IBM System Storage DS8000 Series15.3%
Other69.3%
Frame-Based Disk Arrays
 

Featured Reviews

RK
System Administrator at Lovely Professional University
Storage solutions accommodate diverse drives and offers good resiliency
Technical support is good. I can log complaints online through the portal and have engineers in line. I can also take dedicated engineers if needed, although this involves a different support cost. As far as my requirements are concerned, it is working fine. There are two or three types of support. Standard support involves logging a complaint and receiving a call from the OEM on the same day, but hardware replacement takes two to three days. Advanced support offers instant replacement without delays. Hardware support terms include calling or emailing the company or logging the call in the portal to receive remote support, or getting a dedicated engineer or account manager from Dell.
it_user1303074 - PeerSpot reviewer
Team Leader at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
An advanced enterprise storage system with a powerful throughput feature
I use this solution to lighten the workload. Oracle databases and SQL databases have a high workload in IBM The high throughput feature is the most powerful thing in this product. The GUI isn't as user-friendly as other options. The price could also be better. I would like to see a better GUI…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The setup is straightforward."
"This solution is easy to use."
"They have a feature called Live Migrate; it's been very, very useful."
"Technical support is very good. I do use it from time to time and it's always excellent."
"It is suitable for small or medium businesses."
"We see very low latency with very high IOPS for mixed workloads."
"It helps us streamline deployment of VMs."
"The most valuable feature is the no-forklift upgrade. While the thing is running, I can change out the controllers one at a time and keep the customer up and running. I can add shelves and storage and SSD drives or spinning drives to the system, while it's running. I can bring all that in and rebalance the load across the new disks or, if we take disks away, rebalance the load across what's remaining, and it just works."
"The main benefit is from the standpoint of recovery; recovery time and being able to quickly replicate data."
"The Global Copy and Global Mirror features are the solution's most valuable aspects."
"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."
"We have had no outages now for literally six years and that's really impressive."
"I really recommend the IBM DS8000 solution as it is the most advanced technology available for storage solutions."
"The high throughput feature is the most powerful thing in this product."
"These are global mirror and replication for DR, which allow us to do a lot of DR testing."
 

Cons

"We had times that we needed a file service solution. We've used FluidFS, but it's a solution that is being transitioned out."
"The configuration could be easier in Dell EMC SC Series."
"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."
"This product is too expensive compared to others, and I don't see any value in using it."
"If Dell SC Series wasn't being phased out, adding an NVMe tier and secure snapshots like those on the PowerStore platform would be beneficial."
"Matching color coding during zoning is sometimes a little bit annoying."
"We need more discount, but it's good."
"Overall, I'd like to see more synergy between Dell EMC's higher-tier platforms and their mid-tier platforms. What I have said, constantly, to my partners at Dell EMC is that the clear articulation of the path is really important to us. In that vein, what I'd also like to see is, with the migration strategy that's built into this product, a lot more attention paid to Dell's - in particular - legacy platforms and how we get from some of our legacy EMC platforms onto this platform with a straight-through migration and scaling strategy, not host-based migrations and not piecemeal... Dell EMC would do well to focus more on my ability to skip a generation, rather than having me take individual hops because I can't greenfield my way into a software-defined data center fast enough. This journey of multiple hops is not helpful."
"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."
"On the open system side, it's a little different."
"Sometimes when we do encounter problems, but not a complete system shutdown, that gets a little bit frustrating."
"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."
"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 solution should embedded replication switches into the hardware instead of using them externally."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The scalability seems a bit more expensive than even buying a brand new one so far. That has been kind of a drawback."
"Always keep in mind, this is not just a enclosure with disks is a complete SAN as a service. There is software, license, and storage in one single solution."
"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."
"This product is too expensive compared to others, and I don't see any value in using it."
"The pricing of Dell EMC Compellent is competitive."
"The pricing is reasonable, but it is expensive."
"We have found it to be affordable. Comparing the cost with other hardware, it seems to be right in line with the compute and the storage that we get with it."
"The pricing of this solution is competitive."
"The license is very expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
15%
Construction Company
11%
Outsourcing Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Financial Services Firm
24%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Healthcare Company
8%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business26
Midsize Enterprise9
Large Enterprise21
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Large Enterprise8
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell SC Series?
In our case, we received favorable pricing with Dell because of our strong partnership. While I acknowledge that Dell SC Series can be expensive for many companies, we received good discounts. The ...
What needs improvement with Dell SC Series?
For us, it is a great product. The deduplication and compression could potentially be improved, though they are already good. We cannot identify any significant areas that need improvement.
What is your primary use case for Dell SC Series?
We use Dell SC Series in a VMware environment.
Ask a question
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Also Known As

SC Series Storage, Compellent
System Storage DS8000
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

TGen, Frost Science, Gerrie Electric
Renfe, Park Nicollet Health Services, Ricoh Americas Corporation, SK Energy, SWK STADTWERKE KREFELD AG
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell SC Series vs. IBM System Storage DS8000 Series and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
916,771 professionals have used our research since 2012.