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Dell VPLEX vs IBM Spectrum Control comparison

Dell Technologies and IBM are both solutions in the Storage Management category. Dell Technologies is ranked #6 with an average rating of 5.0, while IBM is ranked #5 with an average rating of 6.0. Dell Technologies holds a 6.9% mindshare in SM, compared to IBM’s 9.5% mindshare. Additionally, 88% of Dell Technologies users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 87% of IBM users who would recommend it.
Dell VPLEX
Read 18 Dell VPLEX reviews
  • 378 Views
  • 168 Comparison Views
88% willing to recommend
IBM Spectrum Control
Read 8 IBM Spectrum Control reviews
  • 399 Views
  • 173 Comparison Views
87% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary
We performed a comparison between Dell VPLEX and IBM Spectrum Control based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Storage Management solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

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To learn more, read our detailed Dell VPLEX vs. IBM Spectrum Control Report (Updated: June 2025).
Buyer's Guide
Dell VPLEX vs. IBM Spectrum Control
June 2025
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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 VPLEX
Ranking in Storage Management
6th
Average Rating
8.2
Number of Reviews
18
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
IBM Spectrum Control
Ranking in Storage Management
5th
Average Rating
7.8
Number of Reviews
8
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Storage Management category, the mindshare of Dell VPLEX is 6.9%, down from 7.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Spectrum Control is 9.5%, up from 6.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Storage Management
 

Featured Reviews

Sayed Zuber - PeerSpot reviewer
It's an excellent solution for data mobility and disaster recovery, but the CLI can be difficult for beginners
Dell VPLEX currently requires Flash Player to access the GUI. It would be better to have a web-based HTML management interface. The encryption could also be improved. When the host writes data, it goes from VPLEX back to the physical storage. The physical storage device will do encryption or use an algorithm called Data Address Encryption. If there are vulnerabilities between the host and the storage device, you can lose your data. I suggest encrypting the data before it is sent from the host to the storage. I would also recommend using the NVM protocol in VPLEX. It still has Flash Player and a local SATA disk built into the Flash Player. You need to Flash the disk to SAS and then SATA. The NVM protocol is better.
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Aamir Jameel - PeerSpot reviewer
Scalable but not user-friendly
Spectrum Control could be more user-friendly. IBM also needs to provide proper training to handle Spectrum Control because it's a complicated solution I've been using Spectrum Control for almost three years. Spectrum Control's stability is fine.  Spectrum Control's scalability is fine - we can…
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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution works well. It's very reliable."
"The most valuable feature is deduplication, as we have no duplication in the snapshots."
"Mobility enables us to carry out an internal migration of data."
"Storage virtualization and geographic resilience for Metro Sans, plus a great performance improvement."
"Dell's technical support is awesome. We received instant support from EMC as long as we had an active contract."
"Its mirroring capabilities allow for data to be mirrored across two different data centers, so if one center were to crash or fail, the other center could take over and keep everything running smoothly."
"The best feature of VPLEX storage is its ability to consolidate storage. It also provides the highest RPO and RTOs for replication technology. VPLEX enables application mobility."
"The capacity to migrate machines onto VPLEX is great — it's very clean. We can migrate machines and add arrays easily."
"The product keeps historical data for a very long time."
"Technical support is quite responsive and helpful."
"Spectrum Control is highly secure and competitively priced."
"The benefits would be mostly the ability to diagnose a problem."
"The most valuable feature is the ease of use. The ability to get into a storage device and look at whatever you are trying to look at as far as performance, then obtain the reports that you need to do your analytical work."
"The granularity of this solution has been most useful. Customers can click on a single item and get the information only for the single item they choose."
"The installation was very easy. You just install an agent on a server, and you give that agent access to your storage device, then it just collects the data. It took five minutes to set up."
"Spectrum Control's scalability is fine - we can extend it for the backup requirement."
More IBM Spectrum Control pros
 

Cons

"I would like to have site-to-site replication capability for applications."
"There can be delays in getting performance reports."
"With Dell VPLEX, there are some bugs with Broadcom."
"VPLEX hardware migration to spare equipment in case of major disruption."
"The initial setup is complex."
"Dell VPLEX should improve its integration and user interface and be easier to configure."
"VPLEX's engine-based architecture is complex, so the implementation is challenging and takes more time. It's also difficult to fix hardware issues. When an appliance fails, it takes Dell EMC a long time to fix it because spare parts are in short supply."
"The price is a problem with EMC due to the fact that it's more expensive than the other vendors."
More Dell VPLEX cons
"The pain points were, and may still continue to be, the fact that there are multiple components of the product which are installed, you might say, somewhat individually."
"The solution must support multi-vendor storage."
"I would like to see is more information regarding the copy groups (the replication)."
"If we were to add VM level performance being able to monitor VMs on a VM level, then that would be good."
"The initial setup for IBM Spectrum Control is a bit complicated. They should also make it easier to integrate and use the Cosmos Analytics tool, which is very complicated."
"The database could be improved so that the complexity of installation could be easier. We would also like to have more granularity in the profiles and products for users. We would like to link the users to the tool to managers or auditors."
"Spectrum Control could be more user-friendly."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We struck a great deal with Dell EMC, so for us, VPLEX was not very expensive."
"VPLEX is a little bit expensive in my personal opinion."
"It is pay for the amount of storage that you are monitoring. The more that we use the tool and like the tool, we may want to extend it to other storage platforms. This is just a matter of cost."
"The solution is reasonably priced."
"We were already licensing Spectrum Control. This was one reasons why we went to Control rather than using the other product."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
21%
Financial Services Firm
16%
Healthcare Company
8%
Government
8%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Dell VPLEX?
Dell's technical support is awesome. We received instant support from EMC as long as we had an active contract.
See all answers
What needs improvement with Dell VPLEX?
Dell VPLEX should improve its integration and user interface and be easier to configure. Any EMX product, be it PowerMax, VMAX, or DMAX, works based on the CLI. A person has to be very good at runn...
See all answers
What is your primary use case for Dell VPLEX?
We use Dell VPLEX for backend connectivity within the storage. We also use it when we want to manage redundancy for any storage.
See all answers
What do you like most about IBM Spectrum Control?
The product keeps historical data for a very long time.
See all answers
What needs improvement with IBM Spectrum Control?
The solution must support multi-vendor storage.
See all answers
What is your primary use case for IBM Spectrum Control?
The solution can be used for monitoring storage.
See all answers
 

Comparisons

IBM SAN Volume Control vs Dell VPLEX Logo
IBM SAN Volume Control vs Dell VPLEX
Compared 38% of the time
IBM Spectrum Virtualize vs Dell VPLEX Logo
IBM Spectrum Virtualize vs Dell VPLEX
Compared 33% of the time
Red Hat Ceph Storage vs Dell VPLEX Logo
Red Hat Ceph Storage vs Dell VPLEX
Compared 28% of the time
More Dell VPLEX Competitors
IBM Storage Insights vs IBM Spectrum Control Logo
IBM Storage Insights vs IBM Spectrum Control
Compared 59% of the time
Dell Storage Resource Manager vs IBM Spectrum Control Logo
Dell Storage Resource Manager vs IBM Spectrum Control
Compared 21% of the time
CA 1 Tape Management vs IBM Spectrum Control Logo
CA 1 Tape Management vs IBM Spectrum Control
Compared 20% of the time
More IBM Spectrum Control Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
Dell VPLEX
June 2025
Dell VPLEX reportDownload Dell VPLEX product report
Buyer's Guide
IBM Spectrum Control
June 2025
IBM Spectrum Control reportDownload IBM Spectrum Control product report
 

Also Known As

No data available
Spectrum Control
 

Overview

Wth EMC VPLEX you can deploy next-generation virtualization architecture to enable simultaneous information access within, between, and across data centers, move applications, virtual machines, and data in and between data centers without impacting users and deliver application and data availability within the data center and over distance with full infrastructure utilization and zero downtime.
Dell Technologies

IBM Spectrum Control is a comprehensive solution that can significantly improve monitoring, automation and analytics capabilities in multi-vendor storage environments. IBM Spectrum Control helps manage storage systems, software-defined storage, storage-area network (SAN) fabrics and devices. Storage can be seen from multiple perspectives, including departmental, application and server views. IBM Spectrum Control helps simplify provisioning, tier optimization, performance management and data replication processes.

IBM
 

Sample Customers

Kindred Healthcare, Regis Aged Care, WeBank SpA, Panduit, Munson Healthcare
Nuance
Buyer's Guide
Dell VPLEX vs. IBM Spectrum Control
June 2025
Free Report: Dell VPLEX vs. IBM Spectrum Control
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