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FlexPod XCS vs Vblock [EOL] comparison

NetApp and Dell Technologies are both solutions in the Converged Infrastructure category. Additionally, 96% of NetApp users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 84% of Dell Technologies users who would recommend it.
FlexPod XCS
Read 295 FlexPod XCS reviews
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  • 201 Comparison Views
96% willing to recommend
Vblock [EOL]
Read 24 Vblock [EOL] reviews
    84% willing to recommend
     

    Comparison Buyer's Guide

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    Executive Summary
    We performed a comparison between FlexPod XCS and Vblock [EOL] based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

    Find out what your peers are saying about Dell Technologies, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Oracle and others in Converged Infrastructure.

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    Converged Infrastructure
    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

    FlexPod XCS
    Average Rating
    8.6
    Reviews Sentiment
    7.1
    Number of Reviews
    295
    Ranking in other categories
    Converged Infrastructure (5th)
    Vblock [EOL]
    Average Rating
    8.0
    Number of Reviews
    24
    Ranking in other categories
    No ranking in other categories
     

    Featured Reviews

    John Kevin - PeerSpot reviewer
    Enforces standardized setup procedures following Certified Validated Design (CVD) guidelines and offers greater flexibility and control over the system compared to traditional systems
    The GUI setup follows the right setup, meaning we have to follow the CVDi.e. Certified Validated Design. Everything is clear, because you can build CI yourself, but without rules, it can be messy. With FlexPod, there are rules to follow, making it more standardized. This helps with troubleshooting and compatibility assessments, simplifying troubleshooting significantly. We also use FlexPod pre-validated architectures to validate the design. It is very, very important to us because we had a bad case in 2015 where separate items integrated poorly due to no version or firmware compatibility certification. Troubleshooting became a nightmare. So, standards are crucial for us, and everything entering production should be verified or at least documented for certification.
    Read full review
    TS
    Centrally-managed and stable, but the initial setup could be made simpler and technical support can be improved
    There is a different platform and there are different interfaces for different parts of the product. Although there are some centralized components, you still manage each component using its own set of tools. There is definitely room for improvement in this regard. I would like to have a catalogue like menu where you simply define your end computing needs and the rest would be taken care of internally. The initial setup could be unified to make it simpler.
    Read full review

    Quotes from Members

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

    Pros

    "The most valuable features are the Fabric Interconnect Manager and the UCS Manager."
    "It's amazingly scalable. It just works. It can expand to large MetroClusters and keep expanding."
    "The solution’s unified support for the entire stack provides one stop shopping."
    "The best thing about this solution is the tight integration with VMware, Cisco, and NetApp from both a hardware and software perspective."
    "We’ve seen an improvement in application performance."
    "We initially started out with siloed clusters and now we've been able to cluster everything together so that we have multiple nodes in our clusters. We have multiples on different data in different data centers. We've able to do replication between data centers. That's been very beneficial for us as we look to derive a mature DR model."
    "It's a kind of one-stop shop as far as support goes."
    "Performance-wise, it is actually doing quite well. The end users are very happy with it."
    More FlexPod XCS pros
    "UCS Manager worked well for net/blade management and has allowed fairly easy use of dedicated bare-metal blades."
    "It's an integrated box Mac solution, so it's a plug and play. The deployment and build is pre-made and ready to deploy. It makes it easy to apply."
    "​It has improved system performance, batch times for off-hours processing, and reliability with production applications.​"
    "VMware NSX: Provides the ability for our organisation to deliver true DR."
    "The high redundancy of components has minimized frequent service degradation/failure."
    "Capability for scale and growth within a single rack brings strong possibilities for capacity planning."
    "​The XtremIO All-Flash array delivers​ performance, reliability, and deduplication."
    "Some of the key features are the ease of operation and access, without constraining actions. The tool is available to actually move things around, do things quickly quickly."
    More Vblock [EOL] pros
     

    Cons

    "I would like to see increased performance."
    "On the NetApp side, there are definitely things to improve in terms of software updates."
    "The tool is obsolete and we are migrating to HPE. It should improve the pricing."
    "We would like FlexPod to have more power, though it is not lacking in power now."
    "We use technical support from time to time. Most of the time if we really need assistance we end up having to get above the tier one support. We're able to do a lot of the tier one troubleshooting on our own."
    "I would like to have the installation of the top virtualization on its own rather than doing it through the admin. For example, if FlexPod is configured after the configuration of the host, the ESXi is installed also, but it should be part of it rather than doing it as a separate system."
    "Automatic tiering would be good to have."
    "It would be helpful if they sold a pre-boxed option so that you can buy a rack and everything's already there, everything's connected."
    More FlexPod XCS cons
    "RCM upgrades were not scripted, and you needed to roll on your own. We were led to believe this would be otherwise."
    "With respect to the technical support, there is room for improvement."
    "I would like to see them improve their switching infrastructure and rely on Cisco configurations. They are a bit more complex and technical, but result in a slightly reduced cost in terms of switching on the network side of it."
    "Tighter alignment could simplify and speed up the configuration and delivery process.​"
    "RCM upgrades are painful."
    "Improve the patching process and timeliness of updates/releases."
    "It needs more customer/client involvement in back-end management."
    "VCE tools, like Vision or AMP were not stand alone, and depended too much on other management consoles."
    More Vblock [EOL] cons
     

    Pricing and Cost Advice

    "We have a lease for approximately $10,000 USD per month."
    "Overall, the solution works pretty well. The biggest complaint I have from customers is the cost."
    "The investment has been great. We put our money into it and it has given us something that we have been able to rely on for years."
    "We can just swap in new equipment or hardware as we need, which has probably saved us several weeks."
    "It seems very cost effective once it's in place, and it's easy to expand and easy to add capacity without a lot of extra money."
    "The solution has saved our customers' organization in terms of CapEx. E.g., with the cloud availability, it's turned into sort of a hybrid CapEx/OpEx model."
    "We have saved time and money for new service deployments. Without FlexPod, it probably takes about ten hours. With FlexPod, within two hours, we are up and running. So, we have seen about an 80 percent time decrease."
    "It is not cheap, but there is a return on investment in time saved and efficiency."
    More FlexPod XCS pricing and cost advice
    "Vblock appears from the first while to be very expensive. There are more items you cannot see in the BOQ: customer service, support, delivery short time, and highly experienced VCE engineers."
    "Related to tech support: I believe it is too expensive."
    "It is not cheap."
    "The paid support for Vblock is expensive."
    "Vblock is priced at a premium because people don't want the headache of managing and deploying different products."
    "I would not say the pricing is not good value. It is still on the expensive side, near the top-end of cost compared to what's available now. Also, the licensing has to be improved. There has to be a clear definition of the licensing from the initial set-up so the customer knows what they are paying for, without being hit later on with extra licensing. The licensing definitions should be clearer and, perhaps, have one set of licenses rather than multiple licenses."
    "Strive for a consolidated ELA."
    "I think the pricing is on the higher end of the spectrum. There could be some adjustments that could be made there. Regarding licensing, watch compatibility with external products that you run on Vblock. It has got to be properly architected, otherwise, you will run into licensing issues."
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    Comparison Review

    it_user244362 - PeerSpot reviewer
    Aug 30, 2015
    Nutanix vs. VMware EVO:RAIL vs. FlexPod
    Originally posted at www.storagegaga.com/dont-get-too-drunk-on-hyper-converged/ I hate the fact that I am bursting the big bubble brewing about Hyper Convergence (HC). I urge all to look past the hot air and hype frenzy that are going on, because in the end, the HC platforms have to be aligned…
    Read full review
     

    Top Industries

    By visitors reading reviews
    Manufacturing Company
    20%
    Educational Organization
    12%
    Financial Services Firm
    9%
    Computer Software Company
    9%
    No data available
     

    Company Size

    By reviewers
    Large Enterprise
    Midsize Enterprise
    Small Business
     

    Questions from the Community

    What do you like most about FlexPod?
    The system is designed for easy scaling. Because we define everything clearly. So when we plug the system in, we apply the profile, and it scales easily.
    See all answers
    What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for FlexPod?
    The pricing is not cheaper, but stability is more important for us now. We focus on business gains, not static numbers. Following XCS rules ensures a stable environment, which is crucial. For me, C...
    See all answers
    What needs improvement with FlexPod?
    FlexPod should focus more on automation. Integrating an automation tool with FlexPod would enable customers to leverage automation capabilities. More automation would be helpful. Currently, we cont...
    See all answers
    Ask a question
    Earn 20 points
     

    Comparisons

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    Dell PowerEdge VRTX vs FlexPod XCS Logo
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    Compared 16% of the time
    HPE Hyper Converged vs FlexPod XCS Logo
    HPE Hyper Converged vs FlexPod XCS
    Compared 16% of the time
    VMware vSAN vs FlexPod XCS Logo
    VMware vSAN vs FlexPod XCS
    Compared 11% of the time
    More FlexPod XCS Competitors
    Dell VxBlock System vs Vblock [EOL] Logo
    Dell VxBlock System vs Vblock [EOL]
    Compared 100% of the time
    More Vblock [EOL] Competitors
     

    Product Reports

    Buyer's Guide
    FlexPod XCS
    June 2025
    FlexPod XCS reportDownload FlexPod XCS product report
    Buyer's Guide
    Vblock [EOL]
    June 2025
    Vblock [EOL] reportDownload Vblock [EOL] product report
     

    Also Known As

    No data available
    VCE Vblock
     

    Overview

    FlexPod XCS is the secure platform your applications need from edge to cloud. Easily manage your suite of cloud-native, edge, and enterprise apps. Integrate advanced cloud services without compromising performance, security, reliability, or scale.

    NetApp

    VCE Vblock Systems is an all-in-one virtualization platform that integrates the leading storage, network, and compute technologies from the likes of EMC, VMware and Cisco. VCE Vblock allows organizations to easily and securely deploy cloud computing and virtualization in their environments, supporting these multiple technologies and providing flexibility and agility for changing business needs.

    Dell Technologies
     

    Sample Customers

    University of Sao Paulo, WD-40, The Commonwell Mutual Insurance Group
    Xerox, ACS, and Columbia Sportswear.
    Buyer's Guide
    Converged Infrastructure
    June 2025
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