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

2,048 Views
799 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Vblock [EOL]

Read 24 Vblock [EOL] reviews

84% willing to recommend

FlexPod XCS

Vblock [EOL]

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Executive Summary

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

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Converged Infrastructure

August 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 (3rd)

Vblock [EOL]

Average Rating

8.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Featured Reviews

John Kevin

Deputy IT Manager at MBBank

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.

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Fred Armantrout

Senior System Specialist at Burns & McDonnell

A reliable and highly-available solution with good technical support

It's difficult to think of anything that needs to be improved because it's a good stable system, but paid support is expensive so the cost of operation could be lowered. In the next release, I would like to see a smaller footprint in the data center and have improvements to disk performance.

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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

"FlexPod has improved our company as far as ease of management, stability, and redundancy."

"It has had a big, positive impact, because now everything is centralized."

"The solution is innovative when it comes to compute storage and networking. Each environment has knowledge of another in a FlexPod environment. This would be difficult to operate separately."

"The most valuable features of this solution are efficiency and simplicity."

"The ease of set up is probably the most valuable feature for us."

"The most valuable thing for me is the shorter time to market."

"It is an easy, straightforward system to set up and maintain."

"Our time from customer interest to time of deployment has shrunk a lot."

More FlexPod XCS pros

"The high redundancy of components has minimized frequent service degradation/failure."

"It has improved system performance, batch times for off-hours processing, and reliability with production applications."

"Access to VMs is now faster due to the centralized management console."

"We have seen measurable increases in our system performance. Those increases have been directly measurable in application performance and the delivery of critical business information to our users."

"The most valuable features are reliability and high availability."

"VMware NSX: Provides the ability for our organisation to deliver true DR."

"The component integration means I don't have to worry about technology mismatches."

"The XtremIO All-Flash array delivers performance, reliability, and deduplication."

More Vblock [EOL] pros

Cons

"The technical support is slightly above average. I would like them to have quicker escalation"

"FlexPods can include the new networking and new virtualization of storage and data center interconnectivity with the networking side of it. They can evolve and grow by connecting pods together."

"I would like to see drag and drop connectivity to Azure and Amazon."

"I'd like to see a little bit simpler management pane. Using UCS Director to front everything is good but for a lot of that upper mid-market, it's probably a little bit of overkill for what they need. They just want a nice, simply portal to go through and see what's going on. So if there was something that was middle of the road, it would be well received."

"I would like to see increased performance."

"I would like to see more CVDs and more published designs around a multi-hypervisor approach within a single pod."

"The upgrades should be improved. We would like to have the ability to do unified upgrades of the whole infrastructure from beginning to end."

"Some of the define features could use improvement."

More FlexPod XCS cons

"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."

"RCM upgrades were not scripted, and you needed to roll on your own. We were led to believe this would be otherwise."

"Tighter alignment could simplify and speed up the configuration and delivery process."

"The integration with other vendors' products needs to be looked at. It's not as flexible as we would like it to be."

"Troublesome relationships with VCE at the beginning of our use came undone quickly after we went live."

"The user control could be more advanced. They should work to improve this in future releases."

"RCM upgrades are painful."

More Vblock [EOL] cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We have saved time and money for new service deployments."

"Make sure you are buying for performance, not just capacity."

"Storage is very expensive. To buy MIC cards and additional storage either on-prem or in the cloud, the IT department does not have money for it, so you need a more niche product or a more flexible way to store your data. That is the benefit that you get from this product."

"The pricing is not cheaper, but stability is more important for us now. We focus on business gains, not static numbers."

"The pricing and licensing are quite expensive. However, compared to other solutions, it is okay."

"Pricing and licensing is very affordable from a FlexPod perspective."

"We have saved 50 percent on new service deployments."

"We have saved time, money, space, and power consumption on new service deployments. We have a data center in Toronto which had ten racks on one of the new servers. This was all reduced to two racks with six chassis, which is amazing."

More FlexPod XCS pricing and cost advice

"Strive for a consolidated ELA."

"Related to tech support: I believe it is too expensive."

"It is not cheap."

"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."

"Vblock is priced at a premium because people don't want the headache of managing and deploying different products."

"The paid support for Vblock is expensive."

"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."

"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."

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Comparison Review

it_user244362

Managing Consultant with 51-200 employees

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

15%

Performing Arts

Computer Software Company

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	34
Midsize Enterprise	66
Large Enterprise	182

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	10
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	15

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

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Comparisons

Dell PowerFlex vs FlexPod XCS

Compared 28% of the time

Oracle Private Cloud Appliance vs FlexPod XCS

Compared 16% of the time

Dell VxBlock System vs FlexPod XCS

Compared 13% of the time

HPE Hyper Converged vs FlexPod XCS

Compared 12% of the time

HPE ConvergedSystem vs FlexPod XCS

Compared 11% of the time

More FlexPod XCS Competitors

Dell VxBlock System vs Vblock [EOL]

Compared 100% of the time

More Vblock [EOL] Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

FlexPod XCS

September 2025

Download FlexPod XCS product report

Buyer's Guide

Vblock [EOL]

August 2025

Download 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

August 2025

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