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HPE Apollo Systems vs Lenovo Edge Servers comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 8, 2024

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

HPE Apollo Systems
Ranking in Rack Servers
6th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
22
Ranking in other categories
Density Optimized Servers (2nd)
Lenovo Edge Servers
Ranking in Rack Servers
11th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Rack Servers category, the mindshare of HPE Apollo Systems is 4.1%, down from 4.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Lenovo Edge Servers is 0.7%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Rack Servers
 

Featured Reviews

Gayan Senadheera - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers higher capacities compared to other solutions, making it suitable for handling large storage needs
In terms of improvement, we could benefit from some training. If there could be some training for our team, we would be better equipped to promote and support HPE Apollo. Currently, we haven't received any specific training related to HPE Apollo throughout my career. If HPE Apollo provides training, we can share the knowledge with our partners, which could lead to more opportunities for HPE Apollo in the market. Deal protection and other support measures would also be beneficial, as they could help us achieve better results in this market.
Hawi Nadew - PeerSpot reviewer
A budget-friendly tool that offers good stability
I don't have much to comment on what requires improvement in the product because my company is more engaged with Dell's servers than Lenovo's ones. I'm not that much familiar with Lenovo. My company has seen that the servers from Lenovo offer good performance and high scalability, so I don't see any scope for improvement in the solution. With Lenovo, when it comes to its HCI-related part, which includes ThinkAgile, users may face issues as VMware licenses are not linked with ThinkAgile. With ThinkAgile in the picture, there are two different vendors, Lenovo and VMware. Suppose VMware and Lenovo come together, then they produce a common product. In the case of the servers under Lenovo, the virtualization software is again both from VMware and Dell, and the licenses are deployed on the server. Different vendors manage the servers from Lenovo that fall under ThinkAgile and VMware, so if there is a way that allows Lenovo and VMware to produce a system together like ThinKAgile, then it would be a good improvement.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"HPE Apollo's support is the most valuable feature."
"we can use the same platform for several use cases: Hadoop, Ceph, and we are considering the server for another use case right now. It's a single solution, we only have to integrate it once and we can use it for several technologies."
"HPE Apollo's pricing is low, and implementation is very easy compared to other products."
"The cost benefit of this solution is most valuable. It is quite effective for the work for which we are using it. We are mainly running video servers on these, and we are quite happy with the resilience, density storage, and streaming capacity of the system."
"We're going to buy another Apollo 6500. We may configure it with half the number of GPUs because that may be all we need. In a sense, we can see the Apollo 6500 being so powerful that we only need half the GPU capability that we have now."
"It's going to meet our needs moving forward, it is scalable."
"When we moved to the Apollo and all flash drives, we gained a lot of performance."
"It's pretty flexible. You can choose how much storage you put on the server. You can have one to three nodes, depending on whether you want more CPU or storage."
"I like Lenovo's XClarity Controller, and the ability to control and deploy Edge Servers through this XClarity interface."
"It is a stable solution. The product doesn't have any problems when it comes to stability."
 

Cons

"We have tried to used standardization using Ubuntu Linux and it's been hard. They had some difficulties getting the RAID configuration up and running because there are no drivers for it. It's not supported by HPE."
"We would like to see SimpliVity on top of the Apollo."
"The solution's deployment, security, and scalability need improvement."
"I would want to see the flexibility of being able to run various network protocols including InfiniBand, Fibre Channel, as well as iSCSI, with iSCSI going up to 100 gigabytes per second -that would be outstanding."
"We could, perhaps, use more GPUs in the future, go from eight to 16 GPUs per instance. That could run head-to-head against the DGX-1, the DGX-2 that NVIDIA has developed in their own chassis. That would be interesting to see."
"What's coming out in Gen 10 is very strong in terms of additional security."
"We are quite happy with it, but its price and storage density can be better."
"There is a shared battery for all cache controllers in the node. When you have to replace that element, you have to take down all three nodes and not just one."
"Airflow in the servers can be a problem. Sometimes we cannot add CPU to Edge Servers because there's not enough airflow in the appliance."
"With Lenovo, when it comes to its HCI-related part, which includes ThinkAgile, users may face issues as VMware licenses are not linked with ThinkAgile."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of the solution is more expensive than Dell which is their main competitor. However, there are times we have managed to receive a comparable price."
"Compared to other products, HPE Apollo is not an expensive solution."
"Obviously I would like to see the cost go down. That speaks for itself."
"There is an annual license required to use HPE Apollo."
"It is an expensive solution but it is worth the money. The standard licensing cost is for the GPU and the features that someone is using. There are additional charges but they depend on the solution."
"The solution is available to users at a low price."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Government
8%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about HPE Apollo?
HPE Apollo's pricing is low, and implementation is very easy compared to other products.
What needs improvement with HPE Apollo?
HPE Apollo's after-sales support and technical support should be improved. The solution should provide fast delivery when it comes to replacing a particular product that is under warranty.
What is your primary use case for HPE Apollo?
We use HPE Apollo for specific requirements of Linux servers.
What do you like most about Lenovo Edge Servers?
It is a stable solution. The product doesn't have any problems when it comes to stability.
What needs improvement with Lenovo Edge Servers?
I don't have much to comment on what requires improvement in the product because my company is more engaged with Dell's servers than Lenovo's ones. I'm not that much familiar with Lenovo. My compan...
 

Also Known As

HP Apollo Systems, HP ProLiant SL, HP Apollo
ThinkSystem Edge Servers, ThinkSystem SE Series, Lenovo SE Series, Lenovo ThinkSystem Edge Servers
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Weta Digital
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about HPE Apollo Systems vs. Lenovo Edge Servers and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
850,028 professionals have used our research since 2012.