HPE SimpliVity vs Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between HPE SimpliVity and Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Dell Technologies, Nutanix, VMware and others in HCI.
To learn more, read our detailed HCI Report (Updated: November 2023).
745,775 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"The user interface for this application is amazing.""It has improved our organization in terms of its uptime as our main cluster has never been offline due to a SAN failure.""They offer top-tier support.""The performance of the solution is accurate and concise.""The product only requires two VMWare ESXi host servers versus three host servers for VMware's comparable solution.""The product gave us a cost-effective way to deploy a highly available server environment.""It provided the much-needed HA on an extremely low budget.""StarWind vSAN is easy to deploy and administer."

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"The HPE SimpliVity disc compression is very valuable.""It's a very nice solution. It's a complete solution that we are looking for because we don't have personnel with expertise.""The performance is good. It's stable and easy to operate.""It is a stable solution.""Best for companies just starting out.""SimpliVity helps us to manage and has made deduplication work really well.""The configuration capabilities are good.""The most valuable feature is the ease of use and the storage virtualization layer, together with the built-in backups."

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"Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series' deployment is easy. We are a tier-one platinum partner who is into multiple implementations.""Installation is straightforward because it's a vSAN. It only took one or two days."

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Cons
"I want to suggest that the complexity of the startup and shutdown procedure needs to be reduced.""I would say that the documentation is mostly great, however, some features could be expanded upon a bit.""We just need more integration with Veeam.""It would be helpful if StarWind provided more precise and detailed documentation explaining how to configure the solution in various scenarios, including the advantages and disadvantages of each.""There is no IPv6 support. That is our only issue at this time.""Feature-wise we are only waiting for the release of a "planned disaster" feature that would allow us to patch a hypervisor node without having to take the full storage offline.""They need to invest more in the support documents for real issues happening when integrating the solution with the hypervisor.""I would like to see more user-friendly dashboards in future versions."

More StarWind Virtual SAN Cons →

"The Omni Card consumes a lot of memory and CPU.""I would like some reporting about backup and replication.""HPE SimpliVity could be more flexible and scalable. I don't feel SimpliVity is flexible or easily scalable because I still need to buy another server to add to my clusters. I can't just run or harvest and add to my solution. I need to buy another server. There are a lot of components that are not giving a lot of value to me right now. I also had a few problems with the built-in hard disk drives. I've had many issues with the harvest stripes that the servers use. Maybe it's a coincidence, but it's unusual to have a physical failure on the HPE platform. I don't see any value at the software level, especially in the software that manages that solution. I was waiting for something, especially in the application layer that I would use, but that is all over VMware, and it doesn't have an integrated module that I can use to manage the server and all the instances.""There is room for improvement in the operations area because the support for that server space is minimal.""They could have better-specialized support for more countries.""The product should be competitive with other brands.""There is a file size limitation when you want to do an individual file restore, but they might have resolved this in newer versions. As I'm taking backups at the VM server level, I can restore a file from any one of those without standing up the VM, and I can restore it to any mounted VM that I want. The problem is that there is a file size limitation. It becomes problematic when I'm trying to restore. When I want to restore a backup of a SQL database, my backups are considerably larger than 10 gigs. So, the only way to restore that backup file is to mount the entire VM somewhere and then copy it, which doesn't take long at all.""Our customers are always looking or a discount on the product."

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"Support could be better.""Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series needs to improve its stability. Its resolution should be faster."

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Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "For two nodes, it cost us $10,000, and we spend $2,000 a year on support."
  • "If you are looking at a traditional SAN for a small cluster, give StarWind vSAN because you will save thousands without any compromise."
  • More StarWind Virtual SAN Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "The solution is expensive; not every budget can fit in there."
  • "Cost of this product is high."
  • "Scaling isn't cheap"
  • "We spent $250,000 back in the day, and that was for two servers in my data center for that cluster. We then ran what they call an arbiter, and that took the place of a third server or the third node in the cluster. My DR site was one standalone server, and its horsepower was more than the two at my main site. It included my Cisco Switches that I needed to re-upgrade. It was comparable to what we were paying a year in VM."
  • "There are additional costs for storage."
  • "The pricing of HPE SimpliVity is comparable with other solutions so the price is good."
  • "There is a one-time purchase needed for the license for HPE SimpliVity. The solution is expensive, but it is worth the money."
  • "One big advantage with SimpliVity is that you don't need the higher license cost or VMware to put together a simple SimpliVity solution."
  • More HPE SimpliVity Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "You need to pay a license for additional features. If we need to monitor hardware for the automatic alert notification, we need to pay them."
  • "The tool's pricing is competitive."
  • More Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:We like their high availability. It reduces the downtime for our entire organization's environment.
    Top Answer:The Premium ProActive service price is a little high, yet worth the price.
    Top Answer:It is hard to find adequate technical documentation on their support website. However, they have a fantastic technical… more »
    Top Answer:HPE SimpliVity is a hyper-converged infrastructure solution that is primarily geared to mid-sized companies. We… more »
    Top Answer:The pricing is competitive. I would rate the pricing a seven out of ten, where one is a reasonable price, and ten is the… more »
    Top Answer:Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series' deployment is easy. We are a tier-one platinum partner who is into multiple… more »
    Top Answer:Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series needs to improve its stability. Its resolution should be faster.
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    StarWind SAN & NAS
    SimpliVity, HPE HCI
    Lenovo VX Series, ThinkAgile VX Series
    Learn More
    Overview

    StarWind Virtual SAN provides high availability and fault tolerance for virtualized environments without the need for dedicated SAN hardware. It allows for real-time replication between servers, shared storage for Hyper-V clusters, and enables vMotion and High Availability features for VMware vSphere. The solution reduces costs and leverages existing hardware while providing a scalable and reliable infrastructure. Valuable features include ease of use, scalability, top-tier support, hardware agnosticism, and the ability to use off-the-shelf standard servers to increase storage space. StarWind VSAN has helped organizations improve performance, data availability, and data security while reducing downtime and providing cost-saving storage options.

    HPE SimpliVity is an HCI software solution that provides powerful data protection, reducing data loss along with lowering the risk of ransomware attacks on your enterprise.

    HPE SimpliVity Features

    HPE SimpliVity has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

    • Flexible, compact architecture
    • Centralized management
    • AI-driven intelligence
    • Built-in data protection and disaster recovery
    • VM-centric management and mobility
    • Simple to deploy, manage, and scale

    HPE SimpliVity Benefits

    There are several benefits to implementing HPE SimpliVity. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:

    • Efficient: HPE SimpliVity helps reduce the number of devices in your data center while also decreasing the total cost of ownership.
    • Cloud benefits with enterprise capabilities: When your enterprise deploys HPE SimpliVity, you gain the agility, elasticity, and affordability offered by cloud computing.
    • Affordable and flexible: The solution provides IT teams with the performance, reliability, and resiliency of on-premises infrastructure. HPE SimpliVity allows them to start virtualizing their enterprise while also keeping sensitive data safe.
    • Reduced risk of data loss: Because HPE SimpliVity is a powerful solution with built-in resiliency, backup, and disaster recovery, it is able to provide advanced data protection that reduces your organization’s risk of data loss and also lowers the risk of ransomware attacks.
    • Speed: HPE SimpliVity gives you the ability to deploy blocks and manage VM environments quickly and easily by using the VMware interface. In addition, the solution allows you to quickly view all data centers and remote offices within a single interface.

    Reviews from Real Users

    Below are some reviews and helpful feedback written by HPE SimpliVity users.

    Jeff S., Information Technology Manager at Troyer Foods, Inc. says the solution has “Phenomenal deduplication and compression, good support, and works on its own. SimpliVity is integrated with the hypervisor, and you have a single pane of glass. It is really hands-off. Once you set your backup schedules, you're done.

    A Senior Datacenter Consultant at a computer software company mentions, “The most valuable feature is the ease of use and the storage virtualization layer, together with the built-in backups. That's what makes SimpliVity really useful, and how you can replicate data between different sites without paying an extra license for that feature. All the features are built into the product.”

    PeerSpot user Doug C., IT Engineer at a government, comments, “Backups and restores occur very quickly. All SimpliVity management is done through vCenter, providing a single-pane of glass for all management and configuration functions. The advanced deduplication and compression greatly reduce the storage requirements, reducing the amount of expensive flash storage required.The 10G interfaces between the SimpliVity nodes greatly speeds up VM migrations between nodes. SimpliVity enables "stretched-cluster" operation with mirrored storage between the nodes, enabling automated failover. If a node or site goes down for any reason, the VMs on that node are automatically restarted on the other node.”

    German I., Solutions Architect Data Center Servers and Storage at Tecnologia informatica, explains, “The integration possibilities regarding the administration console are one of the best configurations and one of the best features that differentiates this product from others in the market. Also, you can add extra coverage protection that includes everything inside of the hard drives — similar products don't do this. You can use it directly from the hypervisor, which is great.”

    Differentiating yourself from the competition is vital in today’s fast-moving business environment. To support your business, IT systems must be simple, agile, and cost-effective so you can meet your customers’ requirements to be ever online. Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series enables you to meet these requirements by focusing on the business outcome you require, rather than on building your infrastructure.

    ThinkAgile VX Series, powered by VMware vSAN, is available in several models. Each is preconfigured, pretested, and optimized to provide the simplest way to bring a new VMware hyperconverged environment online. If you have an existing VMware environment, the VX Series can integrate into it easily.

    Designed for any size business from SMBs through large enterprises, VX Series can be used as infrastructure for remote office/branch office (ROBO) and retail stores as well as virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) and enterprise applications.

    Offer
    30-days for free

    Try it today

    Learn more about HPE SimpliVity
    Learn more about Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series
    Sample Customers
    Baker Tilly BVI, CMS Internet, Board Harpeth Hall School
    Red Bull Racing, Mandarin Oriental, Brigham Young University, UCLA, Merlin Entertainments, Sasa Cosmetics, Travelport, St. John’s Riverside Hospital, Princess House
    Information Not Available
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Manufacturing Company10%
    Construction Company9%
    Educational Organization8%
    Computer Software Company7%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company17%
    Manufacturing Company9%
    Government9%
    Financial Services Firm8%
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm13%
    Manufacturing Company8%
    Computer Software Company8%
    Retailer7%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization48%
    Computer Software Company9%
    Government5%
    Comms Service Provider5%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company20%
    Manufacturing Company9%
    Government7%
    Retailer7%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business63%
    Midsize Enterprise22%
    Large Enterprise14%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business25%
    Midsize Enterprise17%
    Large Enterprise58%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business34%
    Midsize Enterprise27%
    Large Enterprise40%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business14%
    Midsize Enterprise57%
    Large Enterprise28%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business31%
    Midsize Enterprise20%
    Large Enterprise49%
    Buyer's Guide
    HCI
    November 2023
    Find out what your peers are saying about Dell Technologies, Nutanix, VMware and others in HCI. Updated: November 2023.
    745,775 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    HPE SimpliVity is ranked 5th in HCI with 26 reviews while Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series is ranked 16th in HCI with 2 reviews. HPE SimpliVity is rated 8.4, while Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series is rated 9.0. The top reviewer of HPE SimpliVity writes "Phenomenal deduplication and compression, good support, and works on its own". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series writes "Quick installation and useful for Oracle database and file server". HPE SimpliVity is most compared with VxRail, VMware vSAN, Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) and HPE Nimble Storage dHCI, whereas Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series is most compared with VxRail, Dell vSAN Ready Nodes, Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series, HPE Nimble Storage dHCI and HPE Hyper Converged.

    See our list of best HCI vendors.

    We monitor all HCI reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.