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HPE SimpliVity vs Rackspace OpenStack comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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 SimpliVity
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
153
Ranking in other categories
HCI (6th)
Rackspace OpenStack
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
Converged Infrastructure (7th)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Storage Solutions solutions, they serve different purposes. HPE SimpliVity is designed for HCI and holds a mindshare of 8.6%, down 10.4% compared to last year.
Rackspace OpenStack, on the other hand, focuses on Converged Infrastructure, holds 4.3% mindshare, up 2.1% since last year.
HCI
Converged Infrastructure
 

Featured Reviews

Xavier Perez - PeerSpot reviewer
Has a deployment phase that is straightforward but needs improvement in the area of scalability
The main issue with HPE SimpliVity is that you are very attached to VMware or VMware dependencies because the tool works with VMware technology. HPE SimpliVity is an add-on from VMware. Nowadays, my company has a lot of concerns about VMware's licensing policy. Another big concern of the tool is related to security because one has to continuously update patch vulnerabilities that are appearing continuously in VMware's different versions. Actually, the foundation of all the architecture is VMware and that is one of the main issues with the tool. My company is analyzing our virtual infrastructure strategy to see if we can move to Nutanix because maybe it may work better and might have another approach. Nutanix is absolutely independent of VMware. I could add that since HPE SimpliVity is very precisely dependent on VMware, it is not open to containers unlike Nutanix, for example. The aforementioned area is a concern that needs to be resolved by HPE.
Hai Dinh Van - PeerSpot reviewer
Open-source nature enables seamless cloud management and customer transition
We deploy layer three managed services, and our customers manage layer two services. We combine the two-layer services and deliver them to our customers The open-source nature of OpenStack provides significant value. It allows for three-word cloud management, maintaining a stable customer…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"​Stability is pretty good. We have no complaints as it has been running seamlessly with no downtime.​"
"Among the valuable features are that it's a complete solution, it's easy to use, and there is not a lot of management time involved in operating the solution."
"The solution is scalable and one of the best in the market."
"The initial setup was straightforward."
"The whole backup capability, where we are able to create backups and restore backups in typically 40 to 50 seconds, has been great."
"SimpliVity works well in a UAT environment.."
"SimpliVity's console is useful."
"Improves backup time and DR solution."
"The documentation was plentiful and very helpful.​"
"The solution is stable."
"The open-source nature of OpenStack provides significant value."
"There are many services that can be directly used which are not available in VMware."
"Apart from the main features, I really appreciate OpenStack's microservices architecture and its flexibility for deployment with different tools."
"I like its integration with GitLab and its simplicity. OpenStack has a lot of third-party libraries that it uses."
"Administrators are very comfortable with the functionality and services OpenStack offers."
"It was a very flexible and scalable solution. It was very useful because we were not dependent on a single vendor's solution. Increasing the number of machines or changing the hardware configuration was very easy."
 

Cons

"Bandwidth throttling during offsite backups would be better than the off-peak time setting for a 24/7 shop."
"Its price can be improved. Customers always look for better prices. It is more expensive as compared to other products available in the market."
"SimpliVity needs to improve the support for native backups, like SQL and Exchange."
"Its deployment should be easier."
"The centric management could be simplified or more user-friendly."
"It's a very complex installation. It's gotten easier, however, it's far from a double click on a link and a self-upgrade scenario. There's still an awful lot of magic that goes down to doing upgrades."
"The stability and scalability of the product are areas of concern where improvements are required."
"Needs decoupling of distributed data fabric to run in a hyperscale deployment outside the hypervisor on dedicated nodes."
"OpenStack is difficult for the novice in terms of beginning to use cloud tools."
"It should have a single dashboard for cloud management and on-premises systems"
"It could use more examples in different languages (API use cases).​"
"The pricing of Rackspace is quite high in the Vietnam market."
"The pricing of Rackspace is quite high in the Vietnam market."
"The seamless integration between MySQL services and the rabbitMQ database can be revised during the debugging phase."
"The deployment process could be easy."
"The line migration is a problem."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"In terms of the licenses, customers do not actually get any benefit."
"Cost of this product is high."
"The only thing that I think we are paying for is the VMware licenses, but we are enterprise, so it is not horrible."
"Other vendors fall short on price compared to HPE on this product."
"For the VMware licensing, it is approximately $10,000 a year."
"We're paying $3,000-$4,000 a month."
"It's a costly solution and is more expensive than VxRail."
"Customers always complain that SimpliVity is a little bit higher in price point as compared to other solutions available in the market."
"The pricing is low."
"I use it as an open-source tool."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
59%
Computer Software Company
7%
Government
4%
Manufacturing Company
4%
Computer Software Company
20%
Government
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

How does HPE Simplivity compare with VMware vSAN?
HPE SimpliVity is a hyper-converged infrastructure solution that is primarily geared to mid-sized companies. We researched VMware vSAN but found HPE was a better option for us. HPE SimpliVity has ...
What do you like most about HPE SimpliVity?
The solution's technical support is good.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HPE SimpliVity?
The price is almost equal to VMware vSAN, making it not much cost saving. However, the time-saving during upgrades is notable.
What do you like most about Rackspace OpenStack?
Apart from the main features, I really appreciate OpenStack's microservices architecture and its flexibility for deployment with different tools.
What needs improvement with Rackspace OpenStack?
The pricing of Rackspace is quite high in the Vietnam market. It would be beneficial to see developments in features like threat prevention and analytics tools for network security within OpenStack.
What is your primary use case for Rackspace OpenStack?
We deploy layer three managed services, and our customers manage layer two services. We combine the two-layer services and deliver them to our customers.
 

Also Known As

SimpliVity, HPE HCI
OpenStack
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Red Bull Racing, Mandarin Oriental, Brigham Young University, UCLA, Merlin Entertainments, Sasa Cosmetics, Travelport, St. John’s Riverside Hospital, Princess House
X.commerce
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell Technologies, VMware, Nutanix and others in HCI. Updated: April 2025.
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