No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.
CEO at Kontron Services Romania
Real User
Jun 4, 2024
Ahead of other competitors in basic cyber resilience
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable features of Dell PowerStore are the resilience, scalability, flexibility of expansion, and ease of managing the entire solution including the servers and storage."
  • "There is an issue with Dell PowerStore related to future expansions which are software-related."

What is our primary use case?

We usually use Dell PowerStore in enterprise environments like banks and financial insurance companies that use it for their core banking.  

How has it helped my organization?

Dell PowerStore improves our customer's resilience. Working in this mission-critical infrastructure is one of the most important features.

CloudIQ is a friendly interface where we can manage and expand on different solutions from one place.

Dell Technologies' ESG values are one of the most important factors in our customer's decisions. They are more focused on a friendly environment than other aspects and Dell is a step ahead of other vendors when it comes to this.

From my position as CEO, no feature was required by our customer specifications that PowerStore does not cover. It can address all of the requirements.

The cybersecurity world is developing quickly and the integration with storage solutions is important. Dell is ahead of other competitors in basic cyber resilience.

Our last PowerStore implementation has reduced our customers' footprint by up to 80 percent by replacing other technology like IBM. This was an important feature for our customer because their space in the data center was limited and this represented a huge improvement for them.

For our customers who require the data reduction guarantee, we can offer that commitment with Dell's support. Dell backs this guarantee for our critical accounts and global accounts where these requirements are important to be reached. 

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features of Dell PowerStore are the resilience, scalability, flexibility of expansion, and ease of managing the entire solution including the servers and storage.

What needs improvement?

There is an issue with Dell PowerStore related to future expansions which are software-related. This caused some issues with my largest customer in Romania. Hopefully, the new model will increase performance making it more efficient. 

Buyer's Guide
Dell PowerStore
July 2026
Learn what your peers think about Dell PowerStore. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: July 2026.
903,933 professionals have used our research since 2012.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Dell PowerStore for eight years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Dell PowerStore is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Dell PowerStore is scalable.

How are customer service and support?

The Dell customer support is responsive.

How was the initial setup?

My team has good experience deploying PowerStore because they have been working in this area for many years. Our customers are happy with our implementation services.

What about the implementation team?

We implement the solution for our customers.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

It is easy to work with Dell from the licensing perspective. I hope they will keep this part as it is not moving very fast into the subscription because, in some accounts, this can generate a big disruption. Especially in the public sector. From that perspective, the licensing flexibility that Dell offers is bigger than other vendors.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

From the technological perspective, PowerStore and other vendors like HP always have good technology. The biggest difference is the way we implement it. We are more confident implementing PowerStore and usually working with global customers. That means for us, it's easy, and we are very confident when we implement this type of solution compared with other vendors. But from a technical perspective, other vendors like HP also offer good technology.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate Dell PowerStore nine out of ten.

In terms of power consumption, I don't see a difference in the amount of power Dell PowerStore consumes compared to other vendors.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
PeerSpot user
System Engineer at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
Real User
Jun 3, 2024
Offers great features like deduplication and compression to users
Pros and Cons
  • "Dell PowerStore's valuable feature stems from an area named Metro Volume, which is quite simple to implement. The feature works fast and is good."
  • "The support team should have more people with experience in the solution's installation process, as it is one of the areas where I see certain shortcomings."

What is our primary use case?

Dell PowerStore is useful in the area of virtualization and block storage.

How has it helped my organization?

My company has benefited from the use of the solution since it is possible to have the monitoring functionality everywhere with the product in place.

What is most valuable?

Dell PowerStore's valuable feature stems from an area named Metro Volume, which is quite simple to implement. The feature works fast and is good.

It has high levels of deduplication and compression.

The challenge my company was trying to address with the implementation of Dell PowerStore was performance. For some applications, Dell PowerStore was not so good, but in general, it is a good product.

I have worked on all of the models offered under Dell PowerStore.

Speaking about the increase in performance of our company's applications, I would say that though in some cases, the performance was reduced, the overall performance was increased by 20 to 30 percent.

My organization uses Dell CloudIQ to manage and analyze Dell storage.

I use VMware with Dell PowerStore's integration feature. The integration of VMware with Dell PowerStore has improved our company's ability to see information about virtual machines directly from the storage console.

Sometimes, my company has been able to reduce our organizational footprint or data consolidation using Dell PowerStore by helping us reduce the number of devices and by helping us migrate from old to new storage products.

In terms of the environment where the solution is used, my organization deploys it on multiple sites. At times, my company deploys the tool at a single site, depending on the needs of our customers.

What needs improvement?

From an improvement perspective, the tool should focus on making it possible for users to configure the tool in a uniform mode with its good features.

The support team should have more people with experience in the solution's installation process, as it is one of the areas where I see certain shortcomings.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Dell PowerStore since it was launched. My company is a business partner with Dell. Our organization is also a service provider of Dell.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I think Dell PowerStore is a good product that offers stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The product's scalability is good because my company can group multiple Dell PowerStore boxes together, helping us increase capability and performance.

How are customer service and support?

Sometimes, I have contacted the solution's technical support, and I would say they were good, but it all depends on the problem. I remember that I had called the support team once to resolve an issue associated with the product, and they resolved it quickly. I rate the support team an eight out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

My company has never worked with other products that can be compared with Dell PowerStore.

How was the initial setup?

The product's deployment phase has been simple.

The primary deployment model for Dell PowerStore can be described as an on-premises one.

What was our ROI?

Though I have no data, I think that our company's customers have experienced an ROI from using the product.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The licensing model offered by the product is simple for our company to look into.

What other advice do I have?

I rate Dell PowerStore a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Dell PowerStore
July 2026
Learn what your peers think about Dell PowerStore. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: July 2026.
903,933 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Naresh K - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior System Administrator at a comms service provider with 201-500 employees
Real User
May 14, 2024
Facilitates storage sharing, stable product and suitable for medium-sized companies
Pros and Cons
  • "It's a great product. Integrating PowerStore with the IT workflow is easy."
  • "The support team doesn't always provide adequate assistance. So, there is room for improvement in the support."

What is our primary use case?

We expedite the process for our clients. We use it for database processes.

It's a great product. Integrating PowerStore with the IT workflow is easy. 

What is most valuable?

The most valuable functions are those that facilitate balance and sharing. This includes storage sharing, adding servers to the service, and the wireless host connection on the network side.

What needs improvement?

Easy understanding. That is important for the user. When the client has a manual, when the user will take the PowerStore and take the PowerStore, easy installation means. If you click the volume, it will show the order valid. 

It's the network side also and the storage side as upgrading of the versions, like firmware versions.  

Everything is pretty good. Just improve the network side. When adding the address for the host on the Dell side, it is not easy.

When you evaluate deployment after purchasing the Dell storage, you have to add the ESXI host to the Dell server. That time, the IP address is not taken easily.

Please improve that side. When we are on the VM website, the storage side is also not easy when adding storage to the host on the PowerStore side.

The support team doesn't always provide adequate assistance. So, there is room for improvement in the support. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using it for four years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I would rate the stability a nine out of ten. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability is good. There are no issues. 

It is suitable for medium-sized companies.

How are customer service and support?

When they create the ticket, it takes time. When they reach after that, they are doing a good job. But when we raise the ticket, that is taking time.

So, it's a long and only procedure to get support from the vendor.

After Dell connect with the customer, they are doing follow-up fine. Everything is good.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We also have HPE Nimble Storage.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is simple. 

What other advice do I have?

Overall, I would rate the solution an eight out of ten. I would recommend PowerStore to other users. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Coordinator at a government with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
Jan 1, 2024
The deduplication features ensure that users get more space to use at a lesser cost
Pros and Cons
  • "The product's initial setup phase was very easy."
  • "When you create a case on Dell's support website, you don't always get someone who is experienced in the kind of systems you need help with...making it an area where Dell's support team needs to make improvements."

What is our primary use case?

In our company, we use Dell PowerStore for IBM SAN Volume Controller. Dell PowerStore is useful for areas like storage, database, and VMware.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature of the solution is the deduplication part, which is very good. The deduplication part of the solution is valuable since, as a user, you get more space for less money.

The product's performance is very good and matches up or exceeds the performance offered by the previous product in our company.

What needs improvement?

I had a session with Dell concerning PowerStoreOS 3.5. The product can provide backup directly to Dell Data Domain, which we use in our environment, which is something nice for the future, but at this point in time, I can't see anything wrong with it.

When you create a case on Dell's support website, you don't always get someone who is experienced in the kind of systems you need help with when you deal with the first line of support offered by Dell PowerStore. Sometimes, you have to explain the issue multiple times to the first line of support, making it an area where Dell's support team needs to make improvements. I understand why the solution's support team is the way it is.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Dell PowerStore for two years.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I have heard that Dell PowerStore offers scalability options, but I have never used it.

How are customer service and support?

The solution's technical support is good. My company has an on-site engineer to provide us with a line of support whenever needed, especially in a short time, which works perfectly for us.

I rate the technical support an eight or nine out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

In our company, we have experience with Dell EMC Unity XT, which prompted us to opt for Dell PowerStore. In our company, we also have experience with Hitachi, which is not so great to use for admins.

How was the initial setup?

The product's initial setup phase was very easy.

For Dell PowerStore's installation phase, my company uses the product's GUI and the tools from some other vendors. Sometimes, it's very difficult to set up the system. Dell PowerStore's installation phase is just like Dell EMC Unity XT, which is very simple.

What about the implementation team?

My company's in-house team members took care of Dell PowerStore's installation phase. Dell only puts the storage array in the rack, after which our company takes care of the solution's installation phase.

What was our ROI?

My company has seen a return on investment from the use of Dell PowerStore since it is a good product that is always up and running. We don't have any issues with it.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The product's pricing model is good, and that is why we have Dell PowerStore in our company. My organization had looked at the products and prices offered by other vendors during our decision-making process. In terms of licensing, my organization has Dell Technologies End User License Agreement (EULA), but I don't know exactly how it works, though it is a big bundle of licenses for Dell Data Domain, Dell EMC Unity XT, Dell PowerStore, Dell ECS, and all such kinds of storage arrays. Dell told us that opting for Dell Technologies End User License Agreement (EULA) can help us improve the entire picture of Dell products and services.

What other advice do I have?

The challenges my company wanted to address through the implementation of the product stemmed from the fact that our previous storage array was full and had reached the end-of-life phase, because of which we needed a tool for lifecycle management purposes, after which we found Dell PowerStore to be a logical choice for us. Previously, my company dealt with a couple of systems from HP, while we also had a lot of Dell systems, so we decided to stick with one vendor, Dell.

My organization uses CloudIQ to manage and analyze Dell PowerStore since we get the option to use standby, so when we get calls after work hours, we don't have to use our laptops since we can just log in via our cell phones and check the status of the storage arrays, which saves a lot of time.

With Dell PowerStore, my company saves a couple of hours a year, though it may not be a lot.

I don't know how I would access Dell PowerStore for its overall energy consumption.

I have seen that the product has an enormous capacity when it comes to significant data consolidation and footprint reduction with the use of Dell PowerStore, especially when compared to our company's old system, which comes up to around 70 percent.

It is tough to assess Dell Technologies for its values around environment, social, and governance. Though the aforementioned values are important for my company and storage admin, even if we don't look at that side of our company, I wouldn't personally mind it.

The product has helped our organization in the area of sustainability. The direct space provided by the product can be considered under the sustainability part of the product since, in our organization, we would need less room and fewer cooling modules, which helps.

For two years in a row, my company has not even seen a failed disk with the use of Dell PowerStore, making it a great product.

I rate the overall solution a nine out of ten.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Senior System Administrator at Graafschap College
Real User
Jan 1, 2024
Enabled us to achieve significant data consolidation and footprint reduction
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature of the solution for me is the deduplication part, especially since most of the servers in our organization are Windows-based servers."
  • "While using Dell PowerStore's interface in our organization, we sometimes miss out on some information."

What is our primary use case?

I use Dell PowerStore in my company primarily for virtualization through ESXi. Dell PowerStore serves as a primary system for all the storage needs within our organization.

How has it helped my organization?

The product's current functionalities that have improved my organization's functioning stem from the SSD caching and SSD capabilities of the product. The product's speed is also crucial for us, especially within our new modern infrastructure, which has a strong networking backbone. My company has a good experience with the product overall.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature of the solution for me is the deduplication part, especially since most of the servers in our organization are Windows-based servers. Due to the deduplication technology in the product, my organization needs just a little storage for many servers, meaning the new technology within Dell PowerStore is a big advantage for us.

What needs improvement?

Dell PowerStore helps to keep the software we rely on in our organization up and running. In our organization, we do firmware updates due to security breaches or vulnerabilities, and as a system administrator, it is important for me to know that the base hardware is in good condition and safe to deal with against hacker attempts while also looking out for any problems within the software itself. To avoid any concerns when it comes to Dell PowerStore, Dell needs to keep working on Dell products.

While using Dell PowerStore's interface in our organization, we sometimes miss out on some information. In our organization, we had to deal with bad firmware last year that generated fast degradation of the disks, and Dell informed us when they would replace the disks, but we couldn't see any notifications about the disks being degraded. I feel that the product's new interface with HTML5 interface is still in the development phase because it lacks the crucial information that system administrators need, like, for example, the degradation of the disk. With the product's current interface, as a system administrator, I just see that the disks are either good or bad, and that's it. As a system administrator, it would be great to use and see through CLI since getting informed at such a level within the interface will be a great improvement since more detailed information is always good.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Dell PowerStore for two to three years. Considering that the one we use in our company is for SSD caching, I believe it is Dell PowerStore 1000T.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

From a stability perspective, my company has faced some problems only with the firmware part of the product, but that didn't really impact the product's performance. There were some problems with the degradation of hard disks, because of which there were more chances of failure of the solution. Dell handled issues related to the degradation of hard disks.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

From a scalability perspective, my company doesn't have any problems since we get what we need and what we expect for about five years. In our organization, we are still good with the limits offered by the product, so we don't really talk about scalability. We can reduce our ESXi service, but my company does not plan to scale up.

How are customer service and support?

The solution's technical support is great. In our organization, we have had several incidents related to firmware in the last couple of years. Dell's support team is good to reach out when, in our organization, we upgrade the product outside of office hours since they provide you with good information and good tech personnel to resolve an issue or a problem anywhere in the world. In my organization, we have had incidents and seen how the support personnel from Egypt, India, and China are always well aware of the cases or problems, and they always give good information to help us with our problems, making it a good experience for us.

I rate the technical support an eight out of ten.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have experience with HPE products that have the same capabilities as Dell PowerStore. I would say that Dell is on the same level as HPE.

My company has a good relationship and history with Dell, so things are good for us in the department concerning supplies from Dell.

How was the initial setup?

The product's initial setup phase was quite smooth. The product's setup phase was done parallel to the old storage in our organization, so we had to make the correct connections and migrate everything to run it on a new storage. There is a need to dismantle the old system and reconfigure the network part.

The solution can be deployed in under a month.

What about the implementation team?

In my organization, we were involved with the implementation phase of the product and during the upgrade from the old storage to the new storage with a specialist from one of our suppliers of Dell products.

What was our ROI?

I am not aware of any return on investment my company has experienced from the use of the product.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

In the pricing and licensing department, the product is always too expensive.

What other advice do I have?

My organization does not use CloudIQ to manage and analyze Dell PowerStore.

My organization does not get involved in any power management or monitoring to assess Dell PowerStore's overall energy consumption.

I have seen a significant data consolidation and footprint reduction with the use of Dell PowerStore since we need to use way less storage in our organization, which is around a 50 to 60 percent reduction if we consider it from a TB perspective due to its deduplication technology.

Within our organization, the area revolving around the assessment of Dell Technologies for its values around environment, social, and governance is a hot topic. Our organization has used Dell for a lot of years, and it is great to see that Dell has become innovative in terms of recyclability and reduction of carbon footprint, because of which we don't need to change to another supplier or vendor to help us attain our green goals.

Dell PowerStore is a good product since we don't face any more problems with it in our company. Dell's support team's contracts with our company are very good. I hope the product fulfills its duty in a couple of years, after which our organization can replace it with another next-gen product.

I rate the overall product an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Marc Gaethofs - PeerSpot reviewer
ICT manager at Thys Bouwprojecten
Real User
Nov 24, 2023
An appliance that is well-suited for a variety of use cases when it comes to virtualization
Pros and Cons
  • "A particularly valuable feature is its simplicity."
  • "Data reduction needs improvement."

What is our primary use case?

It's a good product, especially for companies dealing with virtualization. It's well-suited for a broad range of use cases and stands out when it comes to tasks like personalization. If you require power and flexibility in that regard, it's a reasonably priced, straightforward product that is easy to manage. It delivers on its promises without unnecessary complexity.

What is most valuable?

A particularly valuable feature is its simplicity. The reporting tools and support are good, and the solution promotes data reduction, often meeting the compression ratio. You can initially invest in less upfront capacity and expand later as needed.

What needs improvement?

Data reduction needs improvement. While the reporting is generally good for general purposes, it may lack sufficient detail for more technical analysis. If you want to delve into where your I/Os are going, the reporting might need more in-depth information to make informed decisions.

For how long have I used the solution?

I’ve been using the solution for around three years.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable within regions. It allows you to scale up to four nodes in one tool for extensive storage. You can create as many tools as needed, providing scalability based on the use case. It performs well for midsized use cases, especially those involving up to a hundred servers for virtualization. However, you might consider alternative products for more complex and larger-scale operations.

How are customer service and support?

The technical support is good as they continuously monitor the system remotely through a support agent. This agent provides critical alerts, and the response time is typically within an hour.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward. Firstly, the initial step involves unboxing, followed by configuring connectivity. There are various types of connectivity setups, including straight connectivity, direct connect, and private channel connectivity, offering diverse IT capacity configurations. The setup process encompasses unboxing, provisioning power, and connecting to the necessary switches. However, it's crucial to begin with a well-thought-out plan. One person is required to set up the solution.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The pricing is good. There's no need to pay for a license; it's all-inclusive. The only cost is associated with a support contract based on the level of support you desire.

What other advice do I have?

I recommend this solution, especially if you're not moving everything to the cloud and require reliable local storage. It proves to be an excellent choice.

I rate Dell PowerStore a nine out of ten.
 

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
PeerSpot user
Sales Engineer at a tech vendor with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
Jul 18, 2022
It has a very strong NAS that can support a lot of big, heavy environments
Pros and Cons
  • "It provides a big benefit when upgrading a new VMware environment. For example, in a big environment with 10 to 30 ESXs, you can take everything and put that into PowerStore. So, it is cost-effective, which is very important and has been massive for us. You reduce almost 80% from the hardware and work directly from PowerStore. Building hardware, especially in a big VMware environment, is a big issue for my organization."
  • "If you want to solve a workload problem, this is the best way."
  • "The storage could be improved. I would like a feature for how to best secure an appliance and the storage since we are connecting the container to the public cloud. I would like them to develop another level of security, making it more secure than from what they have now."

What is our primary use case?

I use it to solve a problem for a customer when he has a big VMware ESX environment with virtualization. You can solve a big problem with money or a lot of hardware since you can take the virtualization from PowerStore. Inside PowerStore, on the operating system level, you can use virtualization with VMware ESX or something like it. So, you don't need any hardware.

My company does backups and security. We use a lot of OEMs. We use Dell because they have the strongest product, especially in Israel.

Hybrid environments are very important for our disaster recovery issues. By default, we have 50% to the public cloud, with either Azure or AWS, and 50% on-prem. If it is on-prem, then it is a PowerStore. In Israel, 90% is deployed on-premises.

PowerStore is used in Israeli universities since they have big environments with a lot of vendors. They take all the versions from the 500 to the 3000. It is also used in IT companies with 1,000 or 2,000 employees that have a lot of traffic with heavy loads. There are a lot of people in Israel who love to work with Dell.

How has it helped my organization?

It provides a big benefit when upgrading a new VMware environment. For example, in a big environment with 10 to 30 ESXs, you can take everything and put that into PowerStore. So, it is cost-effective, which is very important and has been massive for us. You reduce almost 80% from the hardware and work directly from PowerStore. Building hardware, especially in a big VMware environment, is a big issue for my organization.

It brings us a lot of security, creating security between the containers. Then, we can separate an environment for security. You have IDS, IPS, the firewall, etc., but if you take the environment that you built on the containers then it creates a different security.

I use the security between the rack server and PowerStore. Or, we use a connection with the fiber channel. It also separates the network from the SAN storage. This is the most important security when you are connecting storage to PowerStore for any environment.

What is most valuable?

  1. The level of virtualization is a big feature. This is the most important thing in PowerStore. 
  2. PowerStore has a very good replication tool. 
  3. It has a good NAS environment. It has a very strong NAS that can support a lot of big, heavy environments. 
  4. The container and its ability to connect directly to the cloud. We can use a lot of workloads and get all the workloads that we need. For example, we can get VMware directly from PowerStore and move it to the Cloud or any other containers. This is an added value of PowerStore. If you want to solve a workload problem, this is the best way.

Once you build an environment based on a container, it is a big benefit because you can take the workloads from the cloud directly to on-premises and vice versa. It is a big benefit, especially in an environment based on VMware, a virtualization environment, and heavy storage.

OpenManage Console is the best tool that Dell has. It is a great thing. We use it to configure the networking. It helps you realize what you need to discover. It is a little bit heavy. However, after that, it is a very user-friendly tool. It can connect to any vendor, switch, storage, etc. I would rate OpenManage Console as nine out of 10.

What needs improvement?

On downtime, it is okay. I would rate it as seven or eight out of 10. There are a few things that Dell has to change, fix, or upgrade. 

The storage could be improved. I would like a feature for how to best secure an appliance and the storage since we are connecting the container to the public cloud. I would like them to develop another level of security, making it more secure than from what they have now. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using it for a year to a year and a half.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I would rate stability as 10 out of 10.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is very scalable.

When you are trying to scale in or out with a system, you can see the return on investment.

How are customer service and support?

In general, Dell technical support is very professional. They have a good SLA. We have had a few cases that I personally use them to support, and they are great, especially the on-call. They are very professional and have very fast reactions. I would rate them as eight or nine out of 10.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We previously used Unity and VNX, and Unity especially belongs in the past.

How was the initial setup?

The initial deployment was very straightforward.

If you need to install the system and upgrade the existing environment, that can take around half a day. If you don't need to install it, then it can take around an hour or two.

Be very professional when designing the system and ensure your environment fits with the PowerStore.

What about the implementation team?

Two people can do the entire deployment project in Israel. You take the storage, place it on the rack, and start to install it to make the volumes, view, and networking. In the most bigger, complicated cases, it takes around two or three people.

What was our ROI?

If you use PowerStore as a virtualization environment and don't buy a rack server, then the solution is very cheap since you no longer need to buy the hardware or server for the ESX.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The big pricing issue is with capacity:

  • If we use the 500 or 1000, the licensing and pricing are reasonable. PowerStore can compete with any vendor and the price isn't that expensive. 
  • It is very expensive though when you get to this point of using the 3000 with a client. They will start to think about using another vendor. There are a lot of solutions similar to PowerStore in regards to networking capacity and their prices are very cheap compared to PowerStore. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Dell has very good rack servers that are all on PowerStore, e.g., R640 and R740. These are the best servers that we have with our virtualization environment. This is the best hardware that you can use today. When it comes to servers and storage, there are a lot of vendors. NetApp is also a very good vendor in the world of storage, but there are some added values with PowerStore that I can't see on other vendors, such as the virtualization where you can take all your ESXs and put them inside PowerStore. I don't see this with other vendors.

What other advice do I have?

It is a very good tool for networking, storage, and working with the rack server. I would recommend this solution to other people. They should just take it.

I would rate it as an eight out of 10.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
PeerSpot user
Team Leader, Operating Systems at a computer software company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
Jun 5, 2024
Offers a high compression ratio, great uptime, and reliability
Pros and Cons
  • "PowerStore's compression ratio is a valuable feature for our VMs because it gives us a lot back."

    What is our primary use case?

    We use private cloud solutions. We have 80-plus setups, and PowerStore is in all of our smaller sites for databases, backups, and VM instances.

    We implemented PowerStore for its reliability. We know what we get with it and have specific requirements for uptime.

    How has it helped my organization?

    Dell PowerStore has improved our uptime. The availability is excellent. We had different Dell EMC storage solutions since the beginning of our company and with PowerStore we have had zero incidents.

    PowerStore helps reduce our footprint. For example, if we compare it with Dell VNX storage, we need up to four times less space for the same if not more terabytes. The ratio for PowerStore may even be higher than four to one because the last time we compared the compression rate, it was four point six to one. 

    What is most valuable?

    PowerStore's compression ratio is a valuable feature for our VMs because it gives us a lot back. It is also easily configurable and we have it fully automated, so the API helps a lot.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    We got our first Dell PowerStore for testing before it was listed as a product.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    Dell PowerStore is stable.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    Dell PowerStore is scalable but we did our analysis at the start and have not needed to scale. We replace the storage after five years. 

    How are customer service and support?

    The technical support is good.

    How would you rate customer service and support?

    Positive

    Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

    We previously used VNX, VNX2, Unity, and at some point EMC XtremIO. We didn't like the XtremIO because it had an incident. We replaced the VNX and Unity storage with PowerStore because it is the newer generation that offers more space and IOPS.

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    We are currently using Dell PowerStore for our smaller storage and there is no competition for pricing. If we needed a larger PowerStore say, a petabyte of storage, then the price would be in a different range and would increase.

    What other advice do I have?

    I would rate Dell PowerStore nine out of ten. I have no negative feedback. PowerStore performs as expected.

    We do not use CloudIQ. We use a special custom in-house tool to analyze all of our storage which gets all the statistics through an API.

    We have our own small private cloud setup and each site has its own PowerStore. Nothing is shared over the network. We have one storage per physical location.

    I recommend using Dell's professional services for the initial setup. We gained valuable information from them that helped with all follow-up deployments.

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    Private Cloud

    If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

    Other
    Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
    PeerSpot user
    IT Consultant at a consultancy with 1,001-5,000 employees
    User
    Nov 29, 2023
    Uses less CPU resources, has a high compression ratio, and is extremely stable
    Pros and Cons
    • "The PowerStore's compression ratio is even higher than the Unity system."
    • "With PowerStore, we have to choose between block storage and NAS functionality."

    What is our primary use case?

    We use Dell PowerStore as a storage layer behind the virtualization layer. We have IBM SCC and we have the PowerStore behind that to serve the discs to the SCC and the SCC then presents it to the hosts in the network.

    How has it helped my organization?

    The high deduplication ratio means that we need less physical storage space. As a result, we have more virtual storage space available to assign to our servers. We have not encountered any problems with the system so far. Therefore, the system is better in terms of both performance and storage efficiency.

    The compression ratio is way better with PowerStore. We were getting a ratio of 1:3 and now it is around 1:6. The compression ratio has doubled.

    Dell's values around ESG are high and they have been working on those areas throughout the years.

    What is most valuable?

    We noticed that the PowerStore has a really high compression ratio for data. It's really good for data deduplication and also compressing the data on the drives. The PowerStore's compression ratio is even higher than the Unity system. Also, the way the PowerStore is built with special CPUs for moving data around. The systems also have lower CPU utilization compared to Unity systems.

    What needs improvement?

    In the past, with Unity, we could run both block storage and configure part of the system as a NAS system. This wasn't ideal, but it provided flexibility. With PowerStore, we have to choose between block storage and NAS functionality. It would be interesting to retain the option to configure PowerStore as a block storage array and try out the NAS features to see how it performs. It was an interesting way to see if we need a certain type of storage. We were able to do that from the same system, and now we have queues when we set up the system, which one it's convenient.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been using Dell PowerStore for one and a half years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    I would rate the stability of Dell PowerStore as ten out of ten.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    Dell PowerStore is scalable but we are not using the scalability of the system.

    How are customer service and support?

    The technical support is always quick to respond. They are always willing to help us and if necessary, they will search for a specialist within their Dell network who we can approach with our questions.

    How would you rate customer service and support?

    Positive

    Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

    We replaced Dell VNX with Dell PowerStore.

    How was the initial setup?

    The deployment is really easy. If we have a PowerStore and we buy another and arrange all the necessary factors that need to be available in the data center, including cabling, power, and configuration details such as IP addresses and DNS names, it's simple to roll out, and it doesn't take much effort to place it in our data center and have it up and running. It takes a few hours of work if we have done all the prep work to get it up and running.

    What other advice do I have?

    I would rate Dell PowerStore ten out of ten.

    Prior to my joining the organization, they used Hitachi and transitioned to Dell due to cost considerations.

    We haven't implemented the latest code yet, but we attended a session at the beginning of the day where they mentioned that backups can now be moved directly to the data domain from the power store. This is an interesting development, as it opens up new possibilities for backup management. For instance, we could now consider placing backup clients on a machine that is specifically designed for this purpose.

    Dell PowerStore is doing what it's supposed to do, and it's even doing it better than we were expecting.

    Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
    PeerSpot user
    IT Infrastructure Coordinator at 3 corasoes
    Real User
    Jun 10, 2024
    Provides good performance and data protection
    Pros and Cons
    • "The most valuable feature of Dell PowerStore is the metro cluster because we have two data centers and high availability."
    • "The solution’s security and technical support could be improved."

    What is our primary use case?

    We use Dell PowerStore for developing applications.

    How has it helped my organization?

    The solution has improved our organization by providing data availability and data protection.

    What is most valuable?

    The most valuable feature of Dell PowerStore is the metro cluster because we have two data centers and high availability. The solution provides good performance and stability.

    Our organization uses CloudIQ to manage and analyze our Dell storage. It helps us see all the information together and understand more about the technology.

    The solution has helped us achieve 5:1 data reduction.

    We are utilizing Dell PowerStore’s integration with VMware.

    We have been able to reduce our organizational footprint using Dell PowerStore.

    My experience with Dell’s reseller was very good because they helped us a lot.

    What needs improvement?

    The solution’s security and technical support could be improved.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been using Dell PowerStore for four years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    The solution provides very good stability.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    Dell PowerStore is a scalable solution.

    How are customer service and support?

    The solution's technical support used to be much better some years ago, but now it is a little worse. Normally, Dell has an SLA of four hours, but the support is never on time. When we have a problem, the support team takes a long time to resolve it.

    Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

    We previously used Unity and EqualLogic. We switched to Dell PowerStore because of its performance.

    How was the initial setup?

    The solution's initial setup is very easy, and we don't have to spend a lot of time implementing it.

    What other advice do I have?

    Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

    Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
    PeerSpot user
    Buyer's Guide
    Download our free Dell PowerStore Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
    Updated: July 2026
    Buyer's Guide
    Download our free Dell PowerStore Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.