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CIO at a computer software company with 1-10 employees
Real User
Top 20
May 20, 2025
enables modern IT consolidation and accelerates customer workflows with flexibility
Pros and Cons
  • "We started working with the first generation Dell PowerStore in 2020, and our customers are already migrating to the second generation."
  • "Upgrading an old model to a new one can be complex, particularly when using VMware."

What is our primary use case?

My use cases for Dell PowerStore typically involve consolidating older storage and bringing the future of storage to our customers. Because we are a Dell partner, I sell a lot of Dell PowerStore storage, especially to modernize their infrastructure and consolidate workloads on a modern infrastructure based on Kubernetes. Dell PowerStore fits perfectly in the modern IT landscape, especially with AI. 

We talk about AI, and Dell PowerStore fits perfectly for our customers, enabling a variety of user workflows and customer workflows. For manufacturing, Dell PowerStore is perfect because it empowers and speeds up their jobs, providing future-ready storage. 

One of our customers uses Dell PowerStore for AI, which is currently still in study, aiming to develop an autonomous agent to capture payment. This system will implement a responsive AI agent based for each store, which needs to react quickly, and Dell PowerStore provides the low latency needed for such use cases, supporting not just one shop station but potentially thousands, handling large amounts of data and logs.

What is most valuable?

Customers see benefits from implementing Dell PowerStore, as it significantly speeds up their workloads. When we change the repository for our data and speed up the workload, including applications and databases, our virtual environment or private cloud speeds up. Everything about the work done in the company speeds up, from the warehouse to the offices, and every part of the company improves.

For me and my customers, the most valuable features of Dell PowerStore are the data reduction and scalability. The data reduction of 5:1 with the latest version of the software is very good because it saves a lot of money and space, allowing us to use the budget for other things. 

Another valuable feature of Dell PowerStore is its scalability, as you can add one drive at a time to grow without having to purchase multiple drives.

Connectivity is another notable feature; you can use many PCIe cards to connect to the back end. With AI and the push for faster workflows, we need to integrate 100 Gigabit cards and faster switches. Additionally, because it operates within a broader ecosystem, Dell PowerStore is very compatible with various systems, including SAP and Oracle, enhancing speed and latency for numerous use cases. I believe Dell PowerStore fits 90% of companies and meets their storage needs.

What needs improvement?

In terms of improvement for Dell PowerStore, I think data mobility is crucial. A compelling feature would be seamless mobility of data without disruption, from local storage to the cloud. It would be much easier if Dell PowerStore implemented this form of data mobility. Currently, migrating from one model to another is not very straightforward, although it's on the roadmap. Upgrading an old model to a new one can be complex, particularly when using VMware.

I do not give it a ten because other storage solutions may offer better features. For instance, Dell acquired a company called Compellent, which had a feature called live migration, allowing multiple storage-to-storage transfers, including three hops. With Dell PowerStore, you can only replicate data between two storages systems, needing a separate appliance for more complex replication, which competitors like NetApp or Pure Storage provide as built-in features. I suggest this capability be considered for future development, alongside enhancements to data security and analysis.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Dell PowerStore for about five years.

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January 2026
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What about the implementation team?

My role in using or implementing Dell PowerStore is to design the infrastructure and analyze where it fits, considering the needs of the customer. We sell a solution that perfectly fits what the customer needs, as Dell has a lot of tools to implement the right solution. Before we sell a product, we conduct thorough analysis and discuss it with our customers, which makes them happy because we provide documentation containing all necessary parameters. We explain why they need to invest in such enterprise storage, and typically our work involves analysis, selling the storage, and empowering the customer's company.

What was our ROI?

Considering ROI for customers using Dell PowerStore, the cost is important, especially with the more affordable prices of the PowerStore 500 model. The lifecycle of the product is significant, and sometimes the renewal of maintenance costs more than a new product. Thus, the product lifecycle should ideally cost less.

What other advice do I have?

We started working with the first generation Dell PowerStore in 2020, and our customers are already migrating to the second generation. Dell PowerStore is currently at version 4.0, and new features are released every six months. It is Kubernetes-based storage, so it's not disruptive to upgrade the firmware; every time we update the firmware, we have new features, and our customers are very happy.

It's a long partnership since Dell initially focused solely on servers. Now, they are a powerhouse offering everything from servers to storage and clients, presenting significant opportunities for business discussions. 

I rate Dell PowerStore a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
Last updated: May 20, 2025
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Storage Administrator at a computer software company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
Top 20
Sep 17, 2025
Improves operational efficiency with automated snapshots and simplified provisioning
Pros and Cons
  • "Dell PowerStore is GUI-based applications storage, it is easy to use and understand, making storage management tasks such as provisioning and reclaim activity quite manageable."
  • "Some areas of Dell PowerStore that could be improved include reporting features, such as performance reports, which are lacking compared to VMAX and PowerMax."

What is our primary use case?

My usual use cases for Dell PowerStore include LUN creation for particular servers such as VMware and AIX servers.

I am working as a storage admin for a company in the banking insurance sector where Dell PowerStore has been installed, and I am providing service for this company. I am a consultant.

I am using two appliances of Dell PowerStore, which are PS5200 and PS3400. I am not clustering multiple Dell PowerStore appliances. 

How has it helped my organization?

Dell PowerStore is GUI-based applications storage. It is easy to use and understand, making storage management tasks such as provisioning and reclaim activity quite manageable.

Dell PowerStore has helped me improve operational efficiency, particularly for a small project where I manage a limited number of servers, making it very easy to handle applications with lower IOPS, especially since we use Oracle on the back-end for some of the LUNs. 

Dell PowerStore is suitable for consolidating data in mid-segment companies where it handles small applications and there are not many IOPS required. The ability to add capacity in single drive increments for Dell PowerStore is important for organizations that frequently need to extend their storage based on capacity requirements.

The compression is good, and we have also enabled deduplication to function automatically. This means that any files already stored will not be retained again.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature of Dell PowerStore is the one that allows for auto replication, which I have enabled, as well as the auto snapshot feature that has been newly introduced to Dell PowerStore, where we can schedule snapshots on a weekly basis. 

What needs improvement?

Some areas of Dell PowerStore that could be improved include reporting features, such as performance reports, which are lacking compared to VMAX and PowerMax. For instance, with VMAX and PowerMax, you can access detailed reports that show Input/Output (IO) operations, read and write metrics, and response times for specific storage groups. You can monitor IOPS and latency metrics for particular ports, and view heat maps for visualization. Unfortunately, these types of reports don't seem to be available in PowerStore.

Additionally, if a customer reports latency issues, such as the OS team mentions they're experiencing delays from a specific LUN, we lack sufficient options to investigate those reports in Dell PowerStore.On VMAX and PowerMax, we have Unisphere as a tool to check performance metrics. In contrast, PowerStore lacks such a feature, from my perspective.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with Dell PowerStore for the last one year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Dell PowerStore is stable and reliable. It has been effectively used for many years.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is easy to enhance Dell PowerStore by scaling up and scaling out as needed, by adding new devices and extending the storage pool accordingly.

How are customer service and support?

I often communicated with Dell PowerStore's technical support to address requirements such as enabling SyncIQ. My impression of the technical support team is that they are effective and understand our problems well, solving them promptly within the SLA. I would rate the technical support provided for Dell PowerStore as more than six. I don't think there's anything missing in the technical support; they deliver the help we expect.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

How was the initial setup?

Dell PowerStore is deployed on-premises in my customer's local data center. I was not involved in its deployment.

What other advice do I have?

My experience with CloudIQ has been limited; I have seen health check reports, and the Dell team gets alerts if there are any issues on the storage side. 

In terms of integration, I have connected VMware with Dell PowerStore, and it is good for managing storage from the ESXi host. 

I would rate Dell PowerStore an eight 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
Last updated: Sep 17, 2025
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January 2026
Learn what your peers think about Dell PowerStore. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2026.
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Director Enterprise with 51-200 employees
Real User
Top 20
May 22, 2025
Storage accelerates recovery with exceptional speed
Pros and Cons
  • "When comparing the stability and reliability of Dell PowerStore to the old storage, the old storage never worked properly. This solution is more stable from that standpoint."
  • "The most valuable feature of Dell PowerStore is the speed."
  • "Dell PowerStore is a very expensive storage solution."
  • "Dell PowerStore is a very expensive storage solution. That said, the speed for recovering information is amazing. I would make the product cheaper. The discounts from Dell to South America are not sufficient because we need better pricing. The discounts for small PowerStores are not enough to close deals since I'm a distributor. As both a user and seller, it's challenging to sell Dell PowerStore to the channel or final customers because we don't have enough discount from Dell."

What is our primary use case?

My use case for Dell PowerStore is for database information and database protection.

How has it helped my organization?

Dell PowerStore has helped me address challenges in my organization. The old storage was too slow, while with this storage, we can recover the information very fast.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature of Dell PowerStore is the speed. The speed of information and the ability to recover information are exceptional. 

What needs improvement?

To be honest, I don't think I could improve Dell PowerStore..

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used the solution for about four years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

When comparing the stability and reliability of Dell PowerStore to the old storage, the old storage never worked properly. This solution is more stable from that standpoint. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability of Dell PowerStore is very good. It's easy to expand. Though I'm not a technician, we have added more memory twice.

How are customer service and support?

I have never worked with the customer service support for Dell PowerStore.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

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

I previously used HPE, though I don't know which specific product.

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

Dell PowerStore is a very expensive storage solution. That said, the speed for recovering information is amazing. I would make the product cheaper. The discounts from Dell to South America are not sufficient because we need better pricing. 

The discounts for small PowerStores are not enough to close deals since I'm a distributor. As both a user and seller, it's challenging to sell Dell PowerStore to the channel or final customers because we don't have enough discount from Dell. We need to find deals worth a million or higher, and in my country, I have never sold a Dell PowerStore worth one million dollars.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I did not evaluate other solutions besides HPE because we are distributors of both Dell and HPE. The other vendors didn't have suitable storage solutions for us.

What other advice do I have?

I am only a user of Dell PowerStore. 

On a scale of one to ten, I rate Dell PowerStore a ten. It's working now, and I never find problems with this storage.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Distributor
Last updated: May 22, 2025
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Chief Operating Officer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Real User
Top 20
Sep 30, 2025
Has supported hybrid deployments and simplified management across diverse industries
Pros and Cons
  • "Dell PowerStore has one GUI in terms of how to use it, integrates very well with the data protection suites and the cybersecurity side, is a storage platform that allows efficient data access, and makes upgrades very easy to do."
  • "What would make it perfect is addressing the occasional lack of continuity with consultants who are on projects for five to six weeks regarding Dell PowerStore."

What is our primary use case?

As a reseller and Dell-only reseller partner organization, I have a number of customers who are currently using Dell PowerStore. It's a solution that we find is a great solution in the market. When Dell PowerStore first came to the market, a lot of our clients had VxRail with the convergence offering that Dell had. However, now with the Broadcom split from Dell with the VMware licensing, we're finding that with having Dell PowerStore with the AX nodes and the OEM Dell VMware solution built in, it's providing a very comprehensive solution to our customers. That's really helping us grow. We certainly find Dell PowerStore to be one of the best products out there in the market in terms of use cases for a lot of our customers across the board.

Because Dell PowerStore is built in with the all-flash and the NVMe platforms and the United offering it has with the single architecture for block, files, and the virtual volumes, it provides functionality and flexible functionality for our customers. They can use Dell PowerStore for various use cases. We've got customers in FinTech, in manufacturing, and in different industries as well. It's not really just suited for one type of industry; it can be used for many types of organizations.

We're in conversations with several organizations about using Dell PowerStore for AI initiatives. AI is obviously something that's more prevalent in the market and growing. We recently had a customer who had an 82-node VxRail. They had a refresh earlier in the year. Now they have Dell PowerStore with AX nodes. They have a cyber recovery solution as well, an air gap solution with a clean room. They're looking at how they can make their supply chain more efficient since they produce manufactured kitchens. A lot of it is learning what AI is capable of doing for their business and trying to see the benefits. We tend to find that FinTech organizations and companies doing trading are more interested in that type of technology. As AI matures, we will see more use cases for them.

What is most valuable?

Being a Dell-only organization, I have been working with Dell PowerStore from the concept when it first came out, replacing the Unity devices and becoming more of the go-to-market. We've been working on it from day one. We've got customers with quite a lot of data on Dell PowerStore, quite large organizations that are carrying hundreds and hundreds of terabytes of data. It's fantastic, and the customers find it very easy to use. We've not had any complaints around it being a difficult product in terms of simplicity and use. It's been great.

The fact that Dell PowerStore has cloud integration really helps. Many of our customers have hybrid cloud environments where they're holding data on-site, but also they push some of the data up into the cloud. Having that cloud integration is really useful for us. The business continuity and disaster recovery features provide robust data protection capability, including snapshotting and replication for both planned and unplanned downtime. Mixed workloads are also supported, including Microsoft SQL servers and container-based applications.

The ease of use is significant. Dell PowerStore has one GUI in terms of how to use it. It integrates very well with the data protection suites and the cybersecurity side. It's a storage platform that allows efficient data access and makes upgrades very easy to do. In the past, with a three-tier system, it was very difficult to do everything in silo, whereas with Dell PowerStore, upgrades, management, and maintenance are very easy.

With the anytime upgrade options that Dell PowerStore has, it really fits and suits our customers. They can upgrade anytime they want and add extra capacity without having the constraints of acquiring a different solution or re-architecting the environment.

What needs improvement?

What would make it perfect is addressing the occasional lack of continuity with consultants who are on projects for five to six weeks regarding Dell PowerStore. With any type of support, there will always be some types of breakage. We find the support very easy to access and helpful. A recent customer reported that the support representative was completely dedicated to helping them. The support representative was almost emotionally invested in the problem. There are some excellent technical professionals in the team who are dedicated to resolving issues.

For how long have I used the solution?

Information regarding performance metrics or benchmarks used to measure success with Dell PowerStore is not available.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Dell PowerStore is a very reliable product that our customers love. In the early days, there were some challenges with the new product, but it's now a very mature product that works really well. When Dell PowerStore is implemented properly and integrated within a customer environment, it performs as expected. We've always had confidence with the product.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We handle deployment of Dell PowerStore as one of the highest certified Dell partners in the UK. Our success has been driven by our delivery capabilities. We've won numerous awards, including EMEA Services Partner last year. Our deployment expertise is why customers choose us. We understand the products thoroughly, can drive solution value, and implement it within networks, bringing in different applications. Our implementation skills are highly certified on these products.

How are customer service and support?

Being a Dell partner for the last 12 years, we know who to contact when our customers have problems with Dell PowerStore. We've built personal relationships with teams, line managers, and senior people, which helps us get things done for our customers. Dell is a large organization that serves many customers, but we're fortunate to know who to call when issues arise. Our managed service team is very technical and can fix most problems. When customers need to contact Dell, we maintain the relationship and handle it on their behalf as part of our services.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

What was our ROI?

We have seen return on investment from selling Dell PowerStore. We see significant customer loyalty towards the brand and solution. A customer we met last week who has Dell PowerStore stated that they love the solution because it works and does what they need it to do. They can sleep peacefully at night knowing it will perform without issues. This gives us customer retention and loyalty back to us as a solution provider, having full confidence that when we sell this to a customer, we can guarantee it will work and meet their needs.

What other advice do I have?

I would advise potential users to definitely conduct a POC with Dell PowerStore and examine the product. It is a very comprehensive solution with capabilities that are superior to many other vendors. Dell has hundreds of case studies available for reference. Testing the product would make it difficult to choose another vendor's solution. I rate Dell PowerStore a 10 out of 10.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud

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

Other
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
Last updated: Sep 30, 2025
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CleytonCandido - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Technical Pre-Sales at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
Real User
Top 10
Sep 26, 2025
Good management console and strong post-sales support
Pros and Cons
  • "I really appreciate the management and the management console of Dell PowerStore along with features such as deduplication."
  • "If Dell PowerStore had more controllers, making it more reliable and resilient, it would be better."

What is our primary use case?

I use Dell PowerStore for an application. In my last work at B3, we bought Dell PowerStore for a specific corporate back-end, back-office solution for one application to solve problems with the service desk. We created some LUNs for a SQL Server and presented them to some Microsoft Windows Clusters using Dell PowerStore, but we don't use remote replication for Dell PowerStore; it's in a single, specific solution for an application attending a SQL Server.

The solution is implemented in finance. B3 is the Brazilian stock exchange, and all the solutions I worked on there for the last 15 years were in finance.

How has it helped my organization?

It reduces the time and complexity of the deployment process. It’s quite simple and can be done quickly. I believe it has significantly reduced the time required to deploy. Overall, the deployment process is very straightforward.

What is most valuable?

I really appreciate the management and the management console of Dell PowerStore along with features such as deduplication. It's good and sufficient.

Additionally, it's very easy and simple to use Dell PowerStore for moving and optimizing workloads within the cluster. It's just to provision the LUNs for the cluster. If we have a virtual environment like VMware, we can easily perform storage migration from a source disk to a target disk. This process allows us to transfer data seamlessly. In my previous jobs, we typically utilized tools such as Open Replicator, which is provided by Dell EMC, to move data between Dell EMC storage systems.

Furthermore, Dell's post-sales support is strong and very good.

What needs improvement?

If Dell PowerStore had more controllers, making it more reliable and resilient, it would be better. The most important thing for the customer is resilience and business continuity. When we have a failure in one controller and only two controllers, that's not good enough. If we could scale Dell PowerStore to four controllers, it would be better than what we have today.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have worked with Dell EMC for more than 15 years, and also HPE, including 3PAR.

How are customer service and support?

Dell's post-sales support is very strong and good. I trust in Dell's post-sales support. I would rate them a ten out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

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

I have experience with NetApp storage solutions, hybrid NetApp, all-flash storage systems, and Hitachi models such as USPV and VSP, but my strong knowledge is with Dell EMC, PowerMax solutions, PowerFlex, VXRail, and hyper-converged infrastructure solutions.

How was the initial setup?

I have deployed Dell PowerStore just once, but I have deployed many other products such as PowerMax 200, PowerMax 8000, and others. I have deployed a lot of high-end storage platforms from EMC and Dell EMC including DMX series.

I deployed it on-premises; the model is 500T. It was very simple and easy to do. I particularly really appreciate using the Apex AIOps or the CloudIQ solution from Dell EMC as it allows me to observe all the metrics and telemetrics from the performance through the SAS portal, which I think is very good for knowing about the workloads and how the equipment is working.

What other advice do I have?

When it comes to Dell solutions, I find PowerMax to be the most comprehensive option. It offers a range of features such as remote replication, security snapshots, immutable security snapshots, and SRDF capabilities—both synchronous and asynchronous. It also includes features like chip copy disk mode, deduplication, peak provisioning, and effective data reduction. There are some similarities between the two, but PowerMax has several advantages. It comes with more controllers and greater resiliency, making it better suited for critical mission environments.

I would rate Dell PowerStore an eight 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
Last updated: Sep 26, 2025
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Hassan_Zaki - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Presales Manager at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Real User
Top 20
Jun 18, 2025
Integrated AI and clustering enhance storage operations effectively
Pros and Cons
  • "As a primary storage, it has all the features that our customers need, with only minor tweaks or enhancements needed here and there."
  • "The feature of integrated AI and machine learning enhances the usage and operations of the storage, making it one of the key features of Dell PowerStore."
  • "The pricing point must have better positioning."
  • "The pricing point must have better positioning. It is somewhat expensive compared to the competition."

What is our primary use case?

My position is a solution consultant, so I promote Dell PowerStore products or recommend the products to customers. 

Most applications or workloads can fit within Dell PowerStore, except for file serving or surveillance solutions, which require less extensive storage. 

How has it helped my organization?

It's the best mid-range storage on the market. It gives users the ability to scale in the future if they need to. 

What is most valuable?

The clustering feature of Dell PowerStore allows users to federate or cluster several appliances to work as single storage, which is a unique approach. 

The feature of integrated AI and machine learning enhances the usage and operations of the storage, making it one of the key features of Dell PowerStore.

Dell PowerStore has a unique deduplication and compression ratio compared to others in the market, which always comes in our favor when sizing Dell PowerStore against competitors. The deduplication can achieve up to 20X from the original storage capacity.

What needs improvement?

The pricing point must have better positioning. It is somewhat expensive compared to the competition. 

Another improvement would be to open the integrations with other vendors. Dell has unique integrations with their backup appliances; however, if they open this for other vendors, it might be a better solution for customers since they wouldn't have to purchase a Dell product for backup to have this integration with the storage. 

These two points should have enhancements.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for three and a half years, since its release about three or four years ago.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We have not faced major issues with the support for Dell PowerStore.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

In general, my clients use one appliance per site.

As a primary storage, it has all the features that our customers need, with only minor tweaks or enhancements needed here and there.

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

I'm also aware of Pure Storage. It is very similar.

How was the initial setup?

The process is simple. It takes half an hour to 45 minutes to set up all the storage and go live with production data. Most implementations we do are on-prem.

What was our ROI?

Dell PowerStore receives about two or three updates per year, including software updates and firmware updates, which add new features and enhance performance without changing the hardware.

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

It saves money in the design of the product and solution. Users don't have to change products across their data center lifetime or projects. They can scale within the box regardless of workload or business requirements, saving the hassle of migration to a new solution. This saves money in the long run.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I compare it with Pure Storage, which is the most comparable solution to Dell PowerStore in the market nowadays.

What other advice do I have?

I promote and recommend Dell PowerStore for all workloads to my clients and customers.

Most of my customers have one appliance per site. Approximately 80% of my customers have Dell PowerStore implemented in their data centers.

We always use CLS as another Dell solution for cybersecurity and data security. The CLS is integrated with the Data Domain, PowerProtect Data Domain, not with Dell PowerStore.

Windows, Linux, and some customers use Red Hat or SUSE. We have many operating systems working with Dell PowerStore in the same environments and data centers.

CloudIQ and Storage IQ are used by some customers, but Apex AIOps has not been widely adopted yet. Dell PowerStore has integration with VMware and Kubernetes. Most workloads work fine and have very good integration with Dell PowerStore, except for one or two specific workloads in the market.

On a scale of one to ten, I rate Dell PowerStore a nine.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises

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

Other
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Reseller
Last updated: Jun 18, 2025
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Brian Ricci - PeerSpot reviewer
President at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
MSP
Top 5Leaderboard
Mar 31, 2025
It's constantly enhanced and has impressive reliability and data compression
Pros and Cons
  • "Updates come with enhancements. Each time we do an update, there is an enhancement, like new features, which is extraordinary. Other companies would try to charge for all that, but the enhancements just come with it."
  • "The stability has been excellent."
  • "We used to be able to see the metrics for our customers. On Compellent, we could look up that customer and see all the metrics. That is not allowed for us now. We cannot do that anymore. I have to be explicitly allowed by the customer to do that, and some companies' security does not allow that."
  • "The maintenance is a bit expensive. The service and support are there for three years, but after the third year, it is pretty pricey for renewal."

What is our primary use case?

We mostly use Dell PowerStore to replace people's outdated technology. Most of the time, if it is Compellent, we use it for that. It easily outpaces Nimble, even though HPE changed its name.

We are using PowerStore 500T and PowerStore 1200T. We have multiple appliances. We have clients that have five and six now, but they are not clustering them.

How has it helped my organization?

We recommended Dell PowerStore to one of our clients. They have since standardized on Dell PowerStore. They are setting up a data center and chose Dell PowerStore 5200T to meet their needs. Their deployed ones were all 1200s or 1000s, and now, they are going with much bigger ones for the data center. They like having one interface and one vendor. It has been extremely good.

Overall, it is fairly straightforward. They have standardized the platform for many of their solutions because it makes it much easier to sell and support since PowerFlex and PowerStore have the same footprint. They just put a different OS on them. The standardization makes it very handy. They can hopefully drive the prices lower, but we do not see them having any competition right now.

The management is easy. Intelligence is built into it. Most of the people just set it and forget it. It takes care of itself. It adjusts itself. I am not saying that you should set it and forget it. You should be checking it once in a while, but most of our clients do not. They just set it, and if something goes drastic, such as running out of disk space, they call us, but it warns you early enough. They get a warning, and then it is just trying to get dry fast enough depending on what they are doing.

Compression has improved, which is one of the enhancements that came with an update, which is great. Dell now claims 5:1, which I do not believe, but it used to be 4:1. The compression is really good and extremely important because you do not have to buy too much, and you can grow it when you need to. Compression is probably the key feature that allows us to slay the competition. I am not aware of the competition having as aggressive compression.

PowerStore improves operational efficiency. Having the NVMe drives is much faster than having SSD drives. We are in a new world there, and the compression is inline, which is awesome. It is just a sweet ride.

We utilize PowerStore’s built-in integrations for VMware and Kubernetes or Containers. VMware integration is very important.

What is most valuable?

Updates come with enhancements. Each time we do an update, there is an enhancement, like new features, which is extraordinary. Other companies would try to charge for all that, but the enhancements just come with it. 

What needs improvement?

The maintenance is a bit expensive. The service and support are there for three years, but after the third year, it is pretty pricey for renewal. I hope Dell addresses that. Everything is pricey these days anyway. It is not like the old days of Compellent.

We used to be able to see the metrics for our customers. On Compellent, we could look up that customer and see all the metrics. That is not allowed for us now. We cannot do that anymore. I have to be explicitly allowed by the customer to do that, and some companies' security does not allow that.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have used the solution for at least four, or maybe five, years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability has been excellent. We have not had any issues with that. I have had a client that had a fire. It was a pretty bad smoke fire, and PowerStore came through it like a champ. It is still going. However, it needs to be replaced. It is on one processor until the insurance comes through. It is a 500T.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability has been extremely good.

How are customer service and support?

The customer service has been excellent. I would rate them a solid nine out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

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

We have used different solutions. We moved to Dell PowerStore because it is easy.

If you look at the pricing in the field right now, are you going to buy a storage product from HPE that pretty much has a different engineer every week? Also, HPE makes their products in China, which Dell is not doing anymore. They got rid of making products in China. I believe the Dell PowerStore and PowerFlex are produced in the Northeast, so it is a US-based product. The components do not come from China. That is a very strong aspect. With the advent of AI, you need the IO that a PowerStore can give you because things are not getting any less complicated. They require more and more data every day.

How was the initial setup?

The deployment is easy. With the tools that come with PowerStore, you can pretty much migrate from anything.

What about the implementation team?

We are deployment-certified, and we can have everything done within two days. However, we are not Dell. We got ourselves deployment-certified because we wanted to save money on the deal, and we did not want to get sucked into the vortex of the deployment process because there is so much minutiae there.

We are a partner with Dell, and we advise our clients. We are technical advisors for our clients, and the good thing about us deploying is that we can migrate their setup over several weeks. They do not have to do it all at once like with Dell. 

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

The rate is always too high. Nobody likes paying for it. I have not seen a client yet who says that the price should be higher.

Initially, people look at it, but when they see what the benefits are, it is a no-brainer. We can give them good pricing at the outset.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate Dell PowerStore a nine out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
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reviewer2794212 - PeerSpot reviewer
Architect at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Top 20
Dec 31, 2025
Storage platform has simplified VM datastore provisioning and saved administration time
Pros and Cons
  • "The graphical interface does everything and we don't need to use the CLI; we can do everything, and it's user-friendly and simple."
  • "I think it could be improved by maybe unifying it with NAS, the file storage part."

What is our primary use case?

My main use case is datastore storage, specifically for storing VMs.

How has it helped my organization?

I think it improves my work, not necessarily the organization, because I spend very little time managing it; it saves time. I spend little time administering it, and it's simple; you do it once, it works. You come back to it when you need to reallocate from time to time, but otherwise that's it.

What is most valuable?

The features I find the most valuable, the best ones that I especially like, include the allocation and the provisioning, which is quite simple for creating a lot of LUNs and assigning them to a particular host or host group; it's something that is done really quickly. The graphical interface does everything and we don't need to use the CLI; we can do everything, and it's user-friendly and simple.


What needs improvement?

I believe the solution could be improved through better unification with the NAS file storage component. While the product currently fulfills its role perfectly for the SAN portion, it lacks the necessary versatility to natively handle all protocol types, specifically NFS and SMB or CIFS.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Dell PowerStore for 3–4 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I did not have downtime or outages; we haven't had any major issues; it's quite stable and reliable in general. We touch it very little; we configure it and kind of forget it, coming back only if there's a need to evolve.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I think it adapts well to my organization's growth because for now the scalability is sufficient for our current use; for the future as well, we can also add more alongside if needed. Since it's managed at the SAN level, we can assign the LUNs as we want.

How are customer service and support?

I have used technical support sometimes, more for feature requests and to know how to use a given feature; Disk replacements are managed proactively by Dell. The system triggers automated alerts, and replacements are handled directly by the manufacturer rather than a third-party reseller, which guarantees faster turnaround times.

I would rate the support an 8–9.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

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

Before adopting Dell PowerStore, I considered other solutions; for example, we had other solutions with HP, which are still more complex to use. We also looked at NetApp for the file part, but Dell PowerStore seemed to us to be the best value for money.

How was the initial setup?

I would describe the deployment experience as quite simple; assigning IP addresses, cabling, and racking is quite simple, and then the configuration part with the guided configuration is fairly easy.

What was our ROI?

I can confirm that I see a return on investment; I don't have the figures for you, but clearly a return on investment exists. Essentially for a lower investment than other solutions, we have an equivalent service.

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

I think the price and the licenses are very consistent compared to the competition.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We also looked at NetApp for the file part, but Dell PowerStore seemed to us to be the best value for money.

What other advice do I have?

One of the challenges I'm trying to address by choosing this specific Dell PowerStore is that I knew the previous products, VNX and Unity, and I find one of the advantages is the simplicity; it's much simpler to use than competing arrays. I don't know if I should give names, whether it's HP 3PAR or NetApp – they do other things but they're more complicated, whereas Dell PowerStore remains very simple to use.

I have performance metrics that indicate the success of working with Dell PowerStore; built into Dell PowerStore are some reporting tools, which show ways to see the load, allocations, and remaining free space.

We use those tools; if we encounter performance issues, we look at the entire SAN chain, whether it's on the array side, switch side, or initiator side.

It gives a report that focuses mainly on the backend part; however, it's true that we perhaps lack a tool to cover the whole chain from A to Z, and we do that more at the SAN fabric level.

At the range level at Dell, I find it a bit complicated between PowerScale, Dell PowerStore, and the older systems; trying to understand which product is best for our needs is a little bit complicated, and we need support from the pre-sales team.

I give this product an overall rate of 8 out of 10.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Last updated: Dec 31, 2025
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Updated: January 2026
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Download our free Dell PowerStore Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.