Dell PowerStore Reviews

Dell PowerStore is sold in government and education, oil and gas, and manufacturing, making this product a versatile technology that applies across all industries.

In government, I sold one Dell PowerStore with 300 TB effective capacity in one appliance, and since Ecuador is a small territory, this technology is substantial for this region.

For the government use case, they are using an on-premises only deployment model.

The best features of Dell PowerStore include the effective capacity, which I believe is its strongest feature, and the dynamic RAID of disks.

The benefits of Dell PowerStore are that its effective capacity is the best benefit, providing six nines of availability, and it offers unified storage, which has the best features for client technologies.

Clients are able to consolidate data using Dell PowerStore for some virtual machines and databases, although unstructured data is not a good fit for PowerStore.

Compression and deduplication technologies are important for my specific clients, as the effective data technology in Dell PowerStore is a strong proposal for them.

I would rate Dell's customer service as good; however, the call centers and escalation teams are problematic and slow, with the process being very bureaucratic, which frustrates clients. Despite these problems, the technology is solid and balances these issues.

I have worked with Dell products for approximately 10 years and have previously worked at Ingram Micro.

Dell PowerStore is stable, and I have approximately 10 clients with Dell PowerStore, so we do not experience problems with technology performance.

Dell PowerStore expands and scales up easily.

I would rate Dell's customer service as good; however, the call centers and escalation teams are problematic and slow, with the process being very bureaucratic, which frustrates clients.

When comparing Dell PowerStore to other data warehouses I use for different clients, the best technology advantage is that unified storage is a significant benefit over IBM, which does not have unified storage, while IBM offers the best cost per TB. I would rate this review 9 out of 10.

Dell PowerStore is used for backing up some of the infrastructure. It is not used entirely across the whole infrastructure, only for some parts. One isolated system uses Dell PowerStore for backing it up.

The number of users utilizing Dell PowerStore is small because it is used mainly for systems, not users. If considering how many systems have access to it, the estimate is a maximum of twenty.

Dell PowerStore's capabilities with compression or deduplication technologies have not been explored for the business. Since it is not being used as primary storage, only for on-site backups, this focus has not been prioritized.

Built-in integrations with VMware, Kubernetes, or containers in Dell PowerStore have not been utilized.

Dell PowerStore is used on both Linux and Windows. There are no complaints about having to work with both Linux and Windows when using Dell PowerStore.

The structuring of the feature and the management console of Dell PowerStore are particularly valued. This management console is very easy to navigate through, and there have been no problems accessing it in any of the common browsers used, including Chrome, Firefox, and Edge. The interface and management console are a bit easier to navigate through. Being the foundation of where work is actually done and configurations are put in makes other features and factors a bit easier to deal with because everything is visible in plain sight through a graphical interface.

The management capabilities of Dell PowerStore have been improved with the introduction of the new GUI, which is easy to use. Across all Dell products, including PowerVault, improvements with management are appreciated, especially regarding the elimination of older LAN technologies, which simplifies the configuration and setup of alerts.

Return on investment with Dell PowerStore has not been quantified yet. Previously, an external drive was used for backups, but now Dell PowerStore is relied upon to ensure automated processes are working properly. The health of what has been captured can be confirmed. Previously, the process was manual, and errors were common, but now visibility and automation are available, which have significantly improved the processes, even if the improvements have not been quantified in percentages.

The areas for improvement in Dell PowerStore would be to provide trainings and seminars. The philosophy here is to teach how to fish rather than giving a man a fish. Trainings and seminars are of most interest because after trainings, people here would improve their skills. If webinars or trainings are offered in the future, participation would be valued, or if training opportunities are recommended, attendance would be considered. Understanding some technologies better would make it easier to suggest areas of improvement. Currently, information available online from forums is being used, which is straightforward.

Dell PowerStore has not experienced downtime, bugs, or glitches. Although some systems depend on Dell PowerStore and some challenges are faced there, these issues are not due to Dell PowerStore itself. It can be given a rating of more than eight, somewhere around eight, nine, or even ten.

Dell PowerStore fits the requirements regarding scalability. Based on theory, hot swapping can be done and it is easy to change disks. Disks can be merged and data can be migrated across the disks, so it is considered scalable.

The technical support of Dell PowerStore would be rated somewhere from eight and going up, although support has not been used that much on Dell PowerStore itself.

Positive

Dell PowerStore is being explored to understand its full capabilities. Currently, it is only being used for backing up some of the systems, whereas there is a sort of production storage that is used. Testing has been done, and from the tests that have been run, it is doing quite well. A situation where data would have to be restored from Dell PowerStore after a disaster has not been encountered, but it gives hope that in case of a disaster, data can somehow be recovered.

The deployment of Dell PowerStore would not be described as easy, and it would not be described as challenging. More features are still being explored since the infrastructure is relatively new. It would be described as easy, but there is more to come, and some challenges might be found as the infrastructure grows. So far, it is easy to deal with.

Dell PowerStore was purchased through suppliers that are resellers, not directly through the vendor.

Return on investment with Dell PowerStore has not been quantified yet. Previously, an external drive was used for backups, but Dell PowerStore is now relied upon to ensure automated processes are working properly. The health of what has been captured can be confirmed. Previously, the process was manual, and errors were common, but now visibility and automation are available, which have significantly improved the processes, even if the improvements have not been quantified in percentages.

The pricing of Dell PowerStore is considered fair. It was cheaper, and the features that came with the solution were quite justifiable. It would not be described as cheap, but rather the price and the features matched well.

Comparing Dell PowerStore with other vendors or products is difficult. However, based on the ones that have been used, it is quite positive. Many features come positively with the solution. Two similar solutions are being run, but Dell PowerStore would not be preferred over the other. They are just on the same level, as there are features in Dell PowerStore that would not be found in the other solution being used.

Consolidation with Dell PowerStore was not needed because all that was needed was a central place to store the data. What was managed to be achieved was one point where the data being sent through to Dell PowerStore can actually be managed. It was not about consolidating it, but rather having a centralized point to manage the infrastructure regarding data.

Dell PowerStore's APEX AI Ops or CloudIQ have not been explored that far.

There is no knowledge about enrollment in the lifecycle extension for Dell PowerStore. It is doubted that enrollment for that has occurred.

Dell PowerStore would be recommended because of how easy it is to navigate the management interface, which is crucial for utilizing the resources and functionality of the solution. It has simplified the processes, making them more robust and helping to meet business needs. The overall review rating given to Dell PowerStore is seven.

My main use case for Dell PowerStore is storage for the SAN.

I probably appreciate the AIOps integration aspect of Dell PowerStore the most.

Some examples of the features that benefited my organization include cluster observability and CPU fluctuations, along with the dashboard itself, which is excellent.

We do use Dell AIOps.

The insights offered by Dell AIOps are very robust when it comes to mitigating traffic flow and data resiliency. Dell PowerStore has impacted my organization positively in terms of performance and operational efficiency, but I haven't seen any measurable benefits or ROI that I can share examples with.

Dell PowerStore can be improved with integration with Dell's Agentic AI platform, which is a feature I want to see in the next release.

I have been using Dell PowerStore for about a year now.

On a scale of one to ten, I would rate customer service and support a five out of five.

Prior to adopting Dell PowerStore, we were not using another solution; we were using a legacy device that reached its end of life.

I haven't seen ROI with Dell PowerStore, but as the admin, it does make my life easier.

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is above my pay grade.

In my role as a network administrator, I manage the storage array of Dell PowerStore, formerly Unity, and I work with our technical account manager to mitigate system downtime and memory fluctuations.

The Dell PowerStore models we are using are clustered, and I don't remember the model number off the top of my head, unfortunately, but it's the latest PowerStore.

I would describe my experience with Dell PowerStore's data resiliency, availability, and cybersecurity features as having met all of our needs currently.

The difference was made by the support.

I believe that we are enrolled in the Lifecycle Extension, formerly Anytime Upgrade program.

From the program, my organization has realized benefits, and we upgraded from our old platform to the newest Dell PowerStore.

We have been able to consolidate data using Dell PowerStore. We have consolidated approximately 20% of our data.

Our data reduction rate is three to one.

Before using Dell PowerStore, we have been a Dell customer for longer than I have been with the company, and that is what stood out most for me during the evaluation process.

On a scale of one to ten, I would rate Dell PowerStore overall an eight, as I am still learning, and I would recommend working with the technical account manager to forecast data utilization within a clustered deployment.

The main use cases of Dell PowerStore for me or my clients are mostly virtualization for virtual machines, where we put some servers into a cluster, add Dell PowerStore under it, and use it as their production environment.

My favorite feature of Dell PowerStore is the Metro Volume replication, which allows for two sites to have an active-active configuration and ensures synchronization between two cities, for example.

We also use Dell AIOps and we are always recommending it to our customers to use, especially if they have more Dell products. The reason for this is that they have everything in one place to check for potential issues with their system, and if they use Dell AIOps, they do not need to check each management interface. I find it pretty useful to have information in general about what is wrong with the system or what could be done better, to always give information to the customer regarding what they can do to improve their current system and make it work even better.

The impact of Dell PowerStore on our clients' organizations or my organization in terms of performance and operational efficiency is positive, as Dell PowerStore itself is super easy to manage for the customer, which is great for our customers, and we manage to educate a lot of customers with Dell PowerStore, so they can install those themselves. We do a lot of workshops for Dell PowerStore.

If I could improve Dell PowerStore in any way, the straightforward answer is to add more performance to it by software or try to improve some algorithms to get more deduplication, but that is easier said than done, so I would suggest just continuing to improve the performance.

Regarding pricing and licensing, if it is possible to decrease the prices, that would be great for the customer, but considering the current situation with chip shortages and RAM, it is kind of hard and is going more in the other direction.

I have been working with Dell PowerStore directly for around two years.

Dell PowerStore systems are mostly configured as standalone, and almost all are standalone. They do not need the cluster functionality for more IOPS or more storage because a cluster most of the time is just not needed for the customers we are supplying. They just need one Dell PowerStore to manage their whole infrastructure.

I have worked with customer support, including technical support.

My experience with the support is that I mainly used the online support chat, which was really helpful, especially for licensing subjects. If Dell PowerStore was not getting the license, the support could always help by retrieving the license and activating it.

As for rating the support from one to ten, with one being worst and ten being best, I would say the support is an eight. It is hard to tell because I have not had that much interaction with Dell PowerStore support, but from what I needed, it was always very good.

Deploying Dell PowerStore is pretty easy if the networking itself is configured properly and if the firewall is allowing through all the traffic. It is a pretty straightforward deployment process.

My clients do consider other solutions, such as Everpure, which is a competitor of Dell PowerStore, and both are systems with a similar feature set, but it really depends on pricing. Some features might be on Dell PowerStore that Everpure does not have, or vice versa, and most of the time it is also based on whether the customer is already using Dell products and wants to continue with them.

My role in using or managing Dell PowerStore involves doing pre-sales and installation for customers, and also troubleshooting when customers have issues with the system and they just need assistance on it.

I have hands-on experience.

I think most customers are very happy with Dell PowerStore and their features, such as the deduplication and replication, and now also the replication over Fibre Channel. These are all features that our customers really look forward to and really appreciate.

I have been able to consolidate data with Dell PowerStore, where most of the deduplication is about 2:1 to 3:1, which means compared to other systems that may not have deduplication, you can save a lot of data and also raw storage, making the system cheaper.

I would rate this review a 9 out of 10.

Our primary use case for Dell PowerStore is in a production facility as we are a beef manufacturer, predominantly beef, and we also have lamb facilities in Ireland and affiliates in Poland. Essentially, it's for storage and factory systems, so we're storing and collecting data points, along with office functions like file and print. We have on-prem systems on site, including SCADA-like systems for collecting data points throughout the manufacturing facilities. Our core Dell PowerStore and PowerEdge use case includes a data center footprint for central managed services, finance, and our ERP system, collecting data from our factory sites and storing it centrally so that we can pull it back for reporting. Additionally, our Dell PowerStore and PowerEdge serve our disaster recovery needs, allowing us to run a site remotely from our data center.

The features of Dell PowerStore that I appreciate the most include how very easy it is to expand. In terms of scale, I also appreciate the reaction and support; if a hard drive fails, we're informed that there's a hard drive or part failing, and we get alerts on it. There's a part shipped out and a replacement part shipped out to replace it, which gives me a sense of reassurance.

Since using Dell PowerStore, I think what we realized was that at the beginning, we sat down with Dell and explained our use case, and we got the build of Dell PowerStore that we required for our business, allowing us to grow as needed. It is fit for purpose, which is a major improvement; what we had before wasn't fit for purpose and was more about money. The previous setup got us into a lot of holes, whereas the Dell solution has been absolutely fantastic for us regarding support and expansion.

We use Dell PowerProtect solutions with our Dell PowerStore, specifically the Avamar backup solution, which is a Dell product. On a scale of one to ten, I would rate Dell support as a ten, focusing on that aspect alone, because it's what allows me to sleep at night. I don't have to worry about the servers or storage going offline since I know it's being monitored, and we get replacement parts if needed, which is not that common, but it allows me to relax more.

Positive

I used a different vendor which was a mix of two vendors but the storage side wasn't up to scratch, probably because we went in low-end. It's an issue that I inherited in my current role, and we had to address it.

My experience with deploying Dell PowerStore is relatively straightforward, and we have had Dell's support whenever we've rolled out a new upgrade.

We've worked with Dell each time we do a refresh; we discuss the current state and our future goals, and they've delivered a model that fits, ensuring we don't overscale while getting the right fit, which has been really positive.

I have seen a return on investment in Dell PowerStore, particularly regarding the throughput improvements.

Before selecting Dell PowerStore, I primarily considered pricing around different vendors in the market.

What stood out to me in the evaluation process, both positively and negatively, was the long-standing relationship I've had with Dell over the past 20 years. The personal relationship has been massive, backed by positive customer care stories from other customers in the food manufacturing sector recommending this choice as the right thing to do.

My role in using and managing Dell PowerStore involves approving purchases in ABP, so for any refreshes or site refreshes we do for our production sites or data center, I will approve the purchase.

Dell PowerStore may play a role in our company's AI initiatives as we are on a journey to analyze all the data we're pulling back from our factory systems. We're working on getting that data into one place, and now we're looking at doing something meaningful with that data to make better-informed decisions. I'm currently having conversations with Dell to explore potential use cases for this.

The performance metrics I use to measure success with Dell PowerStore include the ease of getting through data, the storage capabilities, the processing of storage, response time, and the speed of our backups restore. Restoring a VM from Dell PowerStore is relatively quick when compared to what we've had in the past.

Dell PowerStore makes a noticeable improvement on a site level within our production facilities; for example, we collect data through a simple process of weighing and labeling products across a network. We weigh a box or a tray of meat and send a file to a server that prints a label. The difference between what we had previously and what we have now is a matter of milliseconds. The improvement is massive; even a couple of milliseconds makes a significant difference to our production throughput. It is a huge benefit for us, even if it may seem insignificant. Reducing that time is crucial because the impact means getting our throughput quicker, allowing products to leave the door more efficiently, which also cuts back on overtime and ensures we can complete our daily tasks in the required hours. Quicker throughput also enables us to implement online retail labeling, printing labels every half second, which requires quick networking, storage, and CPU capabilities.

My main use case for Dell PowerStore involves SAN storage connecting to the ESXi hosts, and it also includes SMB storage from it; however, it wasn't the only storage we have since we had different types of storage, with Dell PowerStore being a mid-range option where the IOPS was medium.

When we tried to use it with a database virtual machine, we faced an issue because it was a large VM and we encountered an issue with the IOPS.

Regarding the database machine scenario, I'm a system administrator, not a database admin, but the database team was complaining about a big delay when searching or querying the database, which was about three to four seconds.

My main uses for Dell PowerStore include power efficiency, data reduction, and simplifying management, but regarding performance, Dell PowerStore performance wasn't that good compared to the IBM FlashSystem and Dell PowerMax.

We are using the classic usage of Dell PowerStore as block storage, and we had a very small use case for SMB storage.

One of the best features Dell PowerStore offers is a very big storage capacity with a lower price, and I also find the dashboard relatively easy; the solution itself is easy to administer, maintain, and upgrade, which are the main useful cases.

I mentioned that we had several storage options from different vendors, and one of the easiest dashboards was Dell PowerStore, where I was able to create volumes, zone, add hosts, and update the firmware, as well as extend the volumes.

Dell PowerStore has positively impacted my organization by adding a very big storage capacity at a relatively low price, and it has also been very easy to use.

When I say it was easy to use, it saved time for the system admin team; for instance, when we are adding or creating volumes and adding them to the ESXi hosts from the vCenter, it was easy and took just a couple of minutes, making this the easiest part, and updating and upgrading the firmware was also very easy compared to other vendors.

The most impactful feature for my organization was managing it from the dashboard, as it was the easiest aspect, making it simple to operate and maintain.

Dell PowerStore's IOPS needs to be better; this is the only downside I faced.

I don't have specific ideas on how Dell could improve the IOPS or performance; as I'm not an architect, all I experienced was that the IOPS was high, with high latency and a noticeable delay, indicating a need for the IOPS to be higher to lower latency.

Dell PowerStore's AI capabilities include Dell AI Ops, which was connected and performed fairly well, but I did face an issue with it due to a bug indicating an inhibitor or security issue with the current firmware level of Dell PowerStore; I updated it, yet the security advisor did not disappear, compelling me to communicate with Dell support to have them manually remove it.

I have used Dell PowerStore for about three years.

Dell PowerStore is stable; however, the only issue we have faced is related to the IOPS because the input and output was delayed.

We only had one box, so we didn't scale; I didn't experience the scaling aspect.

The customer support experience was good.

We have used different solutions simultaneously, including a Dell PowerMax 2000 as our main production storage for core systems and a FlashSystem 9100, while we are using Dell PowerStore as a medium range for its high capacity and low price.

The experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing was good, suitable, and relatively acceptable.

We have saved money, time, and required fewer employees; it was very easy to maintain and only one person was enough, plus it was relatively cheap compared to other solutions.

I didn't try additional capabilities; all my scope on Dell PowerStore is to administer it, creating volumes, extending the volumes, and updating or upgrading the firmware.

We weren't consolidating the data; I believe it auto-consolidated from the box itself, but I didn't engage with that issue directly; the ratio might be around 1:8, but I'm not entirely sure.

If they are looking for a simple solution with many features in a mid-range and low price, they should go for Dell PowerStore.

I have mentioned all I know. I would rate this product a nine out of ten.

My main use cases for Dell PowerStore on a day-to-day basis are mainly for a compute-heavy, high-performance, converged platform. Dell PowerStore does play a role in my company's AI initiatives, as we are looking at a couple of partnerships with Dell, along with Discover, to explore the AI aspects of it.

I see it in the future as contributing to data efficiency and the quality of the data, which is important when working together with AI.

The features of Dell PowerStore I like the most include the simplicity, unified storage, and high availability.

The high availability feature of Dell PowerStore is the key aspect of a storage need because I want to make sure data is available and I don't want any glitch in it, so HA is our key.

Dell PowerStore has features that specifically cater to the needs of companies such as mine.

The features I am mainly looking at are the performance benefits because of the NVMe disks.

Dell PowerStore is pretty good and can still be improved.

Speed is something I would like to maximize in its features, as there is a need for speed.

I have been using Dell PowerStore since this year.

I have not experienced any downtime or crashes, so the solution is stable and reliable.

Dell PowerStore scales well with the growing needs of my company, as those were pretty quick. It scales up and scales out both ways, and as our data keeps growing, it is very easy to just keep attaching and keep growing. It just fits into the model.

The customer service I experience is excellent.

Positive

I was not using another solution prior to Dell PowerStore to address my needs; we were on Dell EMC.

I would describe my experience with deploying Dell PowerStore as very smooth and flawless, and I have not seen any challenges, as right out of the box, you power on and you're good to go.

The biggest return on investment when using Dell PowerStore is that we are getting more value out of it in a longer span, just the way we do it for the server side, so that is very good.

The pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Dell PowerStore are pretty good; it is very good actually from the price point of view.

I considered switching to other solutions, and we are looking at other pure block-level storage, as there is always room for growth to understand what the technology is.

My role in using or managing Dell PowerStore is that we use it for storage needs. I specifically use it as just the user.

The big selling point for choosing Dell PowerStore is the relationship and partnership with Dell and the type of support they provide.

I would rate Dell PowerStore a 10 out of 10.

My advice to other companies considering it is to go Dell all the way.

The primary use case for Dell PowerStore was for our disaster recovery site at our secondary data center. 

The equipment there was already eight years old and we really needed to replace it. We couldn't get finance to back us with a big deployment and substantial funding. So we determined that we needed something that could run our critical tasks if our main data center goes offline. 

While it's running particular tasks of secondary importance at that data center, it can also take the load of the critical systems that we're doing on daily backups and weekends' full backups.

The most valuable features of Dell PowerStore include the completion through or the integration with OpenManage, where it can communicate and send back critical alerts or issues from a storage standpoint, heating, cooling, and all the typical management aspects. That's a time saving. It's all under one window. I can look at the servers, I can look at the storage, and I can see if there are any alerts on anything if it's all green, versus having different management windows to go back and forth between.

I've realized cost savings from switching to Dell PowerStore from Nimble. There definitely has been cost savings since the integration and everything we're doing is easier on our internal time to manage. 

I'm saving approximately 20% of time managing and running it, which is easier having it all under one access panel.

Going to all NVMe storage, the abilities for the access time and the latency with Dell PowerStore's all flash storage is fantastic. Before, we had spinning disk with front-ended SSD cache. Now we're all SSD, making it very fast.

We have some legacy apps, including our biggest ERP system that we're migrating from, which isn't even SQL server-based; it's a ProvideX database. We're considering a data warehouse and examining ETL options to get that data into a format that AI can analyze. Dell PowerStore and those PowerEdge servers have substantial capacity for that.

Dell PowerStore has features that specifically cater to the needs of our medium company. We're standardized with our network core at 10 gigs, however, they can go to 25 gigs. If we need changes, we're not ripping and replacing; we're simply changing some GBICs and fiber interfaces. Dell PowerStore itself can accommodate faster connections. I appreciate that we won't be forced into obsolescence within the first year.

One of the big performance metrics I use to measure success with Dell PowerStore is latency. The read and write latencies dropped significantly over our old system. With our Nimble storage, we had between 14 and 40 millisecond access times on some of our busier runs. Dell PowerStore rarely goes above five milliseconds. It's significantly faster, with most operations being sub-millisecond.

I understand the software-defined storage and other capabilities. That said, I still am a traditional person who considers block and file storage, and I need to double or triple it. What are my pathways for scaling or do I need to rip and replace with another product? So maybe some of the scalability issues are present with Dell PowerStore.

To make it a perfect 10, I would have wished the deployment staff had indicated this is the regular support line, yet offered to connect directly with support personnel to walk through the process. It would have been beneficial to have someone from the support team do a warm handoff to clarify who to contact for future assistance.

It's still early to tell how Dell PowerStore has supported growth or operational success for our company since we've only had it in place for five months, having been implemented at the end of last year. 

Going forward, as we replace additional equipment, we'll probably select Dell PowerStore again. We've been really happy with it and expect it to continue to provide good service for us in the future. Its manageability and feature set fit our company size really effectively.

In the five months we've been running Dell PowerStore, it's been 100% uptime with no issues at all, so it's been excellent.

Scalability isn't necessarily our issue currently with Dell PowerStore, however, when adding substantial storage, it seems to require transitioning to other Dell products. Perhaps that's by design, moving into PowerFlex or other systems PowerScale. 

Our initial deployment is 35 terabytes, and the dedupe, deduplication, and compression are all excellent. However, if we needed more capacity, it quickly moves out of Dell PowerStore into something else. If I needed something more, I would prefer to stay in the Dell PowerStore ecosystem.

Based on our experience, I rate Dell's support overall as a nine out of ten.

Positive

The primary reasons we switched to Dell PowerStore were that the reasons we originally selected Nimble seemed to be replaced or equivalent with Dell for cost per storage, features, functionality, and ease of use. With Dell PowerStore, we wanted to keep everything under one roof with Dell and not have vendors point fingers at each other. 

When we have a support question with Nimble, they sometimes say it's the Dell server that's the problem. When we call Dell, they say it's the storage that's a problem. We wanted to eliminate that situation, so we brought in Dell PowerStore with the refresh of the PowerEdge servers.

My experience with deploying Dell PowerStore has been really good. It's been great with no problems at all.

We also used the white glove install services where Dell would come in and we wrote out the worksheets of all the IP addresses, all the names, and everything, and Dell came on-site and configured everything for us. That was a great time saver; getting that up and running and fully deployed was a big help.

The return on investment since switching to Dell PowerStore has been really good. 

The finance department didn't understand that our project was about $180,000 worth of equipment. I explained we're getting that on the leasing schedule or the Flex on Demand, bringing that in at $1,800 a month. They keep asking about the purchase price, however, I clarified that's what our monthly cost will be if our planned usage remains constant. If our usage increases, our monthly bill will increase. However, if our usage is what we expect, then we already know our costs for the next five years. In five years time, we can extend or replace it and get something different. The whole package turned out to be really good for us.

Before selecting Dell PowerStore, we considered staying with Nimble and just replacing it with the current solution. We also considered direct attached storage by putting more storage in and doing the vSAN type approach. 

However, I always worry that with hyper-converged infrastructure, it's too many eggs in one basket. Despite having redundancy, I really prefer being able to have the storage in one basket, and the compute and the bare metal, the OS and guests in separate ones, so I can do maintenance on either of them separately. I still prefer that standalone separation between storage and compute.

As the IT director, I helped select the process for managing and using Dell PowerStore. We replaced a Nimble iSCSI SAN with Dell PowerStore, and we're using Flex on Demand to minimize our costs. We also used a VAR to help us understand our costs and the equipment to basically avoid CapEx and turn it into just a monthly expense.

Everything worked effectively with Dell PowerStore. I have no reason not to rate it a ten out of ten.

Dell PowerStore is being used in the Europe region, where approximately 1,000 users are utilizing this storage.

Deduplication is a very good feature in Dell PowerStore. The administration console is also good.

From the cluster point of view, Dell PowerStore is good. Within a cluster for Dell PowerStore, because the backend uses VMware, clusters can be easily moved from one node to another node, or one appliance to another appliance with the help of the VMware console.

The data resiliency and cybersecurity features of Dell PowerStore are good.

Scalability for Dell PowerStore is also good.

Regarding improvements for Dell PowerStore, there is room for enhancement. While many aspects are good, the dashboard could be improved. This means administration improvements could be made, including monitoring and other points such as hardware monitoring.

Lifecycle management may be modified because Dell PowerStore does not currently have an option on how to modify the lifecycle. This represents an improvement area.

Cloud IQ, also known as AIOps, is not being used because it appears to require a license. Although it is supported, this feature is not currently in use.

Dell PowerStore has been in use for around three or four years.

Dell PowerStore performs well. There are no stability issues or lagging concerns with Dell PowerStore.

Scalability for Dell PowerStore is also good.

Technical support and customer support from Dell have been contacted, and they provide good support.

Overall, the support from Dell is good regarding both the speed and quality of service.

Positive

The initial deployment of Dell PowerStore was very easy.

It took a maximum of one and a half hours to deploy Dell PowerStore.

One person is sufficient for the deployment of Dell PowerStore.

A different storage solution from IBM is being used as an alternative to Dell PowerStore.

IBM is preferred compared to Dell PowerStore.

IBM hardware is very good and performs better than Dell hardware. However, both IBM and Dell provide good administration consoles, so this is not an issue.

During feedback regarding PeerSpot, there were many issues with CTERA, but currently all issues have been fixed with good support. Dell PowerStore has been used for around three or four years, and the experience with Dell PowerStore has been positive. It has been a good investment of time to work with Dell PowerStore.

Deduplication is a favorite feature of Dell PowerStore, and the administration console is also good.

Pricing for Dell PowerStore is good. IBM is too costly, while Dell PowerStore is cheap and the best option. Dell PowerStore receives a score of eight out of ten.

I am part of the R&D team working with Dell PowerStore. I use Dell PowerStore internally in my company and utilize it for VMware integration.

Dell PowerStore's built-in integration has benefited my organization as I am working on integrating it with the XC98, 9875L liquid cooling server platform. Testing the IOPS on the system is crucial, as understanding how it performs in conjunction with Dell PowerStore provides vital data on bandwidth, latency, read/write operations, and connectivity configurations, which helps us achieve better performance results compared to previous platforms.

There are a couple of features of Dell PowerStore that are quite good in comparison to other storage boxes I used previously. One is the convenience of creating a new host group or initiator, which is quite easy and user-friendly compared to other platforms. It is also very convenient for configuration options such as iSCSI or FC.

The built-in integrations of Dell PowerStore are quite useful and important, especially considering our current development focus on AI data centers, where we need high-end storage solutions along with high-end servers to meet industry needs.

Regarding enhancements for Dell PowerStore, I believe a couple of things can be improved, such as the GUI and CLI connectivity. Another point is the identification of ports; it can be confusing to distinguish between the FC ports, Ethernet ports, and which ports support NVMe, indicating there is scope for improvement.

I have been using Dell PowerStore for nearly two years.

I did not experience any downtime, crashes, or performance issues in these two years.

Dell PowerStore is scalable. Scaling with Dell PowerStore is quite easy in a SAN environment, and it supports storage clustering, which simplifies the process.

I have not communicated with Dell PowerStore technical support since I work on the QA and R&D side and have not needed to engage with the support team.

Before Dell PowerStore, I used several HP solutions, including HP MSA, XP, 3PAR, Primera, and Alletra, which also consolidated data around 90 to 95 percent depending on the specific HP solution.

I decided to switch from the previous technologies because I was only working in the storage domain before, whereas now I am involved in both storage and server end technologies, thus allowing me to explore and upgrade my skills with a new opportunity.

Dell PowerStore is configured as standalone as of now, and I will confirm the model I am using shortly.

Dell incorporates proprietary security features such as SKM and ILKM, which ensures the disks are reliable and support various form factors.

I considered another option but found Dell to be the better choice for my needs when I joined two years ago.

The system comes in different capacities, allowing for data consolidation based on the disk connections. Dell PowerStore supports a maximum of 256TB volume size, with an overall capacity potentially reaching around 16 to 18 petabytes. For example, if I have a 1TB disk, it can maintain data up to 93 percent capacity. There is a customizable alert feature that triggers when the volume reaches 75 percent capacity, prompting a need to manage volume configurations to prevent corruption or slow performance.

I have not tested or am not much aware of the cybersecurity features of Dell PowerStore, but the resiliency and high availability are quite good; if I wanted to rate them out of 10, I would rate them somewhere between 9 to 9.5.

I work as a QA engineer or validation engineer from a technical perspective. What I feel is that for this product, whether for mid-range customers or high-enterprise customers, it has very good capability in terms of high availability, resiliency, scalability, and user-friendly configuration, which makes it a very good product for customers. I would rate this product an 8 out of 10.