Dell PowerStore Reviews

My role in using or managing Dell PowerStore is that of a system engineer. The size of my company is approximately over thirty-three thousand employees.

The resilience in Dell PowerStore benefits my company from an auditing perspective because we know we have that resilience in place.

I see Dell PowerStore playing a bigger role in the future because we are starting to use it more, and that is pushing it.

The biggest return on investment for me when using Dell PowerStore is scalability. Scalability is key. I can amplify that scalability is the biggest return on investment because we have redundancy between two sites; if something goes down, we have to manage it, but we want to do it proactively.

I do not have any problems right now with Dell PowerStore, though I believe it can be improved.

When we talk about making Dell PowerStore even better, more artificial intelligence involved would be a feature we could use.

My experience with the stability and reliability of Dell PowerStore is that I have not experienced any downtime, crashes, or performance issues.

Dell PowerStore scales with the growing needs of my company just fine; it expanded fine and meets our needs. In the future, it may not need to be expanded more for right now.

My thoughts on customer service and technical support are that it is always good; customer service is good, though if you are running into some issues where you have to chase after them or they do not understand what is going on, overall it is pretty good. I would rate this a five out of ten.

Positive

We are always considering other products for sure, but did not consider any specific ones when choosing Dell PowerStore.

The deployment process of Dell PowerStore is pretty straightforward, as we have people that come in and do it for us and help us out. We have vendors at this time, and it is pretty straightforward.

My experience with the pricing, set of costs, and licensing of Dell PowerStore seems pretty reasonable.

We are always considering other products for sure, but did not consider any specific ones when choosing Dell PowerStore.

My advice for other companies that are considering Dell PowerStore is to take a look at the product because it is a good product. I would rate this product a nine out of ten.

Our main use cases for Dell PowerStore are completely running SQL on it. We run SQL databases, which makes us fairly simplified and very specific in that aspect of what we do with them. We know it can do a whole lot more, but in our case, we're simplified on that and we run and optimize them for running SQL databases.

One of the primary reasons Dell PowerStore is good for running SQL databases is its inline deduplication and compression. Since we're running SQL, the databases tend to have a lot of what I'd describe as air in the files, with a lot of white space. By using both compression and deduplication, we're almost in the best-case scenario for how Dell does it in their technology, and we're currently at a ratio of 7.5 to 1 for compression and deduplication. In our situation, we may even achieve as high as 10 to 1 as we get more of our data on it.

On our previous legacy Dell Flash storage, we achieved four and a half to five to one compression and dedup, but with the new algorithms in Dell PowerStore, we've gone beyond that. When you get 10 terabytes for every one terabyte physical, that's a big deal.

Regarding how Dell PowerStore has helped our organization, we use thin provisioning, which I love and consider a cheat code. We used to run out of space on our SQL servers and get really close to hitting the maximum disk space on the server, which often drove us to move off a server before its lifespan was complete. But now, with thin provisioning, I can have an enormous 40 terabyte data drive on my SQL servers, and the thin provisioning only uses the data that's actually present. This means that our servers never hit max disk space size. We just monitor the capacity of Dell PowerStore, and we've effectively solved the problem of running out of disk space.

One area for improvement with Dell PowerStore is the integration with our monitoring tools, which has been a bit challenging. While they provide us insights, we have had to work harder to extract detailed internal information without needing to purchase additional enterprise class management tools from Dell that feel excessive for our needs. There's a lot happening in Dell PowerStore under the surface that we don't fully manage, but I can only identify this as a potential improvement.

For Dell PowerStore's data resiliency, availability, and cybersecurity features, I've had a couple hundred SSD disks in them over the years, and I've only experienced one or two failures. Only one time did I encounter a single disk failure in our Dell Flash storage, which was as easy as hot swapping the disk. We discussed with Dell the importance of reaching 85% capacity while being able to lose two disks and still have one spare in RAID without data loss, and they built a data resiliency package that met our needs. We want to ensure our environment is never down, as storage is central to that. It was surprising to learn that excess space on our SAN is used for data resiliency, and when we hit 87% capacity, we learned not to push too far. We've designed our current Dell PowerStore systems to avoid that scenario, accepting slight capacity trade-offs for uptime and resiliency.

Regarding scalability, Dell PowerStore has efficiently handled everything we've ever thrown at it. We're not oversizing our systems; we purchase the appropriate capacity for our current needs. Whenever we require additional resources, it scales up without becoming an issue. The RAM caching they implement, combined with their inline flash storage writing capabilities, allows us to push limits.

The customer service and technical support for Dell PowerStore is exceptional. The after-implementation support is fantastic. We rely on the expertise of local staff who have been with us for 15 to 20 years. Our support contacts are familiar not just with our technology but also our environment, allowing them to make informed decisions about problem resolution, all while remaining sensitive to our low-risk tolerance.

Before adopting Dell PowerStore, we were using Dell legacy storage for 15 years, first on Dell Flash storage and previously on legacy spinning disks. We have consistently transitioned to the storage classes that best fit our needs throughout the lifespan of our company.

With respect to the pricing, setup cost, and licensing of Dell PowerStore, Dell has a wide range of enterprise-class solutions tailored to small business sizes. We don't need to purchase oversized systems to access top-notch reliability, uptime, and performance. Dell's pricing and licensing have made it incredibly easy for a small to medium business like ours to access enterprise class tools that fit our specific requirements.

We've definitely seen a return on investment with Dell PowerStore. We no longer face pressure to buy more storage as we encounter throughput limits, or suffer constant maintenance issues that cause uptime problems and affect our customer SLA. We position ourselves as an uptime solution provider, and if our storage couldn't deliver five nines uptime, we'd face significant challenges. Therefore, Dell PowerStore is critical to our investment in reliability.

With respect to the pricing, setup cost, and licensing of Dell PowerStore, Dell has a wide range of enterprise-class solutions tailored to small business sizes. We don't need to purchase oversized systems to access top-notch reliability, uptime, and performance. Dell's pricing and licensing have made it incredibly easy for a small to medium business to access enterprise class tools that fit our specific requirements.

We have considered other vendors, but we know from the start what differentiates them from Dell. Their local support, storage, and four-hour response times make a significant difference, as does having local staff who understand our needs. When we explain the level of uptime service we provide, other vendors usually disqualify themselves. Dell has consistently assured us they can meet our requirements, and after market research, we haven't found any alternative vendor that matches their support capabilities, especially when it comes to our storage needs.

For organizations considering Dell PowerStore, I advise you to go for it. If you haven't explored flash arrays or believe it might not suit your needs due to file storage perspectives, I have learned that those who utilize file also find it performs excellently. It's versatile, offering flexibility and throughput for both file and block storage. I highly recommend Dell PowerStore to everyone. My rating for this solution is 9 out of 10.

Currently, we are not using Dell AIOps, also known as CloudIQ or APEX AIOps in PowerStore, but we are considering adding that. We believe AIOps has advantages for us in becoming more proactive and predictable. While it's great that Dell sends notifications when issues arise, that's still reactive. If AIOps can predict failures before they occur, that would significantly enhance our service offering to customers, who often ask for advance notice of outages.

We are not enrolled in the Lifecycle Extension program, formerly known as Anytime Upgrade, because we don't swap out storage that frequently. We want to run our systems for a long time without constantly adopting the latest models. As we're writing our own software, we have an advantage in that we can adjust our software to fit our environment instead of being forced by external factors. This allows us to manage our hardware's lifecycle deliberately and effectively.

For someone with object storage, I can only speculate. People who work in object storage tend to be flexible and less tied to specific solutions, running them anywhere without needing high performance or availability. They don't have the same concerns with uptime as those focused on performance and resiliency. I can only say that Dell PowerStore has handled everything we've tested without issue.

Before concluding, it's worth noting that my job relies heavily on Dell PowerStore. The decision we make with such a solution encompasses our company, our customers, and my team. It's a significant commitment, and there are real consequences tied to our choices. Choosing Dell PowerStore is straightforward in this context.

My main use case for Dell PowerStore is the efficiency for block and unified storage. I am currently using both feature sets that Dell PowerStore offers; the file side, which is unified, serves out all of my file systems for approximately 460 users, and the block side is primarily for my VMware infrastructure environment, which comprises 98% VMware.

One of the biggest features of Dell PowerStore is its deduplication and compression. It performs deduplication and compression immediately once the data reaches Dell PowerStore; it is not done post-processing, which was how it worked with my previous storage solution, Unity. Another great feature unique to Dell PowerStore is Metro. Metro LUNs make it very easy for me to move data between my data centers. The reason I say that is I replicate between my primary and secondary data centers, and since I have dark fiber that spans between the two data centers, I have very low latency, allowing me to move a VM between both data centers seamlessly.

I see Metro LUN as a critical tool due to the disaster recovery features it provides. Data is replicated between our primary and DR data centers, and as a utilities customer, providing power is crucial. Dell PowerStore Metro LUN allows us to move VMs between our data centers without suffering an outage, which supports higher availability for our services.

For cybersecurity, Dell PowerStore has processes that scan for threats and also offers 2FA, which I did not have with my previous SAN. This means when users try to connect, they must use two-factor authentication, significantly enhancing our security profile and minimizing risks from harmful cyber actors.

One feature I would like to improve with Dell PowerStore is regarding Metro LUNs. I love Metro LUNs, but I wish to see multiple witness servers. With three data centers and three different PowerStore units, current setups force me to rely on one witness server, limiting visibility across all sites.

I wish I were enrolled in the Lifecycle Extension Program, formerly known as Anytime Upgrade. Currently, I am on Dell ProSupport Plus, which has many great advantages, but the Lifecycle program would have allowed me to keep the same head unit and refurbish some of our drives, which would have helped in the current industry climate.

I have been using Dell PowerStore since February of 2025.

My experience with Dell PowerStore's data resiliency is that it handles data in a manner similar to PowerScale. It knows how to balance data seamlessly, while my previous units just transferred off data without efficiency. Dell PowerStore runs utilization between the volumes I create effectively.

Dell PowerStore scales exceptionally well with my organization's growing needs; it takes up only about 4U of space in my data center, unlike my previous solutions which consumed much more space, significantly reducing power and resource needs.

The reduced footprint translates into less power consumption and allows us to conserve heat in our data center, which helps optimize our AC use because I no longer need to maintain drastic temperature decreases.

I evaluate Dell PowerStore's support as the best available. I was on the phone with a support engineer about two to three days ago regarding Metro LUN complexities. After engaging an upper-level engineer, he provided resources and a solution, which was invaluable. Dell support deserves the highest praise; they always take good care of me.

My previous solution was Unity, and as a utility, we strive to keep our users happy and reliant on our power. Therefore, we ensure our security and equipment are modernized every five years, which prompts us to refresh our storage area network. It was time to find a good storage solution, and everything pointed us towards Dell PowerStore.

My experience with pricing, setup costs, and licensing for Dell PowerStore was much easier compared to my previous SAN solution. Licensing was straightforward, and I felt the pricing was reasonable for the capacity provided, especially considering I needed less storage capacity than I had with Unity.

I have seen a return on investment with Dell PowerStore in terms of data reduction and overall performance. This return has been invaluable since it keeps me from needing additional storage while utilizing my current storage footprint efficiently.

I evaluated several other solutions, but I previewed options at Dell Technology World back in 2024. The PowerStore panel showcased features I did not know existed, swaying my decision towards Dell PowerStore.

The IOPS have drastically improved with Dell PowerStore; previously with Unity, I was getting around 3,000 to 4,000 IOPS, while now I exceed 15 to 20 thousand IOPS.

My current data reduction rate with Dell PowerStore is around 7.1 to 1, as opposed to Unity, which was at best a 2 to 1 ratio.

I utilize Dell PowerStore's built-in integrations for VMware, employing the API that connects directly to my VMware vCenter. These built-in integrations for Dell PowerStore are very important for my organization because my entire virtual infrastructure runs on VMware; it is critical that my storage solutions integrate seamlessly via API calls.

Currently, I can share that I previously used around 97 terabytes raw capacity on Unity, and now with Dell PowerStore, I am roughly at 68 terabytes total, with only 63% utilization, compared to 90% on my previous storage.

I have always managed Dell PowerStore as the engineer, but the new monitoring panel from Dell has made it easy for me to train subordinates. They can now monitor effectively without my having to grant them full access, ensuring security while allowing them to assist in daily tasks.

Onboarding has been easy with role-based access. Auditing capabilities allow me to see all operations done by a user, which is vital for oversight and security, emphasizing the importance of logging and monitoring.

I advise organizations considering Dell PowerStore that when given an initial estimate for required storage, it is not a one-for-one scenario. Dell PowerStore does an excellent job of compressing data, so organizations should not panic if they see lower capacity offerings than their previous solutions. My overall rating for Dell PowerStore is 9 out of 10.

Basically, we use Dell PowerStore for storage and backup purposes. We perform a lot of backup activity on it, mainly weekly backup, monthly backup, and we store yearly backup. It is very good, accessible, flexible, and scalable. We get good connectivity and good speed. Everything is fine with Dell EMC.

The speed at which we use Dell PowerStore is awesome. The duration of the backup time is very less. We have a couple of Dell PowerStore appliances. If I calculate it, I have more than five of them. The model is PowerStore 500T.

I work as an in-house engineer with Dell PowerStore. We directly ordered from the Dell site. We have shared experience of ordering from Dell, working in teams, and satisfaction with collaboration. We use Azure cloud services and benefit from redundancy and clustering. Dell EMC provides strong infrastructure and a good technical foundation. We leverage different Dell products in a cohesive infrastructure with seamless data management for improved performance and efficiency.

Dell PowerStore is a Dell EMC PowerStore for the NAS. We use PowerScale, PowerScale A3000 series, and PowerScale A300.

We get better redundancy with clustering, which is the reason why we use the cluster. Physically, it was very strong, and we built a very good rack. We do not face any difficulty while moving it here and there. It has a very good build from Dell itself.

The application we got from Dell EMC is awesome. There are no difficulties with the installation and deployment. Even though our wiring setup was not up to the mark, the application-wise, the deployment application is awesome.

Since we are using Dell EMC storage, we do not have any issues and we get very good support from Dell regarding warranty concerns. If one or two disks fail, we get a replacement from Dell, which is a very handy process. We do not find any difficulty while creating or deploying the infrastructure. It is pretty much easy. Dell is a world-class IT product-based company, and the support is very fine. We are good with Dell.

Because of this Dell infrastructure, we have a pretty sound setup and we do not get any downtime or any crash. With Dell, everything is going smoothly. We are very happy with Dell.

Regarding the security of Dell PowerStore, it is pretty solid. The hardening of the data store is set up as per compliance requirements, and from the application security point of view, it is very good. We do not get any difficulty while hardening the storage part. Everything is fine.

The data consolidation with Dell PowerStore is very fine. We do not get any problem with it. It is very solid and very robust technology from Dell. So it is very good.

With compression, we get the most data from the data point of view. The data gets compressed, so we get a large amount of storage volume. The compression and data stability features are awesome from Dell.

The licensing is a little bit high, but the product is very good. We don't mind bearing the price. The licensing is a little higher from the application or the product warranty-wise, but the product which we are using is pretty fine.

I can see sometimes the patches are very high in size, as per the Dell laptop or the Dell devices. The patches we got for the hardware part and firmware sometimes do not get deployed as intended. That is the reason why sometimes all the setups crash. This is the one thing I wanted to highlight: the patch management from Dell for the firmware. It will be good if they can have it a little bit sorted regarding the patches for the firmware.

I have been working with Dell PowerStore for the last six years.

I do the support by ourselves as I am working as an in-house engineer.

There are only one or two incidents where we needed to replace the disk on the data store, but we got great support from Dell. It is replaceable within the week. Nothing has created any hiccup or any issue from the Dell side. We got super support from Dell.

We directly ordered from the Dell site. We have shared experience of ordering from Dell, working in teams, and satisfaction with collaboration.

It is not difficult. It is very good with scalability. We can easily access the data, and the ratio of the data scalability is very high. As per my company concern, it is very good.

If one or two disks fail, we get a replacement from Dell. That is also a very handy process. We do not find any difficulty while creating or deploying the infrastructure. It is pretty much easy. Dell is a world-class IT product-based company, and the support is very fine. We are good with Dell.

There are only one or two incidents where we needed to replace the disk on the data store, but we got great support from Dell. It is replaceable within the week. Nothing has created any hiccup or any issue from the Dell side. We got super support from Dell.

Regarding feedback and service, room for improvement is very important for us so that we do not sound biased by saying just one tiny little thing that can be a little bit better. It can be some little things such as the upgrading process, expanding the usage, or scaling up or scaling out. Something that can be a tiny little bit better is important. That is the reason why I give the company a 9.5 rating.

Positive

Before Dell or apart from Dell, I have worked with HP technology for storage and Dell servers. However, the support from HP and the accessibility from HP was a tedious kind of thing. We moved from HP to Dell. From Dell, we have been working for the last 10 years and we got super support.

We reviewed Dell EMC products in our meeting and got feedback from everyone. We decided we can go with Dell. This is a super technology now. The speed and everything regarding data storage, the application-wise, and support-wise, Dell is up to the mark. We moved from HP and now we have Dell.

The application we got from Dell EMC is awesome. There are no difficulties with the installation and deployment. Even though our wiring setup was not up to the mark, the application-wise, the deployment application is awesome.

If one or two disks fail, we get a replacement from Dell, which is a very handy process. We do not find any difficulty while creating or deploying the infrastructure. It is pretty much easy. Dell is a world-class IT product-based company, and the support is very fine. We are good with Dell.

We get good connectivity and good speed. Everything is fine with Dell EMC. The speed at which we use Dell PowerStore is awesome.

From the last 10 years, my company is actually using Dell PowerStore, and we have great results regarding data redundancy, data storage, data mapping, and availability of the data. Everything is fine. We are very good with this kind of infrastructure.

I do not see any other negative thing, but if I find anything, I will get back to you and share any bad experience or not advisable experience with Dell. This is not the situation I have faced right now or back in my 10 years. There is nothing negative I can share about Dell.

The licensing is a little bit high, but the product is very good. We don't mind bearing the price. The licensing is a little higher from the application or the product warranty-wise, but the product which we are using is pretty fine.

Nothing much. Since 10 years, we do not have any maintenance or any other activity where we can spend money on it. There is nothing much maintenance-wise for Dell.

I worked for KACE Systems Management Appliance for the last four years. We have shared experience of ordering from Dell, working in teams, and satisfaction with collaboration.

Currently, I am using Dell EMC storage and Dell Blade servers.

Currently, we do not have any plan, but in the future down the line for two years, we will see if we can upgrade the data store or any blade server. We will get back to Dell.

The product Dell PowerStore 500T is very good. As per Dell EMC PowerStore, it is a very good store and a very good device to store the data. For feature-wise, everything is fine. There is nothing much to drawbacks from Dell. For the improvement or the suggestion, I have nothing much to add. It is up to the mark and there is no issue. There is nothing much to drawbacks from Dell.

I give this company an overall rating of 9.5 out of 10.

We use Dell PowerStore for our midrange storage requirement and use it for our enterprise ,development infrastructure and DevOps with Kubernetes clusters.. For Prod we use DELL EMC PowerMax. 

My role in using and managing Dell PowerStore involves end-to-end tasks from support to solution designing. I provision, reclaim, upgrade, maintain ,provide solutions as per application requirements and perform DR strategies along with  POCs for new environments. Latest POC on Kubernetes with Rancher.

What I like about Dell PowerStore is its architecture. It is reliable from a node-wise perspective with different appliances. I have observed that it delivers the best throughput and performance. It also has good deduplication and compression for storage while maintaining its performance. Comparatively, it has a very good deduplication and compression rate. I know there are other systems that achieve better dedupe and compression, but the performance Powerstore delivers with the compression and dedupe it provide is the best. What I like most is that it is based on container-based technology. In the backend, it uses Docker containers and operates faster in the backend. When I engage Dell support for any issues ,Dell has these small codes they can inject as fix ,that saves lots of time in patching and upgrades.  Its architecture is reliable, and despite multiple node reboots, we did not have much impact on VMware. That is a big positive sign for its resiliency. The snapshots are quick, and overall performance-wise, it delivers well.

I have seen measurable benefits with Dell PowerStore in terms of cost savings and performance. If I want to go to Dell for storage solutions other than PowerMax, I am getting better performance at a lower price with Dell PowerStore, which supports different solutions such as NAS and DevOps workloads like CI/CD integration. I see that Dell PowerStore has ample capacity because the backend itself is on Docker containers. It integrates well with DevOps, speaking the same language. Another benefit I see is the REST API of Dell PowerStore, which performs better compared to other arrays and responds faster for major reports.

On an overall assessment, Dell PowerStore has a very good architecture, a reliable system, and its performance is good. However, I can see that the software needs to mature more. Dell PowerStore is growing rapidly, and they frequently release the PowerStore OS, but I see bugs—major bugs that can impact business operations. Whenever we upgrade to a new version, even if it is the Dell recommended version, we still encounter bugs that affect its performance. For instance, after upgrading to a recommended version, we still faced issues that disrupted our Kubernetes Rancher environment. The software needs stability , and they require more robust regression testing or beta testing before announcing it as a supporting long-term version. 

There are minimal features missing in Dell PowerStore at the moment. I feel there are a few things mainly on the reporting side. We do not get all the fields or all the attributes for a volume or for a host that we want to see in the report. For instance, if a host is added to a host group, and if I search with its host name in the compute section, it will not list it unless I search with the host group. This requires me to check the CLI to see which host group it is in before coming back to see it, as the GUI does not allow searching by host name if it is under a host group. That should be fixed because it is quite problematic.

I have been working with Dell PowerStore for three to four years.

Powestore hardware and architecture is stable ,however the software is unstable ,I observed major bugs in every code I upgraded. Bugs are common for an OS like powerstore which rapidly evolving and competing,however in my opinion an enterprise  needs a stable software.

Currently, the usage of Dell PowerStore has not expanded since we have two nodes with four appliances each, structured in clusters. It is not technically feasible to expand more than four appliances per cluster as per Dell's recommendations. If we need to expand, we would have to add a new cluster, which is not necessary at the moment as we are fully loaded in our current setup.

Regarding scalability, Dell PowerStore meets our needs. We forecast our capacity requirements for five years, and now, at the end of the third year, our arrays are at almost 75% capacity. We anticipate that it will sustain us for another year, and depending on how negotiations on the support contract renewals go, we may consider expanding or exploring other options.

My experience with Dell's technical support for Dell PowerStore is quite good. They respond quickly to calls or through a service request and facilitate fixes whenever they have the code ready. Since Dell PowerStore's backend involves Dockers and containers, they can inject small pieces of code to resolve known issues swiftly. Overall, I find the support satisfactory, but I have concerns regarding software development and testing as they have encountered many issues, even with stable, long-term versions.

Positive

Before adopting Dell PowerStore, I was using Vblock, which we decommissioned. Then we segregated our storage categories into enterprise, development, and production, placing production in PowerMax and enterprise and development into Dell PowerStore. I also have previous experience with other arrays like Pure.

The deployment process for Dell PowerStore posed a few challenges. It was not easy, as the nodes were not coming up due to various software issues. The configuration was straightforward, but establishing management connectivity and ensuring consistency between nodes presented difficulties, which aligns with my feedback about the software needing to evolve and mature. While the hardware is fine, I personally recommend avoiding any Dell PowerStore version marked with X.0 since those versions are often riddled with bugs.

I measure success with Dell PowerStore through metrics such as throughputs, response times, read and write speeds, and the utilization of each port in the node and appliance to see how much it is getting used. These are the major ones. I also check for cache utilization, pre-cache, pre-fetching, cache hits, and misses. These are the five to six measurements I usually go through. There are a few others, but I mainly focus on these since they give me a better idea of the performance of the system.

I am not involved with the pricing, licensing cost, or setup cost of Dell PowerStore, but I know that PowerMax and Dell PowerStore are way cheaper than PowerMax. I have heard that while PowerMax costs around 4+ million, Dell PowerStore is much cheaper, although I am not certain where it fits in this pricing spectrum.

The decision to choose Dell PowerStore came because we had a Dell fleet before, comprising a VX Rail, Vblock, and another Unity array. My organization had good terms with Dell and received significant discounts. When it was time to replace the end-of-life systems, we considered PowerMax for its industry-leading status, and alongside that, Dell offered Dell PowerStore at a better price, which contributed to our decision for cost efficiency.

When I compare Dell PowerStore to other technologies, specifically PowerMax, there is no comparison since that is an enterprise array and this is a midrange array. I can only compare it with Pure as other midrange arrays. In terms of performance, Dell PowerStore gives better results, with at least a 1 to 1.5 2 milliseconds performance difference. However, for everything else, Pure is better—it offers better software, maintenance, and features.

For organizations considering Dell PowerStore, I recommend checking against Pure first. If Pure does not meet their requirements, then they could consider Dell PowerStore. Dell PowerStore is good, but based on my personal experience, for long-term benefits in cost, performance, and maintenance, Pure holds a slight edge over Dell PowerStore. I would rate Powerstore 7 out of 10.

Dell PowerStore can be used for any type of use cases because it functions as an all-in-one box. We especially use it for virtual machines and databases. Dell PowerStore has been enhanced with QLC drives and high-end file systems.

Fast-moving boxes like Dell PowerStore 500T and Dell PowerStore 1200T are the models we use most frequently. For our space, particularly in the channel business with channel partners in the SMB and mid-enterprise segments, customers primarily purchase these two models.

One customer has implemented clustering with Dell PowerStore 1200T. We do not utilize clustering solutions extensively because we can achieve advantages through data reduction ratios, which is why we focus less on clustering solutions.

Regarding performance, when NVMe architecture is implemented with NVMe drives, it delivers superior performance compared to SAS and SSD. Dell PowerStore features TLC and NVMe drives throughout the entire box, providing enhanced performance from the storage perspective. The end-to-end NVMe architecture, covering both backend and frontend, delivers more performance. This architecture provides very low latency at the controller level, which represents the main advantage of Dell PowerStore when compared to other mid-range storage boxes.

Dell PowerStore is easy to use. Creating policies is very straightforward, especially for replication and snapshots where a single policy can be applied to both snapshots and replication.

Metro Sync replication and Metro Volumes are particularly valuable features. Previously, Unity and similar boxes required Metro nodes and additional hardware to manage these scenarios. Dell PowerStore has the capability to run Metro Volumes without this additional hardware, enabling active-active configurations for active-active scenarios. LUN creations and host creations are not difficult to implement.

CloudIQ, which integrates AIOps functionality, is very important for customers and partners. It continuously monitors and provides predictive analysis capabilities. When failures or other issues occur, it identifies which components are affected. Some KB articles have been integrated into this AIOps system to provide rectification and resolution guidance for specific incidents. This is particularly important for supporting customers and partners with support cases and predictive analysis.

Lifecycle Extensions are continuously being promoted to customers as we educate them on this offering. Nowadays, Dell provides seven years of support through lifecycle programs and future-proof programs that we recommend to customers and partners.

The DRE features are very important because traditional storage requires creating groups with online spares for drive failures. Dell PowerStore DRE features provide reduced rebuild times and easy expansion capabilities where individual drives can be expanded. This approach allows for incremental hard drive additions, which represents a major advantage for customer requirements.

Data reduction is the first key feature, with data deduplication and data reduction ratios now reaching 6-to-1. The second feature is end-to-end NVMe architecture, which delivers a low price point for the entire NVMe architecture. Metro Volumes and similar features provide benefits in synchronous active-active scenarios. Dell PowerStore includes many features beyond just one or two, including integrations. Dell PowerStore is being positioned for private cloud scenarios and the new Dell Private Cloud. Storage integrations with Nutanix are now supported on Dell PowerStore for external storage purposes.

From an improvement perspective, I do not have significant negative points about Dell PowerStore. The only challenge relates to customer budget constraints, as pitching Dell PowerStore to budget-constrained customers is difficult because it is an NVMe storage system with premium pricing. Other than this pricing consideration, I do not encounter challenges with customers or partners, and support cases for Dell PowerStore are not frequent.

Regarding new capabilities, I cannot pinpoint exact improvements at this moment because the storage is constantly being enhanced daily. Dell has recently added cyber detect functionality and integration with Data Domain. These features, combined with AIOps and future-proof programs, are all included in the system. When comparing to other mid-range storages like Unity and ME5, the comparison is not favorable to those products because of Dell PowerStore's fast-moving development and frequent updates. Over the six-year period from 2020 to now, more than five or six major upgrades have been released, with continuous improvements.

The primary area for improvement involves higher-end capacity options. QLC drives, particularly for high-end capacity requirements, start at 1500 or newer platforms like 1500 and 5500, which have very high pricing compared to their capabilities. If these higher-capacity QLC drive options were available for Dell PowerStore 500T boxes, it would be beneficial for convincing customers seeking a balance between price point, large capacity, and performance-driven requirements.

Dell PowerStore was released by Dell in 2020. After the release, I engaged in several projects and we obtained demo boxes in 2021. My engagement with Dell PowerStore intensified after I joined the UAE market in 2023.

Compared to clustered systems, Dell PowerStore uses a federated architecture which is straightforward. A single pane of glass provides visibility of all boxes in the same management console, which is a significant advantage for every person and customer. The Dell PowerStore manager dashboard allows viewing of both cluster and standalone options.

Data consolidation is not difficult because Dell PowerStore allows implementation based on data workloads and enables federation, meaning both QLC and TLC boxes can be implemented in the same single cluster. This approach allows for flexibility depending on workloads.

Scalability is a key advantage of Dell PowerStore, as both scale-up and scale-out options are available.

Dell focuses on Dell PowerStore and provides greater focus and support for Dell PowerStore support cases when compared to other products.

The initial setup is not complex and is straightforward, similar to IDPA implementation. From an implementation perspective, it is not difficult, though a certified engineer should handle the installation. If an engineer has expertise in storage, Dell PowerStore implementation is not difficult, which is why Dell requires certified engineers to implement this storage system. With knowledge of the project and product, installation is straightforward.

The ROI perspective is very strong at 100%. Customers can be convinced to invest based on data reduction capabilities. If capacity needs to increase, customers do not need to purchase new hardware. Depending on data patterns, the same storage can be utilized. For example, if a customer thinks their usable capacity requirement is 50 TB, applying reduction ratios could reduce this to 20 TB or 15 TB. This advantage means that during the next capacity upgrade phase, customers may not need to upgrade at all and can continue using the same storage, resulting in significantly better ROI. A 20% to 30% ROI can be gained from this storage.

From a CAPEX perspective, the main advantage is data reduction. The second advantage is the DRE feature, which allows a single drive to be used for storage, also representing an OPEX option. Traditional configurations require four or five drives, but Dell PowerStore can function with a single drive based on customer requirements, which represents a major advantage. Data reduction implementation can increase capacity efficiency by 20% to 30%.

Red Hat integrations and VMware integrations are important and easy to implement, particularly for volume creations. The plugins for automation and other integration features are important for customers using these capabilities.

Data reduction capabilities can provide 20% to 30% capacity increases when implemented.

This review reflects an overall rating of 9 out of 10.

Our main use case for Dell PowerStore is as the storage for our VDI environment. When building the VDI, we needed it to be fast, low latency, and massive amounts of IOPS. Dell PowerStore was the only thing that made sense.

We built this thing for speed, which helps the end user. When they are out in the field and they have a 5G hotspot and their internet connection, they have one bar of service; all it is is a viewer. Their processing happens in the data center on the VDI, which is Dell PowerStore, and it is instantaneous.

The features I appreciate most about Dell PowerStore are speed. It is its claim to fame. It is fast, it processes data fast, and it has no latency. It is a powerhouse speed-wise.

The features of Dell PowerStore absolutely meet my business needs today, especially in terms of speed. It really helped my users who are far out in the middle of nowhere work at a speed that is beyond anything they have ever been able to do before. As our files get bigger and as we process more data, everything becomes harder to do, especially when you need to download the data over a VPN into a laptop. Dell PowerStore allows the VDI to keep everything on-premise and process in milliseconds.

My experience with Dell PowerStore's data resiliency, availability, and cybersecurity features is excellent. All of the features that it has, whether it be security or resiliency, it is a powerhouse. It was really built for what we are doing with it.

Dell PowerStore is a really great device. A potential area for improvement could be a little bit more deduplication. Some devices get six-to-one deduplication; Dell PowerStore is at five-to-one. If it could be increased a little bit more, I believe more of my unstructured data could have been reduced, which could have provided a little bit more performance. It is a pretty good device.

I have been using Dell PowerStore for approximately the last year.

I have not experienced any performance issues with Dell PowerStore. There has been no downtime; it is a very solid product, as all Dell products are.

Dell PowerStore expands great, from what I understand. We have not actually expanded it yet; we built our VDI environment for a specific set of computers to replace, so we set it up to that size. In the future, as we grow, we will need to expand and build more. From everything I have seen, Dell PowerStore scales seamlessly.

The customer service and technical support from Dell has been second to none. The support we have had for other devices, even laptops and servers, our old Unity or our old EqualLogic, has been excellent. It is mission-critical support, and they prioritize it. They treat you as if you are the biggest client, even if you are the smallest. I would say it is second to none, and the customer support and warranties are part of the reason we chose to go back.

On a scale of one to ten, I would rate Dell's customer service and technical support at nine point five. Nothing is perfect, but I have never left a customer support call or service issue with Dell feeling that I did not get exactly what I wanted.

Before adopting Dell PowerStore, we were using other products in our storage, but not in our VDI. We had a Dell Unity 380 XT, a great device built on fast technology. It uses fast drives, slightly slower drives, and slow drives. What it does is determine which data is not being used daily and puts it into the slowest tier, while data being used every day is moved into the fast tier. However, Dell PowerStore is built completely on NVMe and is all flash; it does not have to do anything else—it is simply fast.

The built-in integrations of Dell PowerStore are incredibly important to us. We are a full VMware shop. Our VDI is VMware Horizons, but it has been bought out by Omnissa, so it is Omnissa Horizons now. Dell PowerStore was built to integrate seamlessly with Horizons, which is the VDI we chose to go with. Our main application is designed around this setup, and Dell PowerStore was really built to run with it.

From an ROI perspective, what we have seen as an impact from having Dell PowerStore is, again, the speed. The speed really is the key. I can give every user the same experience. When we did not have it, it depended on what your device was and what your experience was going to be. Dell PowerStore makes everything so fast, and because it is connected to the VDI, everybody that logs in gets the same desktop and the same experience. Even if it is my inspector out in the field who normally would have a cheaper laptop and a really bad internet connection, now they have access to the same power my designers and my engineers have because they are all running on the same device.

We have been able to consolidate some data with Dell PowerStore just because of its deduplication. Our data is extremely unstructured, so Dell PowerStore provides a five-to-one dedupe. We went from somewhere around the 50 terabyte mark to about the 36 terabyte mark, so we achieved a significant gain from it.

One of the biggest ROIs I have seen from getting Dell PowerStore is being able to spin up VDIs. We were getting to a point where our Dell Precision Towers and Dell Precision laptops were aging out. I did the math on what it was going to take to replace everything, and as I started going through, I saw that these laptops were four or five years old. I did a cost analysis of replacing all the desktops and laptops that were starting to age out, and it was a big number—somewhere in the $618,000 range. Switching to VDI instead of buying a specific desktop for each person allowed me to give the same experience to every user, and the price was pretty much the same. It was a huge savings in not having to redo all my laptops and desktops while ensuring that everyone gets the same power and experience.

My experience with Dell PowerStore's pricing, setup cost, and licensing has been great. We used Apex, so we were able to get much more than we needed, but only pay for what we need through the Apex model. The pricing was another Dell home run, a knockout of the park.

We honestly did not look at anything else before selecting Dell PowerStore. We reached out to Dell and asked what we needed. We did not reach out to any of Dell's competitors. We knew we wanted Dell, and the solution presented to us was clear. We built around speed, asking for the fastest, best thing available, with the best IOPS and lowest latency, and Dell PowerStore came back as the clear winner. There was no competition.

I utilize built-in integrations of Dell PowerStore for VMware, Kubernetes, containers, and other ecosystems.

If I had to give anyone advice on Dell PowerStore, I would say to purchase it. Do not look at price and try to find something cheaper; it is not worth it. We went with something cheaper three years ago, and we regretted it fairly quickly. We are not going to regret Dell PowerStore; it is a tank, a beast. I would say do not skimp on things, especially your storage. I would rate this product eleven out of ten.

Dell PowerStore serves multiple critical functions for our organization. We were initially a cloud customer who became caught up in the cloud trend of putting everything in the cloud, but this approach became cost prohibitive. We had to repatriate and bring what we had in the cloud back onto on-premises infrastructure into a colocation facility. This is where we approached Dell, and they provided us with the ability to add both compute and storage capabilities. When they provided us the storage, the compression capability was exactly what we needed.

Our second use case involves our typical operations in the oil and gas industry, where we use a data historian, which is a very proprietary software with a proprietary database structure. We were not getting much compression on that system at all, and Dell PowerStore provided us with decent compression so we did not have to continuously expand our storage.

The features of Dell PowerStore that I appreciate most include the ability to move our data from one site to another site without needing VMware software, which we used in the past for this purpose. With Dell PowerStore, that capability is one of the things we love the most about it. This goes back to our point of having remote operations, and when we lose that remote site and need to restore something or operate without that site, we can do so because our data is already moved to the other sites, and we can simply pick that data up and start running.

Many of the features of Dell PowerStore have benefited our organization through the management of storage across the whole enterprise. The team has really enjoyed the single pane of glass for management instead of logging into each individual site to manage their specific versions and setups. The ability to upgrade and keep everything consistent has made the team very satisfied.

Dell PowerStore can be improved by better integration between Dell PowerStore and PowerProtect, especially on the cyber resilience side. We are very interested in how they will integrate those two products. Additionally, even though we are not heavily using AI on the Dell side, we have been working with them and challenging them to turn some of that functionality into agentive AIs, where programming or configuration for different policies could be done through natural language. We want to work with Dell to speed up everyday repetitive tasks through agentive agents.

I have personally been using Dell PowerStore for over the last three years since we moved off of Dell VxRail to Dell PowerStore.

Dell PowerStore has demonstrated strong stability and reliability. We have not experienced any P1s, which is what we call problem level one incidents. We have been very satisfied, and Dell has always been proactive, providing timely support when needed.

Dell PowerStore scales well with our growing needs, which has made us very satisfied. Some of our locations are very small, and Dell has provided us with small units that work well there. As we expand, they allow us to flex up and down, accommodating our larger sites and smaller sites with ease.

We have limited capabilities to consolidate data using Dell PowerStore because of our operational structure at each site. Data is more unique to the individual site, but we have had the ability to consolidate back to the compression capability that Dell has provided us.

I cannot complain about the customer service and technical support. We have received rock-solid support from Dell, especially during our transition from VxRail to Dell PowerStore. They have provided us with white glove service, keeping us on track with our project plans even during challenging circumstances. On a scale of one to ten for customer support, I would give them a nine. There is always room for improvement, so the account team should have goals to strive for.

When considering a change to Dell PowerStore, the factors included a simplification of our environment, as VxRail is an integrated solution that requires familiarity with the Dell platform. Dell PowerStore's current design, which splits computing from storage, worked better for us. VMware licensing also played a significant role in that decision since with Dell PowerStore and PowerEdge, we have a different type of licensing compared to VxRail.

Upgrading with Dell has been extremely straightforward. That is one thing that we have been very satisfied with Dell about. We were skeptical, but when we migrated from VxRail, a core Dell product, to Dell PowerStore, it was actually quite simple. We have been very satisfied from that perspective.

We have definitely seen a return on investment with Dell PowerStore. If we had not, we would have returned it already. Dell was very competitive when we shifted from VxRail to Dell PowerStore, and financially, we have seen ROI during that transition because they were flexible with us.

Ultimately, Dell PowerStore has been a rock-solid product for us. It has provided the capabilities we were seeking and yielded both efficiencies and financial value. When we shifted from the cloud to on-site, we saved $150,000 a month, which is significant for a small organization like ours. The relationship with our Dell account team has also been crucial—they have always looked out for us as a customer. I am totally comfortable with that information being used as it reflects what we have achieved, and we are not going to shy away from sharing that information.

My experience with the pricing, setup costs, and licensing is generally positive. One of the biggest reasons we chose Dell was the competitive pricing and strong partnership. They could be better, as some of their peers have lower pricing, but we get what we pay for. Dell has been extremely kind to Ascend Performance Materials. When I say it could be better, I mean some of their competitors have a more competitive cost structure and licensing model. I believe that is where Dell will face challenges, especially as competitors are working to attract business.

We continuously evaluate other competitors before the refresh cycle comes up, which is part of our business nature. We shop around with all the big players, including HP, Everspin, and NetApp. It is simply a normal part of the market review we conduct.

The solutions between Dell integrate well. I have been a long customer, and I remember the days of Dell EMC. There were some integration issues back then, but it has improved greatly. It is not as tightly integrated as their VxRail solution, but from what we see and what we have been using, we have been extremely satisfied.

At this point, we do not use Dell AIOps, also known as CloudIQ or APEX AIOps. That is something we, as a company, are starting to explore heavily—how to use AI in general—so Dell and I have had some conversations around that, but we are not using it yet. It is just more about timing and resources; we have not gotten to it. We run a very small team, so a lot of the functionalities or features that we want to use, we have not gotten to it.

We have Dell support, but we are not enrolled in the lifecycle extension, also known as the Anytime Upgrade program. However, we believe in refreshing equipment. What we do with Dell is refresh all of our end-user clients, servers, and storage, including Dell PowerStore, on a four-year cycle. We have not seen significant cost savings or operational efficiencies based on that. As I mentioned, we have such a small team, and if I were to push for it, I would say we have seen some efficiency, perhaps freeing up five to ten percent of our team's time, but in the grand picture, we have reallocated that to other uses. There is definitely efficiency, but not to the level where we have had to reduce headcount.

I would have to check with the team about utilizing any built-in integrations for VMware, Kubernetes, or other ecosystems. That is a little beyond my responsibility.

The pros of going with Dell PowerStore include the strong relationship we have built with Dell, which facilitates operations. The biggest con could also be that same relationship, as it can be difficult to move away from them with the entire Dell stack. Integration is extremely important, and while Dell excels in some areas, they may lag compared to vendors focused solely on storage.

I would rate Dell PowerStore between an eight and nine overall. We are extremely satisfied with it, but we recognize there is always room for improvement, particularly regarding automation and balancing innovation with integration. My advice for other organizations considering Dell PowerStore is to look closely at your use cases and ensure that what you are trying to achieve aligns with what they can provide. It is imperative to be honest about your growth plans, so you do not fall into the common trap of undersizing, which can lead to financial issues down the line. I rate this review a nine out of ten overall.

Dell PowerStore is used for mixed workloads based on virtualization, primarily VMware. Many customers choose iSCSI, and the newly formed protocol NVMe over TCP is also available. Fibre Channel deployments have also been completed. The main reason many customers have selected Dell PowerStore is based on the 5-to-1 dedupe and compression, but workloads must be sized according to the customer's specific requirements to guarantee the 5-to-1 dedupe and compression.

I have completed Dell PowerStore installations for small, medium, and enterprise businesses ranging from PowerStore 500T, which is the entry level, up to PowerStore 9000 series. These installations have been completed on NVMe, SAS, Fibre Channel, iSCSI, and NVMe protocols across all models.

From an entry-level perspective, PowerStore 500T has limited expansion capabilities. A couple of shelves can be added, but the controllers cannot be upgraded. Starting from PowerStore 1200T, expandability is available with their performance guarantee program where controller upgrades can be performed. The latest features with PowerStore 300Q use QMLC drives, providing bigger drives and expansion capabilities. Dell also offers a 5-to-1 dedupe compression guarantee. Dell PowerStore directly integrates with Dell Data Domain where backups can be offloaded directly to the Data Domain side.

Based in South Africa and the SADEC region in Africa, many customers use co-locations or their own data centers. There is no Dell PowerStore offering in the cloud as a storage-as-a-service option based on the Dell APEX model. Many customers tend to have it deployed on-premises.

From a Dell PowerStore perspective, the most valuable feature is how easy it is to set up the appliance and integrate it into either a VMware environment or any virtualization environment. A majority of the configurations and setup completed have been based on iSCSI with a couple on Fibre Channel. The ease of use and the deployment cycles are very user-friendly, as well as the Dell support site.

From an AI perspective, the initiatives that Dell implements in Dell PowerStore are exceptional because they provide proactive analysis on any ransomware detection as well as future capabilities of how storage is performing. If additional workloads are being brought in, a simulation can be done to show the impact that would occur on that specific device. This includes how the workload would impact performance from an IOPS, throughput, and utilization perspective.

I have worked as an integrator, pre-sales representative, solution architect, and implementation specialist for Dell PowerStore. Currently working for Nutanix, which is a hypervisor company, I previously worked for Dell for a long time. The beauty of Dell PowerStore is that it can be right-sized and when expansion is needed, instead of certain other vendors where a drive pack must be added to expand capacity, a single drive can be added at a time because of its dynamic RAID configuration. Multiple drives of a minimum of four or five do not need to be added. Small drives can be added in increments to increase capacity.

I used to work for Dell and there were certain limitations in the past. At the current moment with current features, because they guarantee 5-to-1 dedupe and compression, they also now natively have the MetroSync capability built in to have active-active data centers. Dell PowerStore is leading edge and bleeding edge, using the latest technology. The only thing that could be improved is having the entry-level PowerStore 500T be able to do multi-clustering. Additionally, for an entry-level option, introducing something like PowerStore 500X where native virtualization workloads can be run, similar to the other models like the 1200X where containerization and virtual machine workloads can be run natively, would be beneficial.

In the last 12 months, I have been working with Druva, Veeam, as well as Dell PowerStore. I have also worked with Nutanix, NetWorker, Data Domain, and VMware.

Scalability depends on the model that is started with. If PowerStore 500T is the starting model, scalability is limited. Once PowerStore 1200T is chosen, controller upgrades can be performed up to PowerStore 900. Additional DAEs or disk shelves can also be added and additional controllers can be included. Scaling up can be done from a single enclosure that already has two controllers to a maximum of four storage units with up to eight controllers, and a massive amount of storage can be added.

Serviceability, scalability, and supportability depend on the region. Based in South Africa, Dell South Africa has one of the best support aftermarket services within service time frames. ProSupport and ProSupport Plus options are available. Generally, any failure such as a hard drive is shipped within four hours before a technician arrives.

Customers can either self-install their drives, but Dell also has a 24/7 follow-the-sun procedure across the globe. During my 13-year tenure working for Dell and installations into Africa for First Bank Nigeria and others, there have never been any failures besides a DOA or an on-site failure as it ships out of the factory. Perhaps a hard drive was damaged due to electronic interference.

Other than that, supportability from a Dell perspective is excellent. Currently working for a software company and previously working for a reseller where I have been selling Pure Storage and others, I believe that Dell PowerStore is one of the top mid-range storage products.

Positive

There are three different ways of setting up Dell PowerStore. One is iSCSI, one is Fibre Channel, and one is NVMe. Elaborating further, the setup depends on whether it is into a VMware environment, a bare metal environment, or Hyper-V. All of those have their own complexities, but the initial setup is literally unpacking, racking it into the cabinet.

For instance, with a normal iSCSI deployment, once all network connectivity is connected into the servers, it literally takes about half an hour from the initial initialization, setting it up, connecting it to ESRS, and then carving out volumes and presenting that to a VMware cluster. The last time this was completed, it took a maximum of 45 minutes from racking, stacking, and initializing the actual Dell PowerStore unit to carving out volumes and presenting it in vCenter for transition.

A brilliant use case is transitioning a customer from Pure Storage over to Dell PowerStore. The entire migration took about four hours to migrate approximately 40 terabytes of data across to Dell PowerStore. The customer was impressed with no downtime during live hours. The company, called Ficon, is an ISP company that provides service provider services. The migration was completed during production hours with no impact, and the company actually experienced a 25 to 50% improvement in performance as well as dedupe and compression.

Dell PowerStore is highly versatile and offers numerous features that can be tailored to specific customer needs. It also features ransomware protection and integrates with a centralized management platform where functionality, dedupe compression, and analysis can be viewed.

I have comprehensive experience from a Dell PowerStore perspective due to working for Dell. I have used Druva internally from a company perspective and attempted to resell it. I have experience with Veeam as well.

From a supportability perspective, the highest rating would be given, but on NPS, a rating of ten is the maximum. This review has been given an overall rating of ten out of ten.

Dell PowerStore serves as the heart of our VDI environment. All of our servers, virtual servers, and client VMs live on Dell PowerStore. Dell PowerStore is responsible for the daily operations of our VMware environment.

The features that I appreciate most about Dell PowerStore are the ease of expansion. If you want to grow Dell PowerStore, you simply tell it how big you want it, and if the data reduction makes sense, then it will grow as you need it on demand. The high availability of Dell PowerStore is another aspect I really value. It is built to stay available under many abnormal conditions. If you have equipment failures, it will still stay up and running. This is very important to us as we have to maintain availability for our engineers.

Dell PowerStore is greatly expandable and easily expandable. We have had to expand during our use of Dell PowerStore from inception until today, and it is super easy. You simply go into the size of the volume and tell it what you want it to be, click okay, and it is right there. It is very, very fast and very simple.

I have seen some benefits in the use of Dell PowerStore when compared to our legacy systems. The legacy systems were about 25% slower, maybe up to 40% slower as far as response time and performance. With Dell PowerStore, it is much quicker and near real-time, and it keeps our engineers productive without any delays. The legacy system had some downtime, and that downtime equated to production billable hours lost. The investment that our company made in Dell PowerStore has more than paid for itself with its continued uptime, reducing any downtime, and keeping those billable hours flowing.

Thankfully, we have not experienced any downtime or performance issues through the entire use of Dell PowerStore.

I do not have any input for improvements for Dell PowerStore because it is expandable and scalable. I cannot think of a newer feature that I would suggest for a next release. It meets all of our needs, and I honestly cannot think of how to improve it. In my particular use case, I cannot come up with anything that I would wish they would improve on. The UI is great, the expandability is great, the physicality of it is great, and the high availability is great. I am not even maximizing my use of it. It is well more than enough for us, and I really genuinely love to use the product. I do not have any suggestions for improvement.

I have been using Dell PowerStore for about a couple of years.

When working with the customer service people at Dell, it was always a good experience. They were very knowledgeable about the product and they knew exactly where to point me to help me. I had a licensing issue where a particular OS level conflicted with a license, and they were able to sort it out real quick. They knew the product, and that was very comforting and a good experience.

Dell PowerStore's customer service receives perfect scores. They get perfect scores across the board.

Our legacy system prior to adopting Dell PowerStore used a completely different architecture. It was a vSAN type architecture where the storage was spread across the user nodes or the compute nodes. That solution was not going to be viable for us. We needed a highly available, single, isolated storage solution, which we found in Dell PowerStore 500T. All the compute is separated in the PowerEdge. These two systems work seamlessly together, and I do not run into the same problems of storage availability when I am using Dell PowerStore that I did with the legacy system.

The setup cost was next to zero because we actually did it internally ourselves according to the books and the diagrams that were provided. When we had an audit come in and look at it, they said we did it all 100 percent correctly. I feel good about that.

I definitely have seen a return on investment with Dell PowerStore because when we have downtime, we lose billable hours, and that equates to revenue lost. By putting Dell PowerStore in place, we have maintained uptime and billable hours, equating to much more than the cost of Dell PowerStore solution in total. It has paid for itself by being up and available.

The pricing for Dell PowerStore is comparable. The licensing is pretty direct and simplified. The licensing and the price were comparable and nominal compared to other equivalent solutions.

I looked at Unity and other systems and looked at the specs primarily to see which had the highest IOPS and which supported the highest networking bandwidth, because we have to connect it to our switching infrastructure. Dell PowerStore stood out because it was upgradeable to go beyond our switching infrastructure, but at least meet our switching infrastructure speed. I went with Dell PowerStore because the same equivalent space took up much more rack space with other systems. Dell PowerStore condenses rack space down and reduces the need to a fraction of what I needed with another system such as Unity, by a factor of 75 percent, which is significant. This results in less power, less cooling, more performance, and equivalent space with Dell PowerStore.

I do use Dell AIOps to manage all of my PowerEdge servers and Dell PowerStore. Dell AIOps definitely helps me manage my PowerEdge servers and Dell PowerStore appliance. It keeps them up to date, lets me know if something is out of compliance, and it is a single pane of glass for my entire environment.

Dell AIOps tells me when I need firmware. Firmware is important to keep up to date. Additional downloads that keep the system running and optimized for optimal performance are very important, and Dell AIOps keeps us and our team well-informed.

I do not use Dell PowerStore's built-in integrations for VMware, Kubernetes, containers, or other ecosystems presently. I may look into them later, but I would use the VMware integration if anything. However, we have a separate VMware system in place and that currently suffices.

I rate Dell PowerStore with a 10 because it does everything that it said and more. For instance, we got a guarantee of 5-to-1 data reduction, and we are getting 13-to-1. That is incredible and more than twice the guarantee. We are getting ease of use, and it is very intuitive. I can change the storage within 60 seconds and grow and expand the storage. It is scalable and just meets all the needs that we had in looking for a storage solution. I recommend Dell PowerStore because it is highly available. It is something you can rely on and count on to stay running. Even when some of the components fail, it will still be up and running. A lot has to go wrong for it to fail, and that is one of the reasons I would recommend Dell PowerStore.