What is our primary use case?
The main use case is for when the customer wants to publish their applications to the cloud or access the internet. We are using it where applications are quite critical and where we can't have any downtime.
What is most valuable?
The functionality of the solution is fairly good.
The pricing of the solution is excellent. It's one of the main reasons a customer chooses Huawei. It's much, much better than VMware.
What needs improvement?
The stability is poor as compared to VMware. It's a big issue for the customers as well. In our last two to three deployments we were having some issues with the hardware side. Huawei always offers its own hardware servers. However, there are stability issues associated with them. This isn't ideal when you have critical applications on the solution and you can't afford downtime.
The solution needs to focus more on network security. We do have NSX and we are integrating multiple applications like Carbon Black.
From our perspective, if we're talking about multiple data centers, Huawei needs to have a virtualized solution, which can better compete with VMware.
Technical support needs improvement. There's a lot of language barriers.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for a year and a half.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution lacks stability. VMware is much more stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
If we're talking about a small data center, which I have tested, it's okay in terms of scalability. We haven't had any feedback from the customer yet to make us believe it doesn't scale small data centers well. I haven't tested in an STDC architecture such as multiple data centers. I cannot say much about that. But for a smaller scale, I think it's okay. It works. For a larger scale, I'm not sure. I'd have questions for them.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support is a bit slower and weaker because the teams are comprised of mainly Chinese techs, so there's a lot of language barriers for us. The local support in Pakistan is not that good yet. For the switching and network parts, Huawei is pretty good, however, for technical support in general, I think there's some room for improvement.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We also use VMware. It's more expensive, but it's also more stable and offers a virtualized solution. Typically, if a client wants the lowest possible price, they go with Huawei, but VMware is a better product.
How was the initial setup?
Huawei is a bit more complex than, say, VMware, but not by that much. VMware does have VxRail, and that deployment is quite easy. In that case, you just have to power up the server and everything boots up.
I would rate VMware a bit above Huawei in terms of deployment and configuration point of view. Huawei isn't as good.
What other advice do I have?
If a company is looking for a local solution, a local SCI, the company should go for Huawei. However, if we are talking about a longterm investment and a requirement for scalability, then I would say a company is better off with VMware.
We are a reseller partner for Huawei. I don't think I would necessarily recommend the solution to a client. I prefer VMware because it is more reliable.
I'd rate this solution six out of ten due to its lack of stability.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
*Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
