We compared Dell ECS and Dell PowerScale (Isilon) based on our user's reviews in several parameters.
In comparing user reviews of Dell ECS and Dell PowerScale (Isilon), Dell ECS is praised for its efficient performance, while Dell PowerScale (Isilon) shines for its exceptional data scalability. Dell ECS receives positive feedback for its reasonable pricing and satisfactory ROI, whereas Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is commended for its prompt customer service and support. Both products have areas for improvement, with Dell ECS needing enhancements in reliability, customization, and customer support effectiveness, while Dell PowerScale (Isilon) could benefit from improvements in interface, performance speed, scalability, compatibility with other systems, and technical support.
Features: In terms of valuable features, Dell ECS is praised for its efficient performance, seamless integration, and reliable storage capabilities. On the other hand, Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is known for its exceptional data scalability, efficient storage management, and reliable performance.
Pricing and ROI: The setup cost for Dell ECS is considered straightforward and easy with no major complications, accommodating different business needs. On the other hand, Dell PowerScale (Isilon) also has a straightforward setup cost without any hidden charges or complexities, ensuring smooth integration and use of the product., Users have reported positive ROI with Dell ECS, citing cost savings, improved resource allocation, increased productivity, and streamlined processes. Dell PowerScale (Isilon) users appreciate its performance, scalability, efficiency, seamless integration, and cost savings from improved productivity and data management.
Room for Improvement: Dell ECS could benefit from improvements in product reliability, user interface intuitiveness, customer support effectiveness, and customization options. In contrast, Dell PowerScale (Isilon) needs enhancements in interface, performance speed, scalability, compatibility with other systems, and technical support.
Deployment and customer support: The user reviews for Dell ECS indicate that the timeframes for establishing a new tech solution varied, with some users taking three months for deployment and an additional week for setup. In comparison, the reviews for Dell PowerScale (Isilon) also mention varying timeframes, with some users spending three months on deployment and others reporting a week for setup. However, it is important to note that in cases where a week was required for both deployment and setup, these terms refer to the same period and should be evaluated together., Dell ECS has received commendations for their exceptional customer service, with users expressing satisfaction with the prompt response time and efficiency in resolving concerns. Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is highly commended for its exceptional customer service, with users praising the promptness, efficiency, and effectiveness of Dell's assistance. The level of expertise and professionalism demonstrated by the support team is also praised.
The summary above is based on 35 interviews we conducted recently with Dell ECS and Dell PowerScale (Isilon) users. To access the review's full transcripts, download our report.
"Dell's technical support team is good."
"What I like best about Dell ECS is its stability. I also like that you can use it for large-scale data purposes. The solution works fine for me, and I haven't encountered any issues with it."
"The most valuable feature for me is off-site storage."
"This solution is very easy to use, and is very reliable."
"What I like best about this product is that it is a complete solution, both hardware, and software, by the same vendor."
"We face very few hardware failures."
"The stability is the most valuable aspect of the solution."
"It's definitely good for unstructured data. In earlier days, we had Centera, so for the DR it's really good. It has load balancing facility, and we're using it with the Kemp Load Balancer."
"PowerScale helped free up our employees' time to focus on other business priorities. There are now automated jobs such as backing up and replicating data, that reduce the footprint we have. Those types of tasks were previously done manually."
"I don't have to rebuild the cluster to add a node."
"The most valuable feature of Dell PowerScale (Isilon) integration with other solutions because of the standard file system protocol."
"For maximizing storage utilization, PowerScale is great. When you write the data to it, it spreads it out to all the nodes, so you get all the performance from the entire pool."
"The solution is extremely easy to manage. This is its most valuable feature."
"PowerScale has made it extremely easy to scale file data across our organization. We have two implementations of Isilon. One is a replica of the other. When scaling, we add nodes to each location and expand the cluster. The process is straightforward."
"Isilon is flexible in supporting various data workloads while keeping them protected. Dell continues to release updates and patches which enhance the use of this solution. This includes offering ransomware protection."
"It assists with eliminating storage silos because it provides SMB and NFS protocols. PowerScale has also helped free up our employee's time to focus on other business priorities."
"The solution needs to provide better integration between this solution and all other kinds of systems."
"There is room for improvement in the DPI reports, as they could be made more user-friendly."
"The setup is very complex."
"The major weakness in the solution is that there is no cloud version for Dell ECS."
"The initial setup is not so easy."
"In Taiwan, they don't have professional technical support."
"We have concerns about the write performance. We would also like it to be easier to scale out, to add more boxes to the system. And we want improved performance, to use a next-generation NFS service."
"They could provide centralized reports."
"The solution's rate structure or rate redundancy needs to be improved."
"Additional metadata reporting would be great. We have to use a separate tool to report on that. We would like to view the age of data and how long it has been since someone has accessed a file."
"It would be nice to see tools like Superna Eyeglass built into PowerScale."
"The legacy file system for Epsilon didn't scale into the cloud and didn't have a separate OS. It would be key if this was made possible."
"I'd like to see more Iceland products in the cloud so that we can port our data into different environments if needed. I would also like to see a virtual appliance or software-defined Iceland product."
"There is room for improvement in its handling of object storage."
"The UID mapping and how to configure mapping-related things is a struggle."
"We had some issues with level 1 support. We had to fight with them on repeated issues. There is room for improvement in level 1 support."
Dell ECS is ranked 5th in File and Object Storage with 25 reviews while Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is ranked 2nd in File and Object Storage with 40 reviews. Dell ECS is rated 8.0, while Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is rated 9.0. The top reviewer of Dell ECS writes "Enables multiple protocol support, but its IOPS functionality needs improvement in terms of performance ". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Dell PowerScale (Isilon) writes "We can easily deploy, manage, and maintain systems without needing a huge amount of expertise to facilitate them". Dell ECS is most compared with Amazon AWS, MinIO, NetApp StorageGRID, Red Hat Ceph Storage and Scality RING, whereas Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is most compared with NetApp FAS Series, Pure Storage FlashBlade, Qumulo, HPE StoreEasy and Red Hat Ceph Storage. See our Dell ECS vs. Dell PowerScale (Isilon) report.
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