HPE NonStop ensures continuous availability, supporting mission-critical environments with unmatched reliability. It meets industry-specific needs with scalable architecture and robust features ideal for enterprises requiring seamless operations and high data integrity.
| Product | Mindshare (%) |
|---|---|
| HPE NonStop | 4.9% |
| HPE Synergy | 9.2% |
| Dell PowerEdge MX- Series | 9.1% |
| Other | 76.8% |
| Type | Title | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Category | Blade Servers | Jun 23, 2026 | Download |
| Product | Reviews, tips, and advice from real users | Jun 23, 2026 | Download |
| Comparison | HPE NonStop vs Dell PowerEdge MX- Series | Jun 23, 2026 | Download |
| Comparison | HPE NonStop vs Dell PowerEdge R-Series | Jun 23, 2026 | Download |
| Comparison | HPE NonStop vs HPE BladeSystem | Jun 23, 2026 | Download |
| Title | Rating | Mindshare | Recommending | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dell PowerEdge R-Series | 4.5 | 5.1% | 99% | 307 interviewsAdd to research |
| HPE Synergy | 4.2 | 9.2% | 91% | 91 interviewsAdd to research |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 4 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 3 |
| Large Enterprise | 5 |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 61 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 13 |
| Large Enterprise | 40 |
HPE NonStop is designed for environments that demand uninterrupted operations and critical data processing. Its architecture provides fault-tolerant capabilities and parallel processing, ensuring zero downtime and efficient resource usage. Businesses in industries like finance and telecommunications benefit from its ability to handle transactional workloads and data-intensive applications, making it a trusted choice for operations with high demands.
What are the most important features of HPE NonStop?HPE NonStop is implemented across industries like finance, where reliability in transaction processing is essential, and telecommunications, which demands high availability due to continuous service requirements. Its application ensures operational consistency, compliance with industry standards, and critical data protection.
HPE NonStop was previously known as HP NonStop, HPE Integrity NonStop.
| Author info | Rating | Review Summary |
|---|---|---|
| Vice President of It Operations at a computer software company with 51-200 employees | 4.5 | I use HPE NonStop as a switching system for Visa and Master applications due to its 100% uptime and stability. While it lacks flexibility and Java compatibility, it's worth the investment, outperforming other solutions like Stratus ftServer. |
| Bidding and Proposals Manager at Summit Technology Solution | 3.0 | In my experience, HPE NonStop could benefit from enhancements in infrastructure management. While I haven't used other solutions, the potential improvement in this area would significantly enhance its overall functionality and performance. |
| Director of Technology Services at a educational organization with 201-500 employees | 3.5 | I find HPE NonStop stable and scalable with good support, but its initial setup is complex and costly, requiring a consultant. I recommend buying multi-year support for better pricing and rate it a seven out of ten. |
| Senior Technical Lead at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees | 4.0 | I value this solution's fault-tolerance and 24/7 availability, having used it for eleven stable years. My main concerns are its scalability limitations and current high cost, though I received good technical support. |
| NonStop System Engineer & Administrator at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees | 5.0 | I've used HPE NonStop for 17 years. Its unparalleled 24/7 availability, stability, and excellent support are crucial, with easy setup. My only major concern is the expensive third-party software, not the system itself. |
| HP NonStop Specialist at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees | 5.0 | I value HPE NonStop's essential reliability and scalability for banking, with excellent support. While setup is complex and costly, I hope for virtual server support for test environments, as it's our only viable solution. |
| Senior HP Nonstop System Consultant at a tech services company with 51-200 employees | 5.0 | For decades, I've used HPE NonStop, valuing its fault tolerance, scalability, and security for zero downtime. Despite costly third-party utilities, its excellent support and overall value make it perfect for mission-critical needs. |
| Enterprise Architect at Equens SE, European payment processor | 4.0 | We've found this product reliable, stable, and scalable for decades. However, we're phasing it out due to its proprietary nature and difficulty finding skilled personnel. I wouldn't recommend it for new implementations. |
| Payments Systems lead engineer (remote) at a retailer with 1,001-5,000 employees | 4.0 | I find this solution offers rock-solid reliability, excellent scalability, and fault-tolerant transaction processing, perfect for high-volume needs. Setup is challenging, and the TACL language needs improvement, but customer service is always expert. |
| Global Infrastructure Designer at a retailer with 10,001+ employees | 4.0 | I value its security, availability, and cost savings from support; it's stable and scalable. However, the hardware fails often, and customer service can be inconsistent, sometimes requiring too many questions and logs. |
I have been using the solution switching apps. In our company, we are using it as a form of not payment system but as a switching system for Visa and Master.
Feature-wise, the most valuable one is the fact that it has 100 hundred percent uptime every year. Secondly, it is stable. When working, it is fairly stable, and performance is very good.
Since it is a legacy tool, there is a need to change it for flexibility. I think now it has improved because the security is very good. It is very secure for the performance of the machine critical application service, and it is very good. I don't know how to speak more on improvement needed because it's a good enough tool. However, depending on the application, it's limited. Not a lot of applications run on HPE NonStop. It is not flexible because I know that because of the compatibility of Java with HPE NonStop. When we are using Java, the performance is not good.
I have been using HPE NonStop for twenty-three years. I am a customer of the solution. Currently, I am using HPE NonStop X NS3, which is the latest setting.
It is a very stable product.
It is a scalable solution.
More than 150 customers are using the solution.
Technical support from HPE is very good. I rate the support a ten out of ten.
Positive
The installation is difficult though not very difficult, since we need support from the engineers of HPE. Actually, it is not very hard because I know the system.
It takes around two days to install it.
Five engineers are required for deployment.
For our company, the solution is worth the money.
It is an expensive solution.
On a scale of one to ten, where one is very cheap, and ten is very expensive, I rate the pricing an eight.
The licensing is based on a yearly basis, but we buy for a minimum of three years. We need to pay for the license and support.
Based on my experience with other solutions, HPE NonStop is better.
For maintenance, only two people are required.
If a customer needs the system running for the mainframe service with 100 percent uptime, then they can start using HPE NonStop.
I rate the overall product a nine out of ten.
HPE NonStop could improve by having infrastructure management.
I have been using HPE NonStop for more than 20 years.
The stability of HPE NonStop is good.
I rate the stability of HPE NonStop a nine out of ten.
HPE NonStop is highly scalable.
I rate the scalability of HPE NonStop an eight out of ten.
The initial setup of HPE NonStop is difficult. It was costly. We followed the typical site surveys and requirements, such as power, electricity, temperature, network, and air conditioning. Additionally, the customer requirements and other software that need to be installed can make the process more difficult. There are many steps in the setup before we arrive at the stage where we start implementing the hardware.
I rate the initial setup of HPE NonStop a three out of ten.
Our team was shadowing the HPE team for the implementation of the solution.
The price of the solution is too high. If they lowered the price substantially it would open up more opportunities. It's considered a replacement for the old 9000 boxes of HP. If it had a lower price, we would be able to compete in the financial, and other sectors and other solutions such as Terraform. Having a high price makes other solutions more attractive.
If you compare this solution to Intel-based servers it is more expensive.
The support of the solution is expensive.
I rate the price of HPE NonStop a nine out of ten.
We have one senior architect that does the maintenance of the solution.
I rate HPE NonStop a six out of ten.
We use this solution to power the rest of the servers that we have.
There are no specific features that stand out, it was just a migration path.
If the initial setup could be more simplified it would be an improvement.
They were not as nice as BladSystems. The architecture is the same, but just the way that they have done some of the things is a bit different.
We have been an HP shop for approximately 10 years. Everything we have is HPEfrom PCs to servers, it's all HPE.
We are using the most recent version.
We don't have any issues with the stability of HPE NonStop.
HPE NonStop is a scalable product.
I have no issues with the technical support. My experience has been good.
The initial setup is complex. You need the help of a consultant for it to go smoothly.
I always make sure that we have a consultant, whether it's HP or an independent consultant to help us.
It would be helpful if they brought the price down.
The pricing depends on individual companies. We like to buy five years upfront and then we deal with annual maintenance afterward. We don't budget it per year.
HPE NonStop is definitely on the higher end.
I would strongly suggest that when they buy it, they should always attempt to buy multi-year support on it. HP tends to give more discounts when you buy multi-years versus just buying it for one year and then renewing it the next year.
The support is definitely worth it for these types of solutions.
I would rate HPE NonStop a seven out of ten.
It helps us to keep the business running 24/7. Our client is a bank and we need to run the show continuously. Availability is the key factor along with fault-tolerance. The system/application should be fault proof to withstand software/hardware failures and run 24/7 without downtime. Along with this performance, the current market situation demands that customers are not kept waiting.
These factors are pretty important for me while making a decision or designing the architecture.
I would like to see better scalability. I would like see them make it easier to port other applications in a plug-and-play manner.
I have used it for eleven years.
There have been no stability issues. These are the most stable servers in the fault-tolerance space.
There were some scalability issues. When we decided to migrate an application or port application, the limitations of these servers didn't help us.
I would give technical support a rating of 8/10.
HPE NonStop is expensive now. However, with a new solution of HPE NonStop on Xeon Processors and vNonStop, I am sure that the cost will come down drastically.
Availability (AL4) is key. We are a 24/7 shop and we have customers all over the world who require 24/7 transaction access. They need to pay, process, or make transactions for whatever service they need. The HPE NonStop solution is rated with the highest level of availability in the industry.
We are a 24/7 shop, so availability is very important.
The products/systems are the best of the breed. But this is diminished by the software vendors who seem to make the solution very expensive.
Maybe HPE should deal with all the software vendors directly and negotiate more customer friendly pricing.
I have used this solution for 17 years.
We did not encounter any stability issues.
We did not encounter any scalability issues.
I would give technical support a rating of 10/10.
We did not use a different solution previous to this one.
The initial setup was straightforward and HPE support was great. The Global Customer Support Center (GCSC) and the technical support database are well updated.
The NonStop system is well priced, but the software that runs on it is quite pricey. Maybe HPE should deal with all the software vendors directly and negotiate more customer friendly pricing. Depending upon where you are in the world and what currency you use, this can really become an issue.
Nothing else compares to this solution. We never evaluated anything else.
If you have a 24/7 shop and availability is what you are looking for, then buy HPE NonStop.
I work for a bank, and payment systems almost always run on HPE NonStop systems. So the organization doesn’t function without it.
Currently the NonStop platform doesn’t support virtualization of servers or CPU’s. Only storage. It would be nice to have virtual cpus or servers for use in test environments for example.
I work for companies that have always been using HPE NonStop systems.
We have not encountered any stability issues.
Good scalability is one of the main features of the NonStop systems.
Technical support is A++. If there is a problem, HPE will fix it.
I am not aware of any previous solutions.
Setup is complex, as payment systems are never simple.
NonStop systems are expensive so make sure you really need them.
There are no other options available for us.
Fault tolerance is the heart of what a NonStop is. The high availability of NonStop systems comes from close cooperation between the hardware and software. Every component in an HPE NonStop server is duplicated. If one component fails, there is instantaneous failover to a backup. This includes not only hardware components, such as processors, memory, I/O channels, and power supplies; but also all software components, such as system and application processes. As a consequence, a NonStop server is self-healing in the presence of any single fault and many multiple faults. If a component fails, no one notices except for the IT staff that must correct the fault.
Scalability is important to me. I might need a performance boost at certain times of the year, especially around the Christmas period. In a company I previously worked for, we payed particular attention to the number of POS and ATM transactions around the Christmas period because this was known to be the busiest period of the year. It would have been nice not to have to worry about the transaction rate and CPU/DISK performance, but to simply turn on a CPU core for that particular time of year. Since upgrading the hardware, this worry is a thing of the past.
Security is always important, and the NonStop is no different. Many security layers make it very difficult for hackers to access information you don’t own or don’t need to see, even if you know what you are doing.
There is never any downtime due to the way the hardware and software interact. They are both fault tolerant and, therefore, give a robust service.
This is very hard to say. How do you improve on perfection?
If pushed, then the only thing I can think of would be utilities provided by the vendor. Nearly all of the utilities are provided by third-party partners. As such, they are pretty expensive. There are also quite a few overlapping features between the products, which makes it quite difficult to select one over the other.
I have been using HPE NonStop in its various levels since 1984.
I have never encountered any issues with stability.
I have never encountered any issues with scalability. If you need to scale up, you simply turn on one of the cores.
Technical support is very good. The first-line support people are very very experienced and knowledgeable.
I have never used a different solution. However, I know of other companies that have moved away from NonStop technology as a cost saving exercise – only to encounter many issues including large amounts of downtime. Downtime in a financial, energy or telecom business is very expensive both in customer and financial terms. It should be avoided at all costs. Some have even moved back to the NonStop platform.
The initial installation and setup is pretty straightforward, but that would depend on your level of expertise. For people that do not know the platform, it could be quite challenging; but there are third-party companies out there that specialize in NonStop.
Pricing and licensing costs used to be quite expensive. However the total cost of ownership for NonStop is now lower than other platforms. This assumes that you are comparing platforms with the same txn rates, capacity and performance.
I have never looked at other options. HPE NonStop is the only real mission critical, fault tolerant option.
Implement it. You will never regret it. However, if you are not looking for mission critical, fault tolerant machines; and you don’t care about your downtime, or the hidden expense that you might incur, then maybe it’s not for you.
They've been very reliable since we started using them in 1978, but we're going to replace them in a few years.
They're innovative, proprietary servers with a strategic position in the marketplace. We're still going to phase them out.
We have to replace the software because the software is key. In three or four years, we'll completely phase them out. Also, there are no knowledgeable people for this product. They're all in their 50's as no young people are interested in this technology.
I think HP NonStop is a very valuable platform, especially regarding HA of course, but its largest disadvantage is that it's a proprietary platform. That's one if the reasons that we're going to phase it out in due time. I can imagine that companies are and will be using the platform, and we'll use it for many more years as it's certainly a strategic platform for HPE, but on the other hand, I cannot imagine that any company will choose it as a new platform.
We've never had issues with deployment.
We have never had any issues with the stability.
We've always been able to scale it sufficiently.
We're satisfied with the technical support of HP.
We've used it for so long that I don't think we've used another solution.
The initial setup was so long ago that I don't know whether it was straightforward or complex.
I would never advise someone to buy or to implement the new NonStop because it's hard to find skilled people.
Retail payments must be reliable with high uptime.
NonStop (formerly known as Tandem) in the Guardian OS could use another, friendlier macro language. The one provided (TACL) is a bit cumbersome - and there are not practical alternatives available.
I've used it for 12 years.
There was no issues with the deployment.
This is why stock markets use it for transaction processing. Stability is what NonStop Tandem is famous for.
You can't exceed the scalability available.
Excellent. Tech support is always, repeat always, a seasoned expert engineer.
I have worked on NonStop my entire career.
Relatively challenging, for example it was difficult to configure the communications.
We used a vendor team.
If you have a high transaction volumes, it can be justified. If your transaction volumes are ordinary, this may be way too much machine for your needs. Think five million retail transactions monthly, as an example.
If you are contemplating a fault-tolerant, high uptime transaction processing machine with above normal transactions volumes - to act as a transaction server with infrequent changes to code - and you simply must have bulletproof performance - this might be the ticket. And if it is, spend a little time checking into the flavors: original Guardian OS, or the Unix OSS. Primarily languages used are TAL, C, and, yes, Cobol.
The most valuable features for us are the security, availability, and hardware support.
Because we're able to get immediate support, this prevents downtime and directly impacts cost savings.
The hardware fails often, and I feel that HP really needs to pay more attention to this issue. We've talked to them about it.
We've been using it since 2000.
We've had no deployment problems.
It's quite a stable solution.
It scales to our needs.
The level of technical support depends on how helpful the first level is. Sometimes they understand our problems pretty well and escalate immediately when necessary. Other times they really don't know how critical something is so they ask a lot of questions and we have to send in log files, taking much more time than I think is necessary.
