HPE BladeSystem and Cisco UCS B-Series serve in the enterprise server market, each offering unique benefits and drawbacks. Cisco UCS B-Series leads with advanced features, but HPE BladeSystem is often favored for affordability.
Features: HPE BladeSystem is celebrated for its configurability, modular architecture, and reliable performance, particularly suited for small to medium enterprises. Cisco UCS B-Series is known for seamless integration with virtualization and comprehensive centralized management, making it an ideal choice for large-scale applications.
Room for Improvement: HPE BladeSystem is criticized for limited scalability and manageability issues compared to modern solutions, with users reporting challenges in firmware updates and backward compatibility. Cisco UCS B-Series faces challenges with a complex management interface and high power consumption, with calls for streamlining configurations and cost reduction on upgrades.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: HPE BladeSystem offers slightly better deployment flexibility across on-premises and hybrid cloud environments. Though HPE's support is praised in many areas, issues arise with slow escalation. Cisco UCS B-Series provides comparable deployment flexibility but experiences with slow technical support response are noted, though both systems have favorable customer service in various regions.
Pricing and ROI: HPE BladeSystem is generally less expensive than Cisco UCS B-Series, offering businesses a cost-effective balance between investment and operational savings. Despite higher costs, Cisco UCS B-Series justifies its price with enterprise features and strong infrastructure, yielding significant returns in operational efficiency over time.
Additionally, we achieved server consolidation, running multiple services on fewer servers without purchasing new ones, resulting in significant financial benefits.
Cisco's technical support is highly helpful and responsive.
I would rate technical support from HPE as an eight on a scale from one to ten.
I encounter challenges in identifying reasonable prices during the setup cost and licensing process, especially for scalability when we need to contact different vendors for quotes to find competitive offers.
The stability of Cisco UCS B-Series is impeccable, as it has been running smoothly without any need for maintenance.
I do not have to call HP support frequently, which indicates its reliability.
Last year, we faced challenges with firmware upgrades, but they were quickly resolved with assistance from Cisco TAC.
We require a centralized image that will be replicated to any other device immediately, and all configurations and everything will come as soon as possible.
To do any customization, we need to contact HP technical support, and the process is not user-friendly.
In general, there is a 10% to 15% price gap compared to competitors.
The management software, Cisco One, is priced a bit high but still considered reasonable.
With around 19 years of exposure in working with various servers, including HPE, I encounter challenges in identifying reasonable prices during the setup cost and licensing process, especially for scalability when we need to contact different vendors for quotes to find competitive offers.
In general, there is a 10% to 15% price gap compared to competitors.
Its administration capabilities provide easy access to performance reports, logs, and utilization data, which are essential for effective server management.
The integration of storage and networking components within the HPE BladeSystem is quite beneficial as it is easily interoperable if we are using the same system for monitoring with the same software, which eliminates interoperability issues.
The feature I find most valuable is the ease of use.
The integration of storage and networking components within HPE BladeSystem is also good for my organization.
| Product | Market Share (%) |
|---|---|
| HPE BladeSystem | 10.5% |
| Cisco UCS B-Series | 6.9% |
| Other | 82.6% |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 20 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 15 |
| Large Enterprise | 41 |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 29 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 40 |
| Large Enterprise | 104 |
HP ProLiant BladeSystem share power, cooling, network, and storage infrastructure via the blade enclosure. Since equipment is not needed for each server, you get a dramatic reduction in power distribution units, power cables, LAN and SAN switches, connectors, adapters, and cables. And you can add the newest-generation technologies by simply changing individual components.
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