Cisco UCS B-Series and HPE Synergy compete in the enterprise server market. Cisco holds an advantage in support and ROI, while HPE leads in flexibility and composability.
Features: Cisco UCS B-Series is praised for its scalability, efficient firmware updates using service profiles, and centralized management, making it ideal for rapidly growing IT environments. It offers seamless server provisioning and tightly integrates with virtualization technologies. HPE Synergy stands out with its composability, allowing easy hardware repurposing for various workloads, thus improving resource utilization and supporting diverse IT environments.
Room for Improvement: Cisco UCS B-Series demands significant technical expertise for optimal deployment and can improve in interface management and storage integration. Users point out its power requirements as a challenge. HPE Synergy could enhance integration with third-party products and improve automation for handling complex deployments, with some users calling for better technical support and less downtime during updates.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cisco UCS B-Series users frequently commend the efficient and responsive support from Cisco TAC, highlighting their expertise and availability, which is unmatched by HPE Synergy, where users suggest improvements in response times and comprehension levels despite acknowledging the support team.
Pricing and ROI: Cisco UCS B-Series, though having higher initial costs, is regarded for delivering substantial long-term ROI due to its consistent performance, appealing to enterprises that value stability. HPE Synergy, also considered expensive, provides a compelling ROI by reducing IT infrastructure costs through its composable infrastructure. Both systems are acknowledged for robust ROI, but Cisco often involves more negotiation in its pricing strategy.
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 the technical support from HPE Synergy, and for all other solutions, as very good and appreciable with a score of nine out of ten on a scale from one to ten.
The stability of Cisco UCS B-Series is impeccable, as it has been running smoothly without any need for maintenance.
Last year, we faced challenges with firmware upgrades, but they were quickly resolved with assistance from Cisco TAC.
Currently, it supports only two drives in the blade server, which can be limiting.
The management software, Cisco One, is priced a bit high but still considered reasonable.
Pricing in the blade server market is very competitive, with HPE offering a competitive price.
Its administration capabilities provide easy access to performance reports, logs, and utilization data, which are essential for effective server management.
It offers significant compute power in approximately ten rack units, making it practical for workload optimization.
| Product | Mindshare (%) |
|---|---|
| HPE Synergy | 9.7% |
| Cisco UCS B-Series | 7.3% |
| Other | 83.0% |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 21 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 15 |
| Large Enterprise | 41 |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 31 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 15 |
| Large Enterprise | 56 |
Cisco UCS B-Series delivers centralized management, scalability, and integration suited for data centers. It excels in providing compute power for virtualization while ensuring minimal downtime with service profiles and consistent configurations.
The Cisco UCS B-Series platform is designed for high scalability, reliable centralized control, and efficient computing power, crucial for data centers. It integrates seamlessly with virtualization technologies like VMware ESXi, providing an intuitive interface for managing resources. However, enhancements are needed in areas such as storage integration, unified dashboard capabilities, and more responsive technical support. While appreciated for its resource management, cost-effective scalability, and reduced connectivity needs, it faces challenges with Java-based management and the validation process for storage. Organizations rely on UCS B-Series for running critical applications, database hosting, and supporting cloud workloads, despite its higher cost and needed interface improvements.
What are the key features of Cisco UCS B-Series?In industries requiring stable, scalable infrastructure, Cisco UCS B-Series is integral to managing virtualization and computing environments. It aids sectors such as finance and healthcare by supporting the virtual machines and infrastructures necessary for SAP HANA and other critical applications, contributing to effective cloud integration and server consolidation.
HPE Synergy offers a composable infrastructure enabling hardware reuse and automation, appreciated for manageability through OneView, which simplifies configuration and deployment.
HPE Synergy's strengths include flexibility, scalability, and a modular design that integrates with existing IT infrastructure for improved performance and manageability. It excels in high-density virtualization tasks and is especially suited to VMware and Hyper-V environments, SQL and Oracle databases, and large-scale data centers. Though users note challenges such as complex management interfaces and integration issues with non-HPE systems, its ability to replace aging systems like C7000 and facilitate hybrid cloud transformation is significant. Requirements for streamlined firmware updates, better storage integration, faster deployment, enhanced support, and documentation are acknowledged.
What are the most important features of HPE Synergy?HPE Synergy is widely implemented across industries focusing on virtualization and cloud transformation, providing enhanced compute power and flexibility to companies transitioning from older systems. It supports hybrid cloud infrastructure management and handles the demands of large-scale data centers efficiently.
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