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Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers vs IBM Power Systems comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 8, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Ser...
Ranking in Rack Servers
5th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
5.8
Number of Reviews
29
Ranking in other categories
Density Optimized Servers (3rd)
IBM Power Systems
Ranking in Rack Servers
4th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
8.5
Number of Reviews
69
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Rack Servers category, the mindshare of Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers is 4.8%, down from 4.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Power Systems is 9.1%, up from 8.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Rack Servers
 

Featured Reviews

Kalpesh Savaliya - PeerSpot reviewer
Good support, and this product well-suited to our size of environment
We use these rack servers for terminal operating systems The initial setup could be easier. I have been working with Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers for five years. This is a stable product. For our use case, this product is scalable up to 16 blades, including two sites. I don't know how well…
Rohintan-Karanjia - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers security features, including HIPs, Postgres, intrusion prevention systems, and AI for specific tasks
We've found that sometimes, certain setups require better servers. Ideally, the next level of model that IBM offers would be perfect for those situations. Sometimes, the availability of additional services can be a challenge for some software. Certain IBM software takes time to deliver to the client. It can be slow. So deployment is an area for improvement.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The most valuable feature of Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers is server management."
"The hardware customization capabilities are great."
"The initial setup is straightforward and easy to do."
"The most valuable feature of Cisco UCS C-Series Rack is the use of databases, such as MySQL."
"The C-series is the most valuable."
"The solution is reliable and easy to use."
"It is very nice and stable with an easy administration GUI."
"The product doesn't take up too much space on the rack and I like that."
"Power Systems is like a dream solution for every IT person because it has redundancy, and it doesn't stop. It doesn't get affected easily. I don't see any weaknesses in this solution. At the moment, we have Power8. It is stable and runs smoothly. We have a big load, and it is working very well. It can be customized based on our needs. Flash copy is helping us amazingly. We have virtualization for vDisks, which is again very helpful. We are working on this virtualization technology, and we have a team that is working on redundancy and architecture."
"We have had a good experience with the technical support team at IBM."
"The best features of the solution are its robustness and service level."
"We've been using it for a long time, and it's stable."
"On the security side, we get regular security patch updates and system hardening. There are free tools available to harden the system."
"PowerVM."
"The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that the hardware is really good and reliable."
"Active Memory Expansion allows you to compress your memory on the run time to allow you to have less physical memory available, but provision more memory to your partitions, as everything will be compressed on the fly."
 

Cons

"In the version we need to use, the manager is still reliant on a full Java install on a Windows OS. This is inconvenient and problematic if you have multiple management tools on different versions of Java or if you move to a machine without the appropriate Java environment."
"The solution needs more capacity and more scalability."
"The price of the solution is problematic, not the solution itself. It could be less expensive."
"Technical support could be more responsive."
"The product's stability and delivery time could be better."
"The solution can be improved by adjusting the cost."
"There is very little scalability for the cluster. If you need a higher availability, there is a user limitation. So that is the low side."
"The scalability of the product is an area of concern where Cisco needs to focus on making some improvements."
"The number of times IBM refreshes its operating system appears to be very slow."
"I know lab services does a lot of work but systems, if they could include some kind of lab services and bundling of services to get you to the greatest and latest feature at the already included cost"
"Price and complexity related to the management of the solution are areas of concern in the solution where improvements are required."
"The pricing of the product could always be lowered."
"It does not offer the ability to run any X86 or X64 Intel architecture-based application on Power Systems. There are a lot of applications, lots of business use cases that do not support this architecture as of now. If somehow application tasks can be ported on to IBM Power Systems, that would be a big improvement."
"No available price list is on the web. Due to this, the customer cannot compare pricing."
"Its management can be made easier because it is not easy to manage. They should also find a new way for migrating from an old Power Systems to a new one. The migration process is currently very complicated. It should be made easier to scale. Currently, its scalability depends on the initial sizing, whereas in Nutanix HCI, you can add whatever you need and whenever you need it."
"The pricing is high."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The server itself isn't costly at all, but the CPU and the RAM can be pretty expensive. You can buy a UCS for $2,000, but the RAM and CPU can cost up to $80,000. The most expensive asset is the intel processor, but it depends on how many cores you want and the technology you want to use on your CPU, like Hyper-V, etc."
"This solution is a little expensive."
"This product is slightly more expensive when compared to others."
"This product is quite expensive and it would be better if it were cheaper."
"The price of the Cisco UCS C-Series Rack could improve. It's a little more expensive in comparison with Dell or HPE solutions."
"The solution could be more cost-effective."
"My company has an agreement with Cisco to get discounted rates. It is one of the reasons why we chose the product."
"The solution requires an annual licensing fee."
"The additional software costs are high."
"When there is an error in the SAS drive of 10,000 RPM, my company buys support for 1,500 USD."
"It is designed for a large workload, as opposed to a small workload. For our circumstances, and even as an independent, I can't buy a Power system to experiment on. It can't happen. You cannot buy them."
"The pricing of the solution is very good because we can beat any other competitor with the pricing. Lately, they have offered good pricing for their customer."
"I give the cost a one out of ten."
"The cost model is great. There is so much built in to the technology, that if you know how to use it you can save yourself a lot of money."
"The price of the solution depends upon the configuration part of it. Based on what configuration you want to go for it, there is a range like IBM Power Systems POWER9 and IBM Power Systems Power10."
"Power Systems is a bit more costly than other products in the market, but in terms of ROI and the longevity, performance, and reliability that Power Systems provides, it's worth it in the long run."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
19%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Healthcare Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
17%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM Power Systems?
IBM Power Systems provides very good performance and stability compared to other brands or processors.
What needs improvement with IBM Power Systems?
IBM should provide a platform where users can learn about the storage and security of IBM Power Systems.
What is your primary use case for IBM Power Systems?
In my company, we use the system for the data center and our IBM Cloud Pak System.
 

Also Known As

Unified Computing System C-Series, Cisco UCS C-Series
IBM OpenPOWER LC
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Advanced Medical Transport, Aegean Motorway, Anilana Hotels and Resorts, Artoni Transporti, BH Telecom, Bowling Green State University, City of Mississauga, Dualtec Cloud Builders, Electricity Authority of Cyprus, Grupo Industrial Saltillo (GIS), Kind en Gezin, Kuwait Petroleum Italia, Nationwide, Quest, Talbots, University of St. Gallen
Cipher
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers vs. IBM Power Systems and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
860,592 professionals have used our research since 2012.