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Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers vs Oracle SPARC Servers 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

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers
Ranking in Rack Servers
1st
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
208
Ranking in other categories
Converged Infrastructure (3rd), Data Center Networking (4th), Blade Servers (5th)
Oracle SPARC Servers
Ranking in Rack Servers
8th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
8.0
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Rack Servers category, the mindshare of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is 27.4%, down from 28.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Oracle SPARC Servers is 3.7%, down from 3.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Rack Servers
 

Featured Reviews

Syed Masuood - PeerSpot reviewer
Handles workloads and diverse applications efficiently
We have a lot of VMs on Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers. On a single server, we have probably hosted 14 or 15 VMs. Out of these, 8 to 10 are continuously running, and four of them are backup VMs, so it can handle a good workload. For cybersecurity, it is only accessible on the intranet; it is not accessible through the web. We use it for local development purposes, and it is behind our firewall. Its security is strong. We handle a lot of test data for government and confidential customers. It is safe and strong locally. We have not experienced any security issues. Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers have helped to reduce unplanned production downtime if we need to replace a hard disk, instead of completely shutting a server, there is a hot swap feature. It is quite good in that aspect. Usually, for any activity, there is a downtime of about 30 minutes. It has saved a lot of time. We have tried AI workloads for a development environment for a government customer in Singapore. The servers are hosted in Singapore. It is an ML-based engine with AI. It is a government project where data is processed, and we run it on Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers. The benefit of running AI workloads on PowerEdge Servers is that it is easy to allocate memory. The application we are running is memory intensive. It is pretty easy to scale memory and storage.
Abdul-Salam - PeerSpot reviewer
A rock-solid OS and rich virtualization features for hosting many VMs on one box
Oracle doesn't have a good roadmap for the solution because they are moving to the x86 platform. Oracle is focusing on the cloud platform with a PCA and standard x86 architecture. Linux is their other OS and is mostly in the cloud. We don't see much development happening on Solaris even though it came as an acquisition from Sun Microsystems. Eventually, the solution and its platform will die because there has been no new development on the Solaris end and we haven't seen new servers in the last five years. At this point, we are pretty sure there is no real roadmap or future for the solution. There is a shortage of expert engineers because Oracle is not pushing the technology. It is hard for us to find engineers because the number of people supporting us has considerably reduced.

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 features are that they are very reliable, and Dell's technical service is also optimal."
"They are incredibly valuable because they are both user-friendly and powerful for managing hardware."
"The Xeon CPU makes the system work very well and fast. I like this type of CPU. It has helped to improve the performance of targeted workloads by 70%."
"It's allowing us to scale out a lot faster than before."
"The solution deserves a rating of 10 out of 10."
"The initial setup is very good, not complex at all."
"We are using the Dell PowerEdge Rack Server for core banking applications. It is working fine and we are happy with it."
"Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers scale very well with the growing needs of my company."
"The processor is very helpful and the licensing is very flexible."
"The most valuable features of the solution stem from the fact that Oracle Database functions very well with Oracle SPARC Servers."
"The performance is the best feature."
"Our customers are happy with many features in Oracle SPARC Servers, like the automatic ASR feature."
"The operating system is rock solid and the best I have ever used."
"The Oracle server is very powerful. They are more powerful and durable compared to Intel hardware. Which has been a benefit to our organization."
"I have found the LDAP facilities most valuable. In addition, I like the CPU."
 

Cons

"The accessibility when opening up the chassis could be improved, but since we haven't had to do that since installation, it's not a big deal for us."
"Different types of applications that are now trendy in the market, like AI, are still big topics that are not mapped correctly in the server and storage environment. Knowing those kinds of activities and definitions will help us more to position these kinds of servers for the client."
"The price is very high."
"My only complaint would be if you're calling the specific fed line, sometimes they don't transfer you, and they want to get information that you can't give them before they do, even if you call the dedicated fed line, which is not always consistent, depending on the time of day."
"Speaking on the XE series specifically, the internal service to the system, if you need to get to a DIMM or anything similar, requires that you remove all three risers and the storage controller. It's not very internally service friendly."
"In terms of energy use, it takes up a lot."
"They could improve on the processor and security for the next release of the solution."
"To improve Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers, I would like to see the return of the dedicated Hyper-V cluster storage product line that was discontinued, which I found to be a really nice product."
"I would like to see a reduced price point."
"Oracle doesn't have a good roadmap for the solution because they are moving to the x86 platform."
"Oracle SPARC Servers should be fine-tuned well enough to work with the other servers and software products in the market, as it is an area where Oracle SPARC Servers lack."
"They have declared the end of life of the hardware."
"Like IBM, Oracle SPARC Servers should be able to run other open operating systems like Linux."
"They need some sort of modeling because IBM has different types of models."
"The solution could improve by giving a clear roadmap about the future. I'm not seeing a lot of improvements on the OS side of the software. They need to work more on the operating system."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I have no issues with the pricing and licensing costs. They are fine."
"We would prefer it if the pricing were for half the cost. We have been expanding our company, and my boss stated that we must save money."
"The product's pricing is not good."
"The high cost of Dell PowerEdge Rack Server licenses is attributed to the pre-installed Windows Server operating system from Microsoft."
"This solution is reasonably priced and licenses are easy to acquire."
"We have a strong agreement in place with our parent company, that typically ensures favorable pricing terms for us, although occasionally we may need to negotiate with Dell representatives for further discounts to provide competitive pricing to our customers."
"Compared to other vendors, the prices are much lower."
"The solution is expensive."
"The hardware is expensive but it has very rich virtualization features that make it economical."
"Oracle SPARC Servers are expensive to manage, this is because after five years Oracle will increase the support charges for the hardware. The licensing policy for Oracle is different for Intel and Sparc. It will cost you less if you use your Oracle hardware with Oracle SPARC Servers."
"The application running on it is very important to us and this makes the price worth it."
"My company makes yearly payments toward the licensing costs attached to the solution."
"The licensing is flexible."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
21%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Educational Organization
6%
Financial Services Firm
24%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

When shopping for a rack server, would you go with Dell EMC Poweredge or Lenovo Thinksystem?
Our organization ran comparison tests to determine whether the Dell EMC Poweredge or Lenovo Thinksystem rack servers were the better fit for us. We ultimately decided to go with Dell EMC Poweredge....
What do you like most about Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers?
It has helped us reduce unplanned downtime by 20% to 30%.
What needs improvement with Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers?
Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers have higher hardware costs compared to HPE ProLiant servers, which are cheaper. From reliability, performance, and sustainability perspectives, Dell PowerEdge Rack Serve...
What do you like most about Oracle SPARC Servers?
The most valuable features of the solution stem from the fact that Oracle Database functions very well with Oracle SPARC Servers.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Oracle SPARC Servers?
My company makes yearly payments toward the licensing costs attached to the solution. My company's clients, who have paid for the licensing costs attached to the solution, have also engaged with so...
What needs improvement with Oracle SPARC Servers?
Oracle products are usually fine-tuned with the software of other Oracle products, like Oracle WebLogic Server Services, Oracle Database, and Oracle Core Banking Software and Solutions, as all the ...
 

Also Known As

PowerEdge R
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

NxtGen Datacenter, Medien-Service Untermain (MSU), Exasol, IndigoVision, Dayco
University Hospitals Leuven, B&H Photo, Tuscon Electric Power, IS Nordic, Siemens
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers vs. Oracle SPARC Servers and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
860,592 professionals have used our research since 2012.