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Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs Hitachi NAS Platform comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 7, 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 PowerScale (Isilon)
Ranking in NAS
2nd
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
66
Ranking in other categories
File and Object Storage (2nd)
Hitachi NAS Platform
Ranking in NAS
14th
Average Rating
6.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the NAS category, the mindshare of Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is 17.5%, up from 17.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Hitachi NAS Platform is 2.5%, down from 3.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
NAS
 

Featured Reviews

Scott Taylor - PeerSpot reviewer
Manages large data sets efficiently with hybrid cloud integration
My organization is quite large, with about 30,000 employees. The growth has been substantial in areas such as radiology and genomics. One of the best features we've utilized recently is offload to cloud pools due to capacity constraints on-premise. We didn't want to expand Dell PowerScale (Isilon) straight away, so we utilized cloud pools to offload some data to Azure. That's really saved us in certain areas as we didn't have funding to expand Dell PowerScale (Isilon) until next year, which is why we utilized the cloud pools functionality to offload.
Mir Gulzar Ahmed - PeerSpot reviewer
Needs standalone functionality but provides a robust NAS solution for existing SAN environments
I would suggest that Hitachi make a NAS box that can work independently, without relying on SAN connectivity. The current solution only suits customers who already have a Hitachi SAN environment and want to add NAS protocols like NFS and CIFS. It's not suitable for customers without an existing SAN, as they would first need to acquire the SAN infrastructure before adding NAS functionality.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Dell PowerScale includes a wealth of features that are important from a security and recovery perspective."
"This has been a valuable solution for our business overall. It offers business continuity and replication features."
"The solution allows me to use SSMDS to store data for end users and share it within different locations."
"Customer service has been really good."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is its performance."
"The guaranteed performance, combined with the scalability through its scale-out capability, makes it an excellent choice."
"The solution is stable."
"The most valuable features of the solution are flexibility and ease of implementation."
"The most valuable feature is its ability to handle a high number of users while maintaining both stability and performance."
"Hitachi NAS has improved my storage operations significantly."
"The Hitachi storage platform is highly scalable and highly available."
"The pricing of this solution is good, which is an advantage that positions this product well."
"The product has valuable features for data migration."
"Hitachi NAS Platform is very stable."
"Hitachi NAS has improved my storage operations significantly."
"It creates a NAS environment on top of Hitachi SAN, which facilitates customers who need NAS protocols along with their existing SAN portfolio."
 

Cons

"The support offered by the product is an area of concern where improvements are required."
"PowerScale is not suitable for virtual environments."
"The product’s expansion capacity, pricing clarity, and ease of use need improvement."
"Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is a little bit pricey, and its pricing could be improved."
"The pricing could be reduced."
"There aren't many templates still coming out for it. They need to provide templates so we can copy and paste what we've done in the past to future, new things."
"The solution’s interface and pricing could be improved."
"Dell PowerScale (Isilon) could improve in terms of having some problems with using IPv6 and IPv4 on the same namespace at the same time, which is one of our biggest problems as you have to do some really bad workarounds to get that working."
"Hitachi could be more flexible and have a simpler management interface."
"I rated Hitachi NAS a seven out of ten, primarily due to the interface or insufficient improvements in certain areas."
"I would like to see the inclusion of support for cloud-connectivity to providers like AWS."
"The monitoring tool is not well developed."
"Hitachi NAS Platform needs to improve by offering a unified storage solution. Due to budget constraints in regions like Southeast Asia, customers prefer a single machine that can handle all problems, which the current platform does not provide."
"Hitachi NAS Platform is expensive."
"I encounter challenges while installing the upgrades for the product."
"There are insufficient improvements in certain areas."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Our company finds the pricing high, but it decreases over time."
"It is an expensive product with a high storage capacity suitable for large data requirements."
"The solution's licensing cost varies based on capacity and performance requirements."
"The price of the solution is high."
"It is an expensive solution."
"The platform is not cheap. However, on the software side, you can choose what you want license. So, you can start your licensing with the features that you need, then after buying the platform add some other features."
"Dell PowerScale is an expensive solution compared to other products like Qumulo."
"I always want things to be less expensive. However, I would say the pricing is fair. Their costs are in alignment with their competitors. It is a good value for the money."
"Hitachi NAS Platform’s price is high and depends on SCSI disc capacity."
"This solution is priced well and there are no costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."
"It is a highly-priced product."
"Costs are based on the features and it is a considerable amount."
"I would rate the solution's pricing six to seven out of ten."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Healthcare Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
16%
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Educational Organization
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Dell EMC PowerScale (Isilon)?
The solution provides massive performance, scalability, efficiency, and ease of management.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell EMC PowerScale (Isilon)?
It's considered between mid and high-end regarding. Dell usually knows how to position each model. If the customer wants something inexpensive, there's PowerVault. The system is marketed for mid-ra...
What needs improvement with Dell EMC PowerScale (Isilon)?
With every iteration of the OneFS system, new features are being added, and the UI is being updated here and there. So far, the system is adequate as a whole. Perhaps if there was a local chatbot b...
What do you like most about Hiachi NAS Platform?
The product has valuable features for data migration.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Hiachi NAS Platform?
The pricing for the Hitachi NAS is higher compared to other NAS solutions since the NAS protocol is provided on top of the existing SAN environment, requiring an additional device for NAS functiona...
What needs improvement with Hiachi NAS Platform?
I would suggest that Hitachi make a NAS box that can work independently, without relying on SAN connectivity. The current solution only suits customers who already have a Hitachi SAN environment an...
 

Also Known As

PowerScale, Dell EMC Isilon
Hitachi NAS
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

OMRF, University of Utah, Translational Genetics Research Institute, Arcis, Geofizyka Torumn, Cyprus E&P Corporation, Colburn School, Columbia Sportswear, Harvard Medical School, University of Michigan, National Library of France,
Intersect Australia
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs. Hitachi NAS Platform and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
865,295 professionals have used our research since 2012.