

Dell PowerScale (Isilon) and Pure Storage FlashBlade compete in the enterprise storage solutions category. Pure Storage FlashBlade holds a slight edge due to its high-speed data processing and user-friendly management.
Features: Dell PowerScale offers impressive scalability, easy manageability across different network protocols, and excellent data support features. Pure Storage FlashBlade excels in high-speed data processing, strong object storage functionality, and simplified management processes.
Room for Improvement: Dell PowerScale could enhance its cloud integration, load distribution abilities, and object storage management. Pure Storage FlashBlade needs better cloud integration, improved SMB support, and cost efficiency enhancements according to users.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Dell PowerScale is mostly on-premises, with deployments in private and hybrid clouds, praised for its extensive support despite some first-line support issues. Pure Storage FlashBlade is used on-premises and in private clouds, known for easy deployment and reliable tech support, providing seamless assistance.
Pricing and ROI: Dell PowerScale is costly but offers flexibility in scaling with a justified total cost of ownership due to its long-term value. Pure Storage FlashBlade is high-priced, yet its superior performance and management justify the investment. Both reflect robust features and scalability for their pricing.
Despite being more expensive than Huawei, it is stable and most enterprises accept the price due to its stability.
In terms of Dell PowerScale (Isilon) specifically, we have seen a return on investment due to faster performance than our last few storage arrays, and the general usability is a lot better.
The second cluster of Dell PowerScale (Isilon) gives us flexibility for small things like code upgrades, all the way to scenarios where we have lost this data center or data, allowing us to check if data is still intact on the other side.
It does not require much management once you set up correctly, so it saves time, allowing an admin to focus on other work.
Support online is definitely a ten out of ten.
Dell provides support within four hours, and they always fulfill their promises.
They have managed previous issues well.
I would rate them an eight out of ten.
The support is done through email and is not that great, making it a very problematic area I've been dealing with for over four years.
Their technical support has been perfect lately, so I would give it a 10.
We started on PowerScale with around about 300 terabytes and are now two and a half petabytes, still on the same file system.
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.
As an unstructured data storage solution, writing into it and accessing it from the other nodes is highly scalable with no issues.
Pure Storage FlashBlade is scalable.
There are between 5 and 10,000 people using it in our organization.
Since we have good protection levels, the data is secured and replicated across the disks.
Even if a node goes down, other nodes can respond and provide data back to the user without issues.
I assess the stability and reliability of Dell PowerScale (Isilon) as perfect.
In case there is any issue with any blade, the data is moved to another.
Hardware failures under warranty should be addressed within the promised timeline.
I would want to see more AI features with Dell PowerScale (Isilon).
If I could improve one thing on Dell PowerScale (Isilon), it would be better object storage as it recently breached into S3, and that capability could be broadened.
Technical support definitely needs significant improvement.
Its configuration should be easier.
One way Pure Storage FlashBlade can be improved is by having more compatibility between the FlashArray and FlashBlade.
It's quite expensive for the amount of storage we have.
Cheaper nodes will cost less, while higher performance nodes will be pricier.
Costs align well with what it delivers, making it a fair price for a powerful tool that meets all our needs.
The pricing of Pure Storage FlashBlade is expensive compared to other products I used from other companies in the past, but one benefit is that they have built-in ransomware protection.
Regarding pricing, it is okay; we needed exactly this in size, and the price was a lot lower than competitors, making it good for us.
Dell PowerScale offers high scalability and stability as well, making it a valuable solution for enterprises.
In our AI initiatives, Dell PowerScale (Isilon) plays a significant role in data analysis, data fusion; principally, it is involved in data analysis, data extraction, and statistical analysis.
Single files are limited to four terabytes in our configuration, however, the system can support up to 16 terabytes, so we can scale based on that too.
We can plug in many blades, and we can have data up to one terabyte.
The best features of Pure Storage FlashBlade include better throughput and better performance.
Pure Storage FlashBlade's scalability is one of the most valuable features, and importantly, it always works, allowing for seamless upgrades.
| Product | Market Share (%) |
|---|---|
| Dell PowerScale (Isilon) | 7.1% |
| Pure Storage FlashBlade | 5.3% |
| Other | 87.6% |

| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 17 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 19 |
| Large Enterprise | 42 |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 11 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 11 |
| Large Enterprise | 21 |
Dell PowerScale leads in unstructured data management with unified file and object storage, massive scalability, security, and cloud adaptability, enhancing AI, analytics, and enterprise applications with exceptional performance and resilience.
Dell PowerScale Isilon provides a comprehensive platform for unstructured data, excelling in scalability, management, and performance. With features like single-pane management, SyncIQ, and SmartQuotas, it handles large datasets with flexibility and robust security. Its multi-protocol support and seamless expansion improve operational efficiency. While it offers strong data protection, enhancements in cloud integration, cybersecurity, and performance are sought. Users note potential for cost reductions and streamlined configurations and mention desired improvements in object storage handling and NFS support.
What are the key features of Dell PowerScale Isilon?Organizations across industries utilize Dell PowerScale Isilon for large-scale unstructured storage, supporting applications like video archiving, genomic data storage, and high-resolution imaging. Educational institutions, research centers, and media enterprises rely on its scaled-out storage capabilities, providing centralized, secure storage for diverse applications in hybrid, cloud, and on-prem environments.
FlashBlade is the industry’s most advanced scale-out storage for unstructured data, powered by a modern, massively parallel architecture to consolidate complex data silos (like backup appliances and data lakes) and accelerate tomorrow’s discoveries and insights.
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