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Dell PowerScale vs Hitachi NAS Platform comparison

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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
Ranking in NAS
1st
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
107
Ranking in other categories
File and Object Storage (1st)
Hitachi NAS Platform
Ranking in NAS
12th
Average Rating
7.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.0
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the NAS category, the mindshare of Dell PowerScale is 13.3%, down from 16.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Hitachi NAS Platform is 2.5%, up from 2.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
NAS Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Dell PowerScale13.3%
Hitachi NAS Platform2.5%
Other84.2%
NAS
 

Featured Reviews

RahulSharma8 - PeerSpot reviewer
Storage Platform Engineer at Expedia Group
Unified file sharing has simplified multi-tenant access and has delivered seamless data replication
Dell PowerScale (Isilon) includes its replication features; when we decommissioned our old Isilon cluster, we migrated all of the data to a new cluster, and it was pretty seamless. All you have to do is create the certificates and make those certificates available to the target cluster, then initiate a few jobs. The inter-cluster replication feature, called SyncIQ, allows you to set up all of the jobs and move your data entirely, either timely or all at once. Another suitable feature is the ability to back up your directories; you can take snapshots for all of your directories, and in fact, I believe you can take around a thousand snapshots for a single directory. The inter-replication, geo-replication is one feature. Dell provides a variety class of hardware suitable for your workloads, meaning if your data is just lab and not critical, you don't have to spend much on the hardware; conversely, if your data is mission-critical, you can buy a high-performance node from Dell. Additionally, you can span Dell PowerScale (Isilon) cluster to a large number of nodes, and code upgrades are pretty smooth because all protocols will be upgraded under a single piece of code. Since it provides a single file system that spans across the nodes, you don't have to worry about that directory structure being separately created on individual nodes, making it a fitting solution for a data lake solution because you can access the same data from multiple protocols.
Mir Gulzar Ahmed - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Manager at Synergy Computers
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

"The tool's most valuable features are scalability and stability."
"The solution's most valuable features are scalability and flexibility."
"The capacity and scalability are what I appreciate the most about it; that was huge for us. We saw its benefits immediately after we started using it."
"Of all the components in our IT system, it's probably the least troublesome."
"Customer service is absolutely satisfying, rating at least nine out of ten, as they have managed previous issues well."
"Dell PowerScale (Isilon) definitely deserves ten out of ten for scalability."
"The reliability and stability of Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is good, with no downtime."
"With Dell PowerScale, there is no concern about whether the system is running; Dell PowerScale operates in all circumstances, and we have experienced six years of zero seconds of downtime."
"The pricing of this solution is good, which is an advantage that positions this product well."
"The product has valuable features for data migration."
"Some bugs cause issues but I love the ASIC architecture behind it."
"The reliability and scalability of Hitachi NAS Platform are valuable features."
"Hitachi is reliable with high availability and solid performance. It performs well regardless of the workload."
"It creates a NAS environment on top of Hitachi SAN, which facilitates customers who need NAS protocols along with their existing SAN portfolio."
"Hitachi NAS has improved my storage operations significantly."
"There are no other NAS in the current market that can compete with Hitachi in terms of performance."
 

Cons

"Dell PowerScale (Isilon) could improve the load distribution capability. For example, in some cases, the system load is not distributed automatically on all the nodes but is concentrated only on one. You have a peak request on only one node and the others don't do anything."
"Isilon has limitations on the number of files that can be generated."
"Backward compatibility is something Dell PowerScale (Isilon) could work on."
"Dell PowerScale needs to reduce its price."
"Dell's customer service needs improvement. Specifically, hardware failures under warranty should be addressed within the promised timeline."
"The product itself is capable of very much, but the initial deployment experience can be lacking possibly because it does not incorporate any design phase."
"The pricing is expensive, but I think it's a fair value because it does manage itself."
"Its configuration needs to be more straightforward."
"The monitoring tool is not well developed."
"The monitoring tool is not well developed and my guess is that the companies are not investing too much money in this area."
"I would like to see the inclusion of support for cloud-connectivity to providers like AWS."
"We have had two stability issues: We had a bad software version that used to randomly crash both nodes in a cluster File system corruption after activating in DR site"
"Hitachi could be more flexible and have a simpler management interface."
"The Hitachi NAS Platform is too complicated, not simple, and not cost-effective, sometimes being inappropriate for most situations."
"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."
"I rated Hitachi NAS a seven out of ten, primarily due to the interface or insufficient improvements in certain areas."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Price was also a significant factor in our decision to go with PowerScale. The team at EMC, now Dell EMC, came through with a highly competitive offer that tipped the scales towards their solution. There was only one other solution around the same price point, but it could not match PowerScale on features. That other solution is no longer on the market."
"The pricing is expensive, but I think it's a fair value because it does manage itself. It definitely is much simpler than any of the other scale-out storage platforms that we've looked at in the past."
"Dell PowerScale is expensive on the start-up side but we can recoup those costs quickly by not having to reapply the savings to other equipment."
"It is an expensive product with a high storage capacity suitable for large data requirements."
"The general cost for a system like this is expensive. The total cost depends on your use case. You need to pay for every additional feature that you use."
"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."
"We paid an additional fee to have Dell's ProDeploy Plus team implement it."
"Pricing for this solution is reasonable."
"I would rate the solution's pricing six to seven out of ten."
"It is a highly-priced product."
"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."
"Costs are based on the features and it is a considerable amount."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
10%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
7%
Outsourcing Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Construction Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business30
Midsize Enterprise23
Large Enterprise66
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise2
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell EMC PowerScale (Isilon)?
The on-premises solution with Dell PowerScale, when we buy directly from Dell, is economical. We have done some level of comparison. Although in the current markets we have seen the price differenc...
What needs improvement with Dell EMC PowerScale (Isilon)?
Dell PowerScale can improve in speed and IO throughput. Additionally, it could benefit from more integration options and additional automation activities. I would add that some competitors in the m...
What is your primary use case for Dell EMC PowerScale (Isilon)?
My main use case for Dell PowerScale is for S3 or NAS. Dell PowerScale plays a role in my organization's AI initiatives as it supports AI-driven data insights, automation, and advanced workloads.
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?
For the Hitachi NAS Platform, the tools are basic and don't provide much insight. They can continue to improve the interface to keep it up-to-date, and maybe add some new features or better ways of...
What is your primary use case for Hiachi NAS Platform?
We sell the Hitachi NAS Platform, and it is the best product for our customers. I sell it to banks, telecom companies, and other enterprises at the enterprise level. We have a cluster with Hitachi ...
 

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 vs. Hitachi NAS Platform and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
914,938 professionals have used our research since 2012.