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FlexPod XCS vs HPE ConvergedSystem comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 2, 2025

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

FlexPod XCS
Ranking in Converged Infrastructure
5th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
295
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
HPE ConvergedSystem
Ranking in Converged Infrastructure
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
21
Ranking in other categories
Converged Infrastructure for SAP HANA (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Converged Infrastructure category, the mindshare of FlexPod XCS is 9.2%, down from 9.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HPE ConvergedSystem is 17.2%, up from 17.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Converged Infrastructure
 

Featured Reviews

John Kevin - PeerSpot reviewer
Enforces standardized setup procedures following Certified Validated Design (CVD) guidelines and offers greater flexibility and control over the system compared to traditional systems
The GUI setup follows the right setup, meaning we have to follow the CVDi.e. Certified Validated Design. Everything is clear, because you can build CI yourself, but without rules, it can be messy. With FlexPod, there are rules to follow, making it more standardized. This helps with troubleshooting and compatibility assessments, simplifying troubleshooting significantly. We also use FlexPod pre-validated architectures to validate the design. It is very, very important to us because we had a bad case in 2015 where separate items integrated poorly due to no version or firmware compatibility certification. Troubleshooting became a nightmare. So, standards are crucial for us, and everything entering production should be verified or at least documented for certification.
Fatai Akinwande - PeerSpot reviewer
Has the ability to easily scale resources and redistribute workloads across multiple hosts
HPE ConvergedSystem could be enhanced by improving the built-in backup solution, as the current one fell short of our needs and led us to opt for third-party tools like Veeam. Additionally, addressing challenges related to remote copy functionality, especially in low-bandwidth conditions, would significantly improve the overall usability and effectiveness of HPE solutions in our setup.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution is innovative. It handles virtual networking. Also, it can upgrade blades and continue working seamlessly, which is excellent."
"The solution was simple to deploy."
"The most valuable features are the CVDs and the support behind it from both companies."
"Integration is most valuable. This is a reference architecture. So, we don't have to design something from scratch and figure out how it is going to work."
"Our footprint is lower than it used to be."
"The nice thing about NetApp is the ease of administration. We have a new storage admin who did not do storage at all, and he has fallen right in with it. There are no real issues."
"Things got a lot faster. We can pull and test in DEV systems much more rapidly and are clearing up a lot of DBA time. In the past, every time we tested it, we needed to be refreshed. In the past, it would take a day of our DBA's time, and now it's just point, click, and ten minutes later it's done."
"The biggest lesson that I have learned from this solution is the ease of actually setting it up and learning it."
"The tool's most valuable features are stability and scalability."
"The user interface, reporting, and management are good, and we are quite happy with the performance."
"The storage, BladeSystems, Virtual Connect, and simplicity with hyper-converged solutions are the most valuable features of this solution."
"The flexibility is the most advantageous aspect of the solution. Our system has a very big environment. Due to this, the replication and backup operation is not an easy task. We prefer HPE SimpliVity modules in our environment, even when we have some different cases in operations."
"We find the deduplication and compression features to be most valuable, as well as that of the backup solution inside."
"We use the solution for DDI."
"The solution's technical support was good. I rate the technical support a ten out of ten."
"Most of the HP products I come across are they are easy to install. That's not very complex."
 

Cons

"We would like more security features."
"The last two calls that I have made to NetApp support have been handled too casually. People are too lax, not quite as professional as I would have liked."
"There is always room for improvement. I believe we can do hot swaps on the fly. On the release upgrades, if there was a way to do a release on the fly, that would really be cool because it does take some downtime. It takes restarting. It is more of a software thing. Customers hate doing releases."
"I think it is sufficient for now, but in the next generation, I'd just like to see bigger, faster, and better."
"This is an expensive solution."
"We would like them to have better features to integrate with the cloud."
"The continued simplification will be a continued battle and evolution for both Cisco and NetApp, especially on the FlexPod product."
"The tool is obsolete and we are migrating to HPE. It should improve the pricing."
"Perhaps they can work on providing faster allocation of memory or storage."
"Features that should be addressed concern the HPE functionality and the interaction with VMware."
"I would like to see monitoring solutions included, as well as brand support."
"The interface is not fully integrated with the ESXi, which is something that could be improved."
"The solution needs to add NFS features."
"HPE ConvergedSystem needs to improve its management. I would like the tool to add cloud management features so that the system can be accessed anywhere from the cloud."
"HPE ConvergedSystem needs to improve its price."
"Pricing is an area of concern in the solution where improvements are required."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Our licensing costs are about $50,000 per year."
"It's expensive, but when you pay for enterprise support and enterprise products, you have to pay the big bucks."
"As a whole, it is inexpensive, and it uses the least amount of parts."
"We purchased the solution through CDW. They are a partner and knowledgeable."
"I have saved time on new service deployments. I've done deployments in under a week, and if it's a cloud-based deployment, it's even faster."
"The total cost of ownership with this solution is good."
"The NetApp portion was a $5 million investment five years ago. That has served the customer well over five and a half years."
"We would like everything in one piece of hardware. This way we can just sell the product like a silo by putting everything in a stack together."
"The tool's licensing costs are yearly."
"The pricing is sensitive."
"The pricing is competitive. Not a major problem. We have a subscription model."
"This is an expensive system and not every customer has the kind of budget to support it."
"Pricing is good. We have not calculated what hyper-converged infrastructure has brought us but I think there has to be some lower cost for us, compared to the public cloud. Obviously, there would be a lower cost, probably by more than half."
"My company has a five year contract for HPE ConvergedSystem. The contracts depend on companies and sometimes it can be three years. The solution is worth its price."
"There are some extra costs in addition to the licensing costs for the yearly maintenance from professional third-party services."
"This is an expensive solution."
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Comparison Review

it_user244362 - PeerSpot reviewer
Aug 30, 2015
Nutanix vs. VMware EVO:RAIL vs. FlexPod
Originally posted at www.storagegaga.com/dont-get-too-drunk-on-hyper-converged/ I hate the fact that I am bursting the big bubble brewing about Hyper Convergence (HC). I urge all to look past the hot air and hype frenzy that are going on, because in the end, the HC platforms have to be aligned…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
20%
Educational Organization
12%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Computer Software Company
9%
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Real Estate/Law Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about FlexPod?
The system is designed for easy scaling. Because we define everything clearly. So when we plug the system in, we apply the profile, and it scales easily.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for FlexPod?
The pricing is not cheaper, but stability is more important for us now. We focus on business gains, not static numbers. Following XCS rules ensures a stable environment, which is crucial. For me, C...
What needs improvement with FlexPod?
FlexPod should focus more on automation. Integrating an automation tool with FlexPod would enable customers to leverage automation capabilities. More automation would be helpful. Currently, we cont...
What do you like most about HPE ConvergedSystem?
The most valuable features of the solution are the flexibility and the availability of the machines.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HPE ConvergedSystem?
I rate the product price an eight and a half on a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive.
What needs improvement with HPE ConvergedSystem?
Pricing is an area of concern in the solution where improvements are required.
 

Also Known As

No data available
HPE ConvergedSystem 700, HPE ConvergedSystem for SAP HANA, CS500, HPE ConvergedSystem 900, HPE ConvergedSystem 500, HPE ConvergedSystem 300
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

University of Sao Paulo, WD-40, The Commonwell Mutual Insurance Group
FAW-Volkswagen, NICS, NBrIX, Pinpoint, HPE Technology Services, SWS, Ko Sistem, HPE
Find out what your peers are saying about FlexPod XCS vs. HPE ConvergedSystem and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
860,592 professionals have used our research since 2012.