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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
2nd
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
4th
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 August 2026, in the Converged Infrastructure category, the mindshare of FlexPod XCS is 12.8%, up from 9.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HPE ConvergedSystem is 11.2%, down from 17.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Converged Infrastructure Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
FlexPod XCS12.8%
HPE ConvergedSystem11.2%
Other76.0%
Converged Infrastructure
 

Featured Reviews

John Kevin - PeerSpot reviewer
Infrastructure Director at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees
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.
Charu Mazumdar - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Architect at DXC Technology
A robust product that offers great flexibility
The initial setup process was neither easy nor difficult, as it is somewhere in the middle, but at times, it is difficult to make certain decisions. The availability of the product is high. The deployment model of the product is chosen depending on the requirements of the customers, but our company does sea consultancy to figure out what the advantages and disadvantages of both deployment models are. The discussions mostly led my company to opt for a hybrid cloud deployment model. It doesn't take more than two days to complete if the installation is only for a couple of systems, or else if there are multiple ways to decide, then the installation part depends on the rate type.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"FlexPod is the primary solution we recommend for clients with high-availability server requirements. Our clients find FlexPod's management helpful. You can manage everything via plugins."
"The most valuable features of the solution are reliability, scalability, and support."
"Validate designs are a good. They work in the background to combine all the infrastructure and storage. They create automation which can create volumes and attach VMs directly to massive CIFS."
"Definitely go with FlexPod. It's a great solution, especially with - I keep bringing up NetApp - but NetApp is a great company to work with."
"The most valuable is the one support. I have a 1-800 number. I call one number rather than figuring out whether it's a network, compute, or storage issue. It is beautiful and works out nicely."
"We’ve been able to transition to a hands-on approach, which is a good thing, as we were thinly staffed but now we can properly staff to be more hands-on with our system using FlexPod."
"It is a uniquely valuable product to our company, because it allows us to easily put a product in there as a whole solution without going out and purchasing different pieces."
"Very scalable, and we’ve been very pleased."
"The solution is incredibly stable; it's one of the great advantages of the product, and we've never faced any problems when it comes to stability."
"We use the solution for DDI."
"We used to use Dell blades and we didn't have Virtual Connect, so configuring the networks and all of that for our servers took a lot longer."
"Consolidation and duplications features."
"The tool's most valuable features are stability and scalability."
"One of the biggest things is, the fact that it can be a turn-key solution."
"As far as what we are doing now, there is no problem with stability; it's pretty flexible, it's efficient, and it is centralized management, cost-effective."
"It's a great solution that is very secure, and very easy to configure."
 

Cons

"You must build each block separately, that's a disadvantage sometimes."
"Some of the define features could use improvement. It needs more power."
"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."
"It would be great to see some form of interoperability between the FAS units and the E-Series, specifically for replication, even if it is just one more replication from a FAS to an E-Series. That would be amazing."
"The upgrade process needs to be improved and it would be nice to manage everything from a single pane of glass."
"I had one problem at the site where I had an aggregate that would not shrink after I had deleted some stuff. It took a few tries to get the right guy on the call. We do have a NetApp SAM with our company, and it really took getting to him to get the solution fixed."
"It could be more innovative."
"Hardware stability needs improvement. We replaced a lot of RAM this past year."
"I would like to see monitoring solutions included, as well as brand support."
"Perhaps they can work on providing faster allocation of memory or storage."
"Pricing is an area of concern in the solution where improvements are required."
"The solution needs to be easier to use."
"Technical support hasn't seemed to be that simple or that easy."
"The tool has shortcomings in its performance monitoring part."
"The solution has a complicated front-end."
"Something that we think should be better in the HANA converged solutions is all of the monitoring of the solutions."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Make sure you are buying for performance, not just capacity."
"It is expensive. My company is small. When you look at the price point, this is a big thing for us to invest in."
"Pricing is always tough. We need to get to a point where the customer's happy. Then, as partners, we are also happy."
"Buy storage based on the solutions you need, the technologies you need, and what will make your life a lot easier down the road."
"Pricing and licensing is very affordable from a FlexPod perspective."
"Everything is purchased, so we do not do any leasing with this product."
"The footprint in the data center is quite large, especially when you scale out. Maybe find some hardware in the future, where if a new blade comes out, then Cisco can say, "Look, we'll buy those blades back off you, and we'll give you this blade for X amount of money." A buyback scheme would be good for hardware, and even NetApp as well. Something like a buyback scheme for blades and stuff moving forward would be good, because I know that they're going to put more power into them. E.g., replacing four blades might equal one blade, which would be awesome, but we are still going to have those four blades around. Maybe having something where it will give you this much money for these blades so we can upgrade. That would be perfect."
"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 pricing is competitive. Not a major problem. We have a subscription model."
"This is an expensive solution."
"The pricing is sensitive."
"There are some extra costs in addition to the licensing costs for the yearly maintenance from professional third-party services."
"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."
"The tool's licensing costs are yearly."
"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."
"This is an expensive system and not every customer has the kind of budget to support it."
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Comparison Review

it_user244362 - PeerSpot reviewer
Managing Consultant with 51-200 employees
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
Financial Services Firm
15%
Construction Company
13%
Marketing Services Firm
11%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Computer Software Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business34
Midsize Enterprise66
Large Enterprise182
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business10
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise13
 

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: August 2026.
908,834 professionals have used our research since 2012.