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HPE SimpliVity vs Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 31, 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

HPE SimpliVity
Ranking in HCI
6th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
153
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series
Ranking in HCI
20th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
8.0
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the HCI category, the mindshare of HPE SimpliVity is 9.0%, down from 10.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series is 1.3%, down from 1.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
HCI
 

Featured Reviews

Xavier Perez - PeerSpot reviewer
Has a deployment phase that is straightforward but needs improvement in the area of scalability
The main issue with HPE SimpliVity is that you are very attached to VMware or VMware dependencies because the tool works with VMware technology. HPE SimpliVity is an add-on from VMware. Nowadays, my company has a lot of concerns about VMware's licensing policy. Another big concern of the tool is related to security because one has to continuously update patch vulnerabilities that are appearing continuously in VMware's different versions. Actually, the foundation of all the architecture is VMware and that is one of the main issues with the tool. My company is analyzing our virtual infrastructure strategy to see if we can move to Nutanix because maybe it may work better and might have another approach. Nutanix is absolutely independent of VMware. I could add that since HPE SimpliVity is very precisely dependent on VMware, it is not open to containers unlike Nutanix, for example. The aforementioned area is a concern that needs to be resolved by HPE.
Genesis Dapoza - PeerSpot reviewer
simplifies management for clients familiar with VMware, and offers a user-friendly management and configuration experience
With the VX machines, the clients often confuse the hardware itself with the services and resources. VMs are configured according to resources - memory, hard disk capacity, and network. These resources, including memory and processor, are actually shared on the VX Series. So, if the server's processor is underpowered or unreliable for the VMs, many of the VMs will encounter issues. Ideally, the physical server configuration should align more closely with the needs of the virtual servers. The drawback is that the hardware resources (CPU, memory, storage) are shared among all the VMs running on the VX Series. If the server's processor is underpowered for the VMs, many of the VMs might have performance issues. An improvement could be to have more granular control over resource allocation to VMs.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"HPE SimpliVity is scalable. Some 200 people at my organization are using this solution at present."
"The pricing of the solution is very good."
"Among the valuable features are that it's a complete solution, it's easy to use, and there is not a lot of management time involved in operating the solution."
"We like the backup feature, which is inbuilt."
"Software upgrades and scalability can be done during normal business hours with no downtime."
"Technical support is perfect. They explain to us the solution in a very clear and simple way. When we call them, they know the right answer and get the right person automatically."
"PCX card implementation improves speed."
"Dedupe, compression, and replication of primary and secondary data, locally and remotely."
"The clients like the solution’s simplicity."
"Installation is straightforward because it's a vSAN. It only took one or two days."
"The VX machines are scalable."
"We find the setup quite straightforward and very easy."
"Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series' deployment is easy. We are a tier-one platinum partner who is into multiple implementations."
 

Cons

"HPE could give us more options for server models to chose when using the product. Right now, we can only use the DL380."
"HPE SimpliVity could be more flexible and scalable. I don't feel SimpliVity is flexible or easily scalable because I still need to buy another server to add to my clusters. I can't just run or harvest and add to my solution. I need to buy another server. There are a lot of components that are not giving a lot of value to me right now. I also had a few problems with the built-in hard disk drives. I've had many issues with the harvest stripes that the servers use. Maybe it's a coincidence, but it's unusual to have a physical failure on the HPE platform. I don't see any value at the software level, especially in the software that manages that solution. I was waiting for something, especially in the application layer that I would use, but that is all over VMware, and it doesn't have an integrated module that I can use to manage the server and all the instances."
"The installation is quite easy but it could still be improved."
"Let us populate the entire node; right now, there are 24 slots in a server and you're only allowed to populate 14."
"Increased storage capacity for big data, something that we have not had."
"The centric management could be simplified or more user-friendly."
"There are some problems with support from HPE."
"To install or to update it is more complicated than other solutions."
"The product must provide AI features."
"With the VX machines, the clients often confuse the hardware itself with the services and resources. VMs are configured according to resources - memory, hard disk capacity, and network. These resources, including memory and processor, are actually shared on the VX Series. So, if the server's processor is underpowered or unreliable for the VMs, many of the VMs will encounter issues. Ideally, the physical server configuration should align more closely with the needs of the virtual servers."
"Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series needs to improve its stability. Its resolution should be faster."
"The user management could be a bit better. It's something they could improve upon in future releases."
"Support could be better."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"ESXi licensing is a big part of initial investment if you do not already have that covered."
"HPE has decided to sell the solution in all-flash configurations, which may not be as cost effective for smaller mid-market enterprises."
"We bought this solution as a package that included all of the hardware and all of the software."
"Upfront costs seems high at first look, but after analyzing all the benefits of SimpliVity, we have come out ahead."
"We spent $250,000 back in the day, and that was for two servers in my data center for that cluster. We then ran what they call an arbiter, and that took the place of a third server or the third node in the cluster. My DR site was one standalone server, and its horsepower was more than the two at my main site. It included my Cisco Switches that I needed to re-upgrade. It was comparable to what we were paying a year in VM."
"It's a costly solution and is more expensive than VxRail."
"The solution is expensive; not every budget can fit in there."
"The only thing that I think we are paying for is the VMware licenses, but we are enterprise, so it is not horrible."
"You need to pay a license for additional features. If we need to monitor hardware for the automatic alert notification, we need to pay them."
"The tool's pricing is competitive."
"The tool is expensive."
"There is room for improvement in the licensing structure, maybe. Regarding sizing the resources, sometimes it's difficult to calculate/compute them based on the client's requirements."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
61%
Computer Software Company
7%
Government
4%
Manufacturing Company
4%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
8%
Healthcare Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

How does HPE Simplivity compare with VMware vSAN?
HPE SimpliVity is a hyper-converged infrastructure solution that is primarily geared to mid-sized companies. We researched VMware vSAN but found HPE was a better option for us. HPE SimpliVity has ...
What do you like most about HPE SimpliVity?
The solution's technical support is good.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HPE SimpliVity?
The price is almost equal to VMware vSAN, making it not much cost saving. However, the time-saving during upgrades is notable.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series?
The licensing model is moderately complex. The tool is expensive. It is VMware’s fault, though.
What needs improvement with Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series?
The product must provide AI features. It depends on VMware since the core is software. The solution must provide a more detailed plan to enable simplicity of use.
 

Also Known As

SimpliVity, HPE HCI
Lenovo VX Series, ThinkAgile VX Series
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Red Bull Racing, Mandarin Oriental, Brigham Young University, UCLA, Merlin Entertainments, Sasa Cosmetics, Travelport, St. John’s Riverside Hospital, Princess House
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about HPE SimpliVity vs. Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
845,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.