What is our primary use case?
Dell PowerEdge MX- Series servers are used for many different purposes by my clients. Customers often need servers to handle various workloads as traditional servers. I also recommend standalone servers for backup and archive purposes. Additionally, customers use Dell PowerEdge MX- Series when they need to install VDI applications. There are many purposes for deploying these servers.
How has it helped my organization?
Dell PowerEdge MX- Series addresses diverse organizational needs through its versatile capabilities. The servers handle many different workloads, function as traditional servers, and serve as standalone servers for backup archives. They can also be used when customers need to install VDI applications. These functionalities demonstrate the comprehensive benefits that Dell PowerEdge MX- Series brings to organizations.
What is most valuable?
The biggest advantage for Dell PowerEdge MX- Series compared with other vendors is that it introduces more performance. The price is competitive within the market. Although there are vendors that offer cheaper prices, Dell's compute resources and server specifications include more capabilities that introduce greater performance and IOPS.
Energy consumption is very effective. For example, in some of my projects, there is a customer using another vendor's server that consumed too much power. After using Dell PowerEdge MX- Series, the power consumption improved significantly.
Regarding downtime, it is good to reduce downtime, but this depends on each case. For example, if I work with a solution that includes high availability, downtime is not necessary. However, if I work with a solution that includes a single point of failure, there may be downtime, but the downtime percentage is very low.
What needs improvement?
There are many advantages included in Dell PowerEdge MX- Series. We can work with many servers in the same rack, which introduces more enhancement for installation. The response time is faster, and installation time is quicker. We can install the servers in approximately one hour. We can manage all the servers from one GUI. The size of the servers is small, so they take up minimal space in the rack. The performance is good compared to other solutions. We can install and work with different types of servers. I have not experienced any issues until now.
If I think about some hypothetical improvements in the future, Dell could add new features to the product to make it better. Something that potentially could be improved is integrating all different virtualization hypervisors as a pre-install. For example, if Dell PowerEdge MX- Series servers came with pre-installed VMware vSphere and VM Essential from HPE, or Hyper-V on the server, or Nutanix AHV, this would be better.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Dell PowerEdge MX- Series for around seven years now.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Energy consumption is very effective with Dell PowerEdge MX- Series. In some of my projects, there is a customer using another vendor's server that consumed too much power. After using Dell PowerEdge MX- Series, the power consumption is very effective.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Dell PowerEdge MX- Series is very easy to scale, but scalability also depends on the architecture solution. From the first point, if I design the server with complete local storage with no free space slots, I cannot add more. However, if I design the solution with free slots available, I can upgrade in the future, which is good. From our perspective, Dell PowerEdge MX- Series performs well in this area for scalability.
How are customer service and support?
Regarding customer service from Dell, we have a team of experts in implementation, so the number of cases we handle is not high. Our team can handle all the issues that arise. If we open a case, we receive a response based on the support level. Servers are not complex solutions compared with other solutions like Dell PowerMax or VMAX.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I am working with HPE servers and Lenovo servers as well. The price of Dell PowerEdge MX- Series is high compared with all of these alternatives. However, Dell PowerEdge MX- Series is good regarding IOPS, the number of IOPS, and compute layer components compared with other vendors.
How was the initial setup?
The installation process for Dell PowerEdge MX- Series is generally easy.
What about the implementation team?
Regarding AI workloads, Dell also works with HP servers and HPC servers. From my previous projects, some customers were already working with AI solutions. The benefit of AIOps is that we need NVIDIA cards based on that requirement. I recommend HPC servers to handle the required workload.
What was our ROI?
Regarding Total Cost of Ownership, this point is good. The savings depend on the project size. Sometimes we receive promotional offers and incentives from Dell, so the total cost will not be high. Regarding time savings, I think the servers save around 70 percent of the time for our clients.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Dell PowerEdge MX- Series helps reduce the Total Cost of Ownership for our clients.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I work with HPE servers and Lenovo servers as alternatives to Dell PowerEdge MX- Series.
What other advice do I have?
I have been working with Dell PowerEdge MX- Series for around seven years. In the market in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Dubai, approximately 90 percent of customers work with standalone Dell PowerEdge MX- Series. I have worked with Dell PowerEdge MX- Series and other series. Dell PowerEdge MX- Series helps to reduce unplanned production downtime. The downtime reduction depends on each case. If I work with a solution that includes high availability, downtime is not necessary. However, if I work with a solution that includes a single point of failure, there may be downtime, but the downtime percentage is very low. If Dell could add new features to the product in the future, it would be better. I think if Dell PowerEdge MX- Series servers were integrated with all different virtualization hypervisors as a pre-install, it would be better. For example, if I could find Dell PowerEdge MX- Series servers with pre-installed VMware vSphere and VM Essential from HPE, or Hyper-V on the server, or Nutanix AHV, this would represent an improvement. My overall rating for Dell PowerEdge MX- Series is 9 out of 10.