Dell PowerMax Reviews

We use Dell PowerMax NVMe since Dell services were very good, and the product configuration suited our needs. It was easy to integrate into our infrastructural environment since we had other Dell servers.

Dell PowerMax NVMe has been a well-suited solution for us, being compatible with our existing infrastructure and aiding in seamless service.

The solution is easy to use with applications that are user-friendly. It also offers ease of accessibility.

There is room for improvement in adjusting into the existing infrastructure easily without much of the technical contribution.

I have been using Dell PowerMax NVMe for approximately eight years.

The stability of Dell PowerMax NVMe is high; I would rate it nine out of ten.

Scalability is an important feature, and I would rate Dell PowerMax NVMe eight out of ten on scalability.

Customer service and support are excellent. I would rate them ten out of ten.

I did not use a different solution before Dell PowerMax NVMe.

The initial setup was moderately difficult; there were a couple of areas where support was required.

The deployment was done by a third-party integrator.

The return on investment has been more than three times in monetary terms.

The pricing was quite competitive and the lowest among the competition.

I evaluated NetApp and IBM storage solutions.

I would recommend this solution to other people.

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.

We're trying to converge a lot of storage equipment, around ten units, from two different locations into redundant PowerMax sites. We need to converge all the VNX and HVAs from Hitachi to something like enterprise storage like PowerMax.

During the Request for Proposal (RFP) process with Dell, we know that the throughput of PowerMax will be convenient for us and it will handle our data center workloads.

We already have NVMe in the company, and we're very satisfied with NVMe technology within PowerMax that impacted our IO performance. 

First, it's an enterprise storage solution. This is very important for us. 

Another important feature is replication. 

However, many features are common across vendors such as Hitachi. Whether it's replication and encryption, we find the same features with IBM or Hitachi. There are minor differences, but not significant.

Replication is important because we replicate some data. Encryption is also crucial. Additionally, data reduction is vital. The more the storage can reduce data volume, the lower the cost.  

Good documentation is important. We currently have a lot of documentation from Dell.

Configuration could be easier to manage, and implementation should be easier to install and configure. 

Dell can improve the Service Level Agreement (SLA) compliance. Sometimes, when we need to replace a component, the SLA says four hours, but for some reason, the technician doesn't arrive until the next business day or even six to eight hours later before the case is placed. So, focusing on respecting the SLA is where Dell could improve.

PowerMax is still in the evaluation stage. However, I do have experience with other Dell products such as PowerStore. 

We can scale it out easily, but it is a bit tricky to scale up. When we scale up with Dell PowerStore, it has a "cluster" approach, but scaling closer isn't clustering. It's more like unified management of two or three "folks." Dell calls it a cluster because there's no I/O shredding, zoning, or LAN data shredding, which would be true clustering.

Dell support is crucial. It's important to us that the vendor responds and respects the SLA. We don't anticipate any problems with Dell, so we consider them a good vendor and a good business partner.

Dell can improve the Service Level Agreement (SLA) compliance. Sometimes, when we need to replace a component, the SLA says four hours, but for some reason, the technician doesn't arrive until the next business day or even six to eight hours later before the case is placed. So, focusing on respecting the SLA is where Dell could improve.

Positive

We've been using Dell EMC midrange storage for a few years now.

We're moving from older Dell platforms, previously known as EMC. We're transitioning from VNX, including VNX 7600, 5600, and 5400, to newer storage platforms, primarily Dell EMC PowerMax.

I have also used Dell EMC Data Protection Advisor (DPA).

The pricing is comparable to other vendors. There aren't significant price differences. Since the price is high, a few hundred thousand dollar difference between vendors isn't a major deciding factor. So, they're comparable, but it's more about the support, implementation, and configuration of their product.

We're in the Request for Proposal (RFP) process. The RFP is not closed. Dell is one of the vendors we're considering, and we're working with them to figure out migration and other technical details. They're not the only vendor; we're also considering IBM, Hitachi and others.

considering it's an enterprise storage solution, I would rate it a nine out of ten. 

I use the solution in my company for mission-critical core banking applications.

If you ask me, technically, the tool is the same as most of the vendors have the same thing. If you ask me about Huawei, I can tell you about the tool's many features.

Dell PowerMax NVMe's advantage is just the support.

The tool's disadvantages are its cost and lack of ease of use. According to the latest market trends, certain technologies are lacking.

The main challenge with the product was to have control over the simultaneous failures of controllers. For recovery, manual intervention is required.

The tool's cost, active controller part, installation, maintenance, scalability, and recovery parts can be considered for improvement.

I have been using Google Cloud for five years. I have a Dell PowerMax NVMe 8000 and a Dell PowerMax NVMe 8500. I was a partner integrator with Dell. I have twenty-four years of storage experience.

It is a very stable solution. Stability-wise, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

It is not a very scalable solution. Other vendors offer much more scalability options than Dell PowerMax NVMe.

There is something called transfer of ownership known as LUN tagging, but other boxes don't offer such a feature.

Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a seven out of ten.

The solution's technical support was good, and it is one of the tool's main advantages. I rate the technical support a nine out of ten.

Positive

I am also a solution architect for Huawei.

We are talking with one of our vendors and customers, who were keen to get involved with OPSWAT. With most vendors, whenever there is an NFS and compliant storage, all the products offer support. I just wanted to understand why only a few products are listed in Google's support portal.

I have been using Huawei for almost seven and a half years now. Prior to that, I was a business partner of HP and Oracle. I was Dell's partner for almost ten years. Before that, I was IBM's partner for five and a half years.

The product's initial setup phase is okay. If you compare Dell's setup phase, Huawei is convenient and easy to install.

For Dell's installation phase, around two people are required. For Huawei's installation phase, one person is required. Huawei's installation can be managed remotely. I am a solution architect, so I don't do the deployments now.

There is no ROI. I have seen the tool used, and pretty much all the vendors are the same.

The tool is very expensive. I rate the tool's price as a one out of ten.

We are talking with one of our vendors and customers, who were keen to get involved with OPSWAT. With most vendors, whenever there is an NFS and compliant storage, all the products offer support. I just wanted to understand why only a few products are listed in Google's support portal.

The tool has a fully symmetric architecture, so it offers an active controller there. Controller failure is not something that we can withstand, especially if there are two simultaneous controller failures. With the other vendors right now, considering what we are working for, tools can support up to seven controller failures, which is so for any banking operations.

I don't know how the tool's real-time machine-learning capability has impacted our company.

The maintenance of Dell PowerMax NVMe requires companies to have resources along with extensive technology experience. It is the same for any vendor.

I have not really seen any AI features in the tool.

For the technical specifications, I can rate the tool as a seven out of ten.

I rate the overall tool as a seven out of ten.

My role involves being a system integrator, providing optimal solutions to various sectors like public, airlines, banking, and commercial financial, all within Dell's technology portfolio.

Investing in Dell PowerMax has impacted our operational costs positively, although the actual savings depend on factors like the experience of the engineers implementing the product and the support level chosen.

Dell PowerMax NVMe has been a significant enhancement for data handling in my industry. Its improved security features and data calculation capabilities make it a valuable solution for our customers. The most critical feature of Dell PowerMax NVMe for performance enhancement is its strong network support and integration with other vendors, along with its efficient use of hardware components like CPU and memory. Data reduction technologies in PowerMax have been highly beneficial for our company, allowing us to optimize storage and reduce costs by consolidating files

The one area for improvement in Dell PowerMax NVMe would be to align the features of the on-premises version with those available in the cloud, as this would provide added value and flexibility.

I have been using Dell PowerMax NVMe for the past eight years.

I would rate the stability nine out of ten.

I would rate the scalability ten out of ten.

The support has been great.

Positive

The decisive factor in choosing Dell PowerMax over other storage solutions was its ease of use and suitability for enterprise-level data management. It aligns well with the needs of big organizations and offers robust features for AI-driven projects and machine learning initiatives.

Setting up and configuring Dell PowerMax NVMe typically takes about three days. However, if there's migration involved from existing systems to the new PowerMax, that process can extend to around one to two weeks, depending on the complexity and scale of the migration project.

Deploying PowerMax has been straightforward and flexible, especially in integrating with other technologies and vendors.

The pricing might be a bit high for small organizations, so it's more suitable for larger enterprises.

I highly recommend Dell PowerMax NVMe for enterprise-level data management.  My experience with Dell PowerMax NVMe has been excellent, especially compared to other vendors I've worked with in the past, such as VMware, Cisco, and Oracle.

Overall, I rate the product a ten out of ten. 

We mainly use it for databases.

The speed and the compatible interface with IBM are the most valuable features of the PowerMax product.

Dell should work on their marketing strategies to make the product more visible on the market. They should promote the product's compatibility with IBM, as not everyone knows it.

I have been using this solution for four years.

I would rate the stability an eight out of ten.

It is a scalable product. There are over 1000 users in my company.

The customer service was okay. We contact customer support in case of firmware updates; they do that for us. So we contact them. It's okay now. For PowerMax, the support was good because it is enterprise technology. But for other Dell products, the support is worse.

Positive

I have worked with similar products like HP. We made a switch because PowerMax is compatible with IBM's solution. HP, we are using for the other platform.

Before PowerMax, we used internal disks. So it's the first external service for this solution.

The initial setup is easy. We are using PowerMax 2000 with fiber channel connectivity, and it was easy to set up.

The internal team deployed it. It took around a day to deploy the solution completely. We installed it in the physical location, but Dell support has to initialize the storage.

The price was good, that's why we chose PowerMax. We got a five-year pricing model, and therefore, we have five years of support. After five years, of course, if we want to use the support, we have to order support for the next years.

People should test it before buying. I tested this solution and found it suitable for us. However, the solution depends on the specific application and configuration. So, testing before buying is essential.

Overall, I would rate it an eight out of ten.

Dell PowerMax NVMe is an enterprise array that gives you maximum throughput. It's not a mid-range or small array. Dell PowerMax NVMe can handle a minimum of one petabyte.

The most valuable feature of Dell PowerMax NVMe is its replication feature. The replication was configured directly on the array, and we didn't need any separate replication switch.

Dell PowerMax NVMe will have one administration login for DBA. So if you log in, the DBA can see the performance of the database in the storage area level. I have not seen this feature in any other storage vendors.

Dell PowerMax NVMe is costly compared to other solutions.

I have been working with Dell PowerMax NVMe for three years.

We didn't experience any downtime or shutdown with Dell PowerMax NVMe. I rate Dell PowerMax NVMe a nine out of ten for stability.

Dell PowerMax NVMe is a scalable solution. I rate Dell PowerMax NVMe ten out of ten for scalability.

The solution's technical support is really good. Dell PowerMax NVMe's technical support is our benchmark with all other support vendors.

Positive

I have worked with other solutions like Hitachi, HP 3PAR, and IBM storage. Dell PowerMax NVMe makes it easy for a technical or non-technical person to see the performance. If you need to dig deeply into the performance analysis, you'll have more options in Dell PowerMax NVMe than other vendors.

The solution's initial setup was easy because an implementation engineer helped us with everything.

It took two to three hours to deploy Dell PowerMax NVMe.

I rate Dell PowerMax NVMe a five out of ten for pricing.

You need proper technical knowledge to use Dell PowerMax NVMe. A classroom session will help users acquire more technical knowledge to explore and use the array. So it's not easy to dive deep in without technical knowledge. An instructor-led session would be helpful for users before using the array for the first time.

Overall, I rate Dell PowerMax NVMe a nine out of ten.

Our database and client records are stored in EMC. 

I am impressed with the tool's reliability since we see a few hardware failures with it. Also, the solution's replication configuration is good. 

The tool needs to improve its performance. Today's applications are demanding a response rate of one millisecond or below. The product should also look into AI integration. 

I have been using the product for four years. 

I would rate the product's stability a nine out of ten. 

I would rate the product's scalability a seven-point five out of ten. We have encountered controller failures while scaling the solution up. Controller failures occur when we expand to 85-90 percent since they are unable to handle the load. My company has around 40,000-50,000 users for the product. We manage about 260 petabytes of storage with a team of 25 people managing it. 

We have platinum support from Dell. We didn't face many issues with the support team. They take some time to go back to the engineering and R&D and come up with a solution. That's the only delay I have seen with them. 

The product's setup is simple since EMC is in the industry for many years. The vendor is always with us during the setup process. They do the major activities of setting it up. Our engineering folks take care of the rest of the parts. 

Dell is expensive compared to other products and I would rate its pricing a four out of ten. 

I would rate the solution a seven out of ten after considering factors like cost, stability and performance. 

Dell PowerMax NVMe is an enterprise storage designed for bigger customers that require resilient and powerful storage solutions. It ensures seamless management of large database workloads that need high performance and low latency in data handling and responsiveness.

I have been highly satisfied with the resiliency and scalability of the solution.

It is more expensive compared to midrange storage options.

I have been working with Dell PowerMax NVMe for the last four years. 

I am highly satisfied with the stability of the solution. I would rate it ten out of ten.

It allows great flexibility regarding scaling options to adapt to evolving storage needs, ensuring organizations can meet their growing data demands without major disruptions. I would rate it ten out of ten. 

We are overall satisfied with the customer service provided by their support team. I would rate it eight out of ten.

Positive

The initial setup can be somewhat complex as it requires specialized knowledge. I would rate it seven out of ten. 

The basic deployment can be done in one day, as it easily integrates with existing Dell EMC storage platforms and software. Usually, it will require following certain steps regarding the configuration and installment in the data center of the customer, connecting the storage to the infrastructure, and initializing it.

The cost of the solution is quite noticeable, but it provides a good fit regarding the price of the hardware and all of the required licenses. We are fairly satisfied with it as we didn't have any need for additional subscriptions and licenses.

I would suggest thoroughly evaluating all of the benefits of Dell PowerMax NVMe and checking if it provides good value for the money because it might not be feasible for organizations with budget constraints. Overall, I would rate it nine out of ten.