Dell PowerStore is used in the BFS industry.
Founder Owner at Interface
Feature-rich, simple to install, and has good performance
Pros and Cons
- "The main feature of Dell PowerStore is its support for NVMe as well as hybrid solutions."
- "We would consider this solution if the pricing is competitive with other options, as it offers a very good solution. However, the current price is slightly higher than the competition."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
The main feature of Dell PowerStore is its support for NVMe as well as hybrid solutions.
We require the most up-to-date NVMe technology.
We like the performance of Dell PowerStore.
Most of the features are available, including support for NVMe and a mix-and-match of storage devices.
What needs improvement?
Dell PowerStore is quite expensive.
We would consider this solution if the pricing is competitive with other options, as it offers a very good solution. However, the current price is slightly higher than the competition.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with Dell PowerStore for five years.
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Dell PowerStore
March 2026
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Dell PowerStore is stable. I would rate the stability of Dell PowerStore a ten out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Dell PowerStore is a scalable solution.
We have more than 50 customers using Dell PowerStore.
We have a team of two or three people who deploy this solution.
We have 25 engineers.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is very straightforward.
The deployment process only took around thirty minutes.
What about the implementation team?
The deployment process is being handled by my technical team. As the owner of the company, I am not involved in the actual deployment.
What was our ROI?
Dell PowerStore is a good return on investment.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
There are no separate licenses required as all the basic licenses are included in the bundle.
The licenses required may vary based on the customer's specific requirements, such as for decompression, deduplication, disaster recovery data, log shipping, and so on.
What other advice do I have?
I would suggest considering Dell PowerStore for various other applications, such as file storage and video storage, due to its capabilities and features.
I would rate Dell PowerStore a ten out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
Enterprise Architect at Department of Defence, Australian Government
Has its own encryption and is versatile; lacking in sufficient documentation
Pros and Cons
- "It has its own file formatting protocol, which saves a lot of space."
- "The solution only does thin provisioning."
What is our primary use case?
We use this solution for storage. I'm an enterprise architect.
What is most valuable?
It's a versatile box that has different kinds of protocols that can be switched off and on. They have their own encryption which is good. It also has its own file formatting protocol, which saves us a lot of space.
What needs improvement?
A downside of Powerstore is that it can only do thin provisioning. I had trouble finding articles on the internet about it. When I was looking for information on switching features on and off there was not a lot available.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using this solution for several years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability is good.
How are customer service and support?
We have a bit of a challenge with technical support. We didn't purchase any support but it would have been really appreciated if Bell would have provided some minimal support for us.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is quite straightforward although we had to make quite a few adjustments. There was some trial and error but we got there in the end. Some additional documentation around that would have been good.
What was our ROI?
I believe the ROI is good although I haven't checked it.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I believe the price point is quite good.
What other advice do I have?
I like this solution, it has everything you need for enterprise-grade storage. It supports all the protocols. It is much more reliable and efficient than the normal HPD.
I rate this solution seven out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Buyer's Guide
Dell PowerStore
March 2026
Learn what your peers think about Dell PowerStore. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2026.
884,933 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Associate Director, Systems & Engineer at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
Reduces the footprint, is easy to use, and can handle heavy workloads
Pros and Cons
- "The simplicity and ease of use have been very valuable features. I have a very small team, and only half of the team is well versed in the HP product. Whereas if I bring PowerStore in, everyone can learn it because it will be new on the floor."
- "Pricing is very good. It's very competitive against those of all the others that I looked at in the marketplace, such as Hitachi, IBM, HP, and Pure. Dell is right there in the mix as far as providing the best price point as well as meeting the performance requirements that we have."
- "Reporting is an area that could be improved. It's very simplistic sometimes, and some of the very technical guys on my team want to see more of the details and be able to massage the report a little bit better."
What is our primary use case?
We use the very first one we added for a very pinpointed solution for a high-performance Oracle database. We've added four more, and they're going to be used primarily to migrate away from HP systems.
Our environment is 80% to 90% virtualized VMware. We have some pretty heavy workloads, whether it be SQL databases or Oracle databases working on the PowerStores right now. It's about three petabytes in size.
How has it helped my organization?
The systems I currently have in place are old, and their support is running out. They're at the end of their life cycle. One of the key improvements that PowerStore is going to bring is that it will enable me to shrink the physical footprint. I'll be going from 5 physical HP arrays, which are about 12 racks in size, down to 4 PowerStores, which can fit on one rack.
As a result, I'll be able to shrink the footprint, save power, cooling, etc. I will also be able to improve the existing performance and longevity of the platform.
When we put the PowerStore in for the Oracle database, it was previously on NetApp. The staff wanted to do snapshots but also clone, and then be able to clone from a clone to add it to another system. PowerStore enabled them to do just that.
They not only got their performance back to where it needed to be from previously being on the NetApp array but also got some of the feature functions that they require for the application.
What is most valuable?
The simplicity and ease of use have been very valuable features. I have a very small team, and only half of the team is well versed in the HP product. Whereas if I bring PowerStore in, everyone can learn it because it will be new on the floor.
Also, the simplicity of the administration, snapshot capabilities, and its replication are other features of PowerStore that I've found to be valuable.
What needs improvement?
Reporting is an area that could be improved. It's very simplistic sometimes, and some of the very technical guys on my team want to see more of the details and be able to massage the report a little bit better.
For how long have I used the solution?
We originally added our first PowerStore about a year ago.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I haven't thought about the stability of the product, which means that it's working. That says it all. As a manager of the environment, if I'm not thinking about it on a daily basis, then that means it's doing what it's supposed to be doing.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I haven't really had to scale PowerStore as of yet, but it does have the scalability features that I need. I'll be able to scale up when we do grow.
How are customer service and support?
Dell's support staff is very proactive. They were with us every step of the way to make sure that we were plugging everything in properly and making sure that everything is fully redundant during deployment.
With regard to post-deployment support, if we have any needs and call them, they respond within minutes. So, I would rate them ten on a scale from one to ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We replaced HP and NetApp with PowerStore because we wanted to reduce the physical footprint.
How was the initial setup?
Deployment is very simple. I think we were up and running in less than a day.
What about the implementation team?
Dell helped us with our deployments. They use ProDeploy, and we used it for one of ours that's overseas.
Normally, my data center team does all of the rack and stack and cabling. I share all those requirements with Dell to make sure that they understand that we're following best practices. We can plug it in, and do it all online.
What was our ROI?
The rack space I'm saving alone is an ROI because I'm able to then use those racks for more servers.
Power and cooling are big factors for us because we're trying to shrink the footprint as we move things over to the cloud.
Performance-wise, if I can have jobs that used to run for ten or eleven hours cut down to three or four hours, then that allows everyone to be more productive.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Pricing is very good. It's very competitive against all the others that I looked at in the marketplace, such as Hitachi, IBM, HP, and Pure. Dell is right there in the mix as far as providing the best price point, as well as meeting the performance requirements that we have.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I looked at IBM and Pure Storage during the last purchase cycle. The reason that PowerStore won that purchase was the pricing. They definitely set the bar high as far as pricing is concerned. Going with PowerStore would also help me to shrink the environment.
What other advice do I have?
Don't shy away from the higher-end workloads. You don't necessarily have to go with a big iron box like PowerMax when PowerStore will suffice. It will then allow you to save some dollars and also meet the performance requirements that you have.
On a scale from one to ten, I would rate PowerStore at ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Adv. Service Manager at ECC Solutions
Straightforward with great snapshots and no complicated configuration
Pros and Cons
- "There is no complicated configuration for queries and calls. You just create a model and go."
- "The pricing could be lower. It is very expensive."
What is our primary use case?
Typically, the customer uses it and we manage it. We primarily use it to host the sub server.
How has it helped my organization?
snapshot policy you can take a versions as a backup in less than seconds and quickly created volumes from snapshot provide more flexibility and fast provisioning
compression and deduplication of overall hosted data maximize the benefits from the actual physical size with a ratio of 1:3 at least.
What is most valuable?
The usage of the system is very straightforward. It is simple and easy to use.
It has great snapshots. I can take a million snapshots and also schedule the timing.
There is no complicated configuration for queries and calls. You just create a model and go.
This generation of the product, overall, has been very nice.
It is stable.
The solution can scale.
What needs improvement?
There are a lot of features in IBM that we'd like to see in PowerStore as well. It has more deduplication and compression processes, all the storage, so that they do not depend on the tool embedded in the cluster.
The pricing could be lower. It is very expensive.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for at least six months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is good. It is reliable. There are no bugs or glitches and it doesn't crash or freeze. It's been perfect so far.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution can scale. We can attach an expansion as needed. So far, seeing as how I haven't collected all of the information in regard to scaling, I'd rate it seven out of ten.
We have three storage admins. The customer likely exceeds 20,000 users globally.
The client does not have plans to increase usage at this time.
How are customer service and support?
I've contacted technical support, They are fine. They are helpful and responsive.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We have received a new storage device from HP. It is MSA storage.
How was the initial setup?
While I did not see the deployment, my understanding is that it is easy.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price is very, very expensive. It is more expensive than IBM, for example. Likely the cost is $400,000 whereas IBM may be $250,000. This is a one-time payment to buy the device. There are no subscription costs. There are no other costs for support.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We've looked into IBM SS7 300 as well. I'd recommend it as it has many abilities. It can carry some uploads from storage clusters.
What other advice do I have?
We are service providers.
The solution is on-premises at our company and we manage it for the customer remotely via a private cloud.
I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Partner Alliance Manager at inetum-realdolmen
Integrates with APIs, is stable, and reduces our on-prem footprint
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable aspects of Dell PowerStore are the promising roadmap, and the interesting features to come."
- "We have not seen an ROI and it would be good to have an ROI calculator made available by Dell."
What is our primary use case?
We are especially active in the mid-market and use Dell PowerStore for block storage situations and general-purpose storage platforms.
How has it helped my organization?
PowerStore was the promise our customers needed to go further with the evolution of technology. It is also a platform with container architecture that is up to date with actual technology requirements. That is important to our customers.
CloudIQ provides us with one cloud-based platform and integration with APIs. It is a must-have in actual management platforms.
Moving to the cloud has reduced our on-prem footprint.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable aspects of Dell PowerStore are the promising roadmap, and the interesting features to come. In the beginning, it was limited in the number of features but as time went by the feature came as promised. Now it is an enterprise corporate storage platform. There has been a good evolution.
What needs improvement?
We have not seen an ROI and it would be good to have an ROI calculator made available by Dell.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Dell PowerStore for three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Dell PowerStore does what it promises with no stability issues.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support is okay. Our customers especially in Europe tend to have interesting local contacts that can be a problem.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We previously used EqualLogic but switching to Dell PowerStore felt like the natural evolution since EqualLogic reached its end of life.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Dell PowerStore nine out of ten. PowerStore is a platform we focus on for the middle markets, which is important in Europe and it does what it has to do. Combined with other Dell solutions like PowerScale it fits the needs of most customers.
In the last two versions, PowerStore has improved on everything it needed to and is now an enterprise-grade platform. It is keeping up with new evolutions like AI which is the most important thing. The position between PowerScale and PowerFlex is important as well.
We are a multi-vendor partner, so we propose solutions to customers based on their needs and likes.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Reseller
Engineer and Specialist at Proximus Spearit
Helps reduce our energy consumption and footprint while remaining stable
Pros and Cons
- "The software upgrades are all included for no additional charge."
- "Dell PowerStore has just caught up to some of the competition by introducing METRO nodes a few months ago while the competition has had the feature for years."
What is our primary use case?
Dell PowerStore is the main storage product we use for our customers. When we sell storage products, Dell PowerStore is always the first one we propose.
How has it helped my organization?
Dell PowerStore has helped our customers have a stable storage solution that never goes down.
We use CloudIQ to analyze and predict when the storage will fill up.
Dell PowerStore is good at reducing energy consumption.
We have seen a four-to-one reduction in our footprint for data consolidation.
We use Dell PowerStore with VMware to plug into vCenter. The integration allows us to create data stores from VMware itself.
What is most valuable?
The software upgrades are all included for no additional charge.
What needs improvement?
Dell PowerStore has just caught up to some of the competition by introducing METRO nodes a few months ago while the competition has had the feature for years.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Dell PowerStore since its release in 2020.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Dell PowerStore is extremely stable.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support has significantly improved from where it was two years ago.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We previously used Dell Compellent but it wasn't stable and Dell PowerStore was replacing it so we eagerly switched.
How was the initial setup?
The implementation is always good except for sometimes having to link PowerStore to the correct CloudIQ because the sales organization doesn't provide us with the correct ID.
What was our ROI?
For our customers, Dell PowerStore is a one-time installation that keeps running with minimal non-disruptive maintenance.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We evaluated HPE but PowerStore does what it needs to do and there is no need for other products.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Dell PowerStore nine out of ten. For a ten they need to surpass their competition.
Our environment consists of a VMware cluster of two, three, or four hosts in a single location.
I would advise my peers to go for it and utilize Dell PowerStore.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Reseller partner
Service Owner, Platform Services at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Great replication and deduplication with helpful new features about to come out
Pros and Cons
- "Currently, the features of replication and deduplication have been very important to us."
- "It was very new when we first deployed it a year ago. Even the upgrade processes and knowing what to expect, as well as documentation, could be more robust."
What is our primary use case?
We're addressing performance issues in our data center as well as the data duplication features to make sure we can be efficient in how we're storing data.
How has it helped my organization?
The main improvement has been storage efficiency. The price per gig of what we're able to store has been the biggest aspect the business has seen.
What is most valuable?
Some of the new features that are coming out, like vVols support are valuable. We're very excited about it. Currently, the features of replication and deduplication have been very important to us.
We've just heard that in the second half of this year, they will come out with support for vVols and the storage replication of those, which are new features. We're very excited about those. We've been waiting for them for a while.
What needs improvement?
It was very new when we first deployed it a year ago. Even just the upgrade processes and knowing what to expect, as well as documentation, could be more robust. We had folks that helped us through, however, we did have some bumps and bruises along the way.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using a solution for just over a year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability has been solid for us since we deployed it. We haven't had any issues to speak of. A part failed somewhere, but it didn't cause any user impact, however, that's been the extent of it.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We tend to think of the users being our applications that are in there. However, in terms of the total global footprint of users, we've probably got 40,000 end-users, and probably 500 applications that run on top of it.
We are considering increasing usage. We have two other global data centers where it'll be deployed and then about 120 remote sites that we're just looking at now, whether we should make PowerStore our standard there or stay with the current unity.
How was the initial setup?
My team was involved in the deployment. I know we had the pro deploy services that did a lot of the work for us. It took a little while to get updates done. It sat for a few months before our data center was ready to put it in. Other than that, the deployment went pretty seamlessly.
Once we actually had all the prereqs done, it was deployed within a week, it was probably just a few days even between the two sites. There were a couple of months of waiting, however, that was more on our side.
These were two new Greenfield data center builds. It was like starting from scratch with a partner and now we're migrating workloads into them. It wasn't integrating with anything that existed.
There was one person on my team who was coordinating with outside organizations to do some implementation work for us. He was a cloud/storage engineer.
In terms of maintenance requirements, there's one person who looks after things. We've got it integrated with CloudIQ from a management standpoint. It largely tells us when things need to happen, however, one person keeps up with updates, new firmware, and those kinds of things.
What about the implementation team?
We did have outside assistance. We had Presidio as part of that deployment and we also had Dell's ProDeploy services. Both were very positive. They helped us understand both the prerequisites and what we needed to get started and then got us up and running effectively.
What was our ROI?
In terms of ROI, I don't have a good measure of it, however, I do know that we've seen definite improvements when we just compare what we've done in the past to what we're doing now. We've definitely seen improvements in terms of price per gig.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The great thing was the guarantee that came with it of the four-to-one deduplication ratio. That really helped with the pricing as well as the anytime upgrades. From a TCO standpoint, we were really able to see some benefits.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We did a bake-off between NetApp, Pure, and Dell. We've used EMC and then Dell storage solutions in our environment for years and have a proven relationship with the organization, as well as the product's capability.
What other advice do I have?
We have a private cloud within our two new North American global data centers. We've looked at connectivity to both AWS and Azure, however, we really don't have any storage replication heading there at this point.
I'd rate the product nine out of ten. With the new features that'll be out in a few months, it just continues to get better.
I like this solution. This was built more from the ground up with new features in mind. In particular, some of the capabilities that are coming out in the near future are really going to set it in a class above what the others have to offer.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Head of Information Security at Bank Eskhata
An easy-to-use and fast tool that needs to offer its users a better technical support team
Pros and Cons
- "Dell PowerStore is an easy and fast tool to work through our company's data."
- "There are certain shortcomings with the technical support team of Dell PowerStore, where improvements are required."
What is our primary use case?
I use Dell PowerStore in my company as a storage system.
How has it helped my organization?
Dell PowerStore is an easy and fast tool to work through our company's data.
What needs improvement?
Dell PowerStore is not a powerful tool. From an improvement perspective, Dell PowerStore needs to be a more powerful product.
There are certain shortcomings with the technical support team of Dell PowerStore, where improvements are required.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Dell PowerStore for five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Stability-wise, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is a scalable solution. Scalability-wise, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.
My company is a bulk user of the product and has around 100 users of Dell PowerStore, consisting of eight to ten IT engineers, and the rest are administrators.
My company plans to increase the use of the solution in the future.
How are customer service and support?
With the technical support team of Dell PowerStore, my company faces certain language barriers.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Negative
How was the initial setup?
The product's initial setup is easy.
I rate the product's initial setup a six on a scale of one to ten, where one is an easy setup phase, and ten is a difficult setup phase.
The solution can be deployed within two to four hours.
One person is required for the deployment of Dell PowerStore. Two people are required for the maintenance of Dell PowerStore.
The solution is deployed on an on-premises model.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Dell PowerStore is not a cheap solution.
What other advice do I have?
I would not recommend Dell PowerStore to those who plan to use it.
As the price of the product is high and it is difficult to contact the support, I rate the overall tool a seven out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Dell PowerStore Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros
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Updated: March 2026
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