Hitachi Unified Compute Platform HC Series Reviews

My main use is server management and virtualization.

This solution allowed us to move from using standalone systems to having all our data center management in one place.

The most valuable feature is the interconnectivity, which allows me to use the system across my data centers and makes it easy to connect to other storage platforms.

An area for improvement would be technical support. In the next release, I would like to see more features added to make this a more complete solution.

I've been using this solution for two years.

This solution is pretty stable.

The setup was relatively straightforward because Hitachi sent engineers to take care of it, so it only took a few days.

I implemented using Hitachi's team.

We had an issue with requiring more storage than our license allowed for well before the license was due for renewal. Our license initially covered the first five years and then is renewed annually.

Before implementing, confirm what your support covers. I would give this solution a rating of eight out of ten.

We are a partner and systems integrator. We implement it for our clients.

In our implementations, HDS Storage Virtualization has helped in migrating data with the least amount of downtime, compared to other storage technologies.

• Replication
• Storage Virtualization

The replication technology can move data faster than EMC MirrorView and requires less bandwidth. The Storage Virtualization technology is the most mature in the market, outside of IBM’s Storwize (which has a lot of compatibility issues, and EMC’s very expensive VPLEX solution); and it works.

An update to its technology would be good. The G Series has been around for more than five years and HDS seriously needs to ramp up, since the competition has better performance at a lower cost with better features and functionalities. For example, it needs redirect on write Snapshot, preconfigured storage tiering with better IOPS, built-in deduplication technology on hybrid disk, etc.

No issues with stability.

HDS reaches a ceiling depending on model. The G200 cannot transition to G400, the G400 can transition to G600 but cannot transition to G800, which is the top-end model.

I would rate tech support at six out of 10. The HDS call center is not as good as Nutanix, EMC, Pure Storage, etc.

Fairly straightforward, though not as easy as NetApp or Nimble. LUN, RAID, and block size have to be architected and configured.

We are a systems integrator selling several storage solutions: NetApp, Tintri, HDS, EMC, Pure Storage, Nutanix. We prefer solutions other than HDS due to better post sales support, updates, ease of use, flexibility, etc. 

My advice depends on the customer's requirements. If the environment is complicated and cross-platform, HDS would be a good product to consider. But if the environment is all VM or VMware, then perhaps they should look at other products which have more updated features and functionalities.