We compared Dell ECS and Dell PowerScale (Isilon) based on our user's reviews in several parameters.
In comparing user reviews of Dell ECS and Dell PowerScale (Isilon), Dell ECS is praised for its efficient performance, while Dell PowerScale (Isilon) shines for its exceptional data scalability. Dell ECS receives positive feedback for its reasonable pricing and satisfactory ROI, whereas Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is commended for its prompt customer service and support. Both products have areas for improvement, with Dell ECS needing enhancements in reliability, customization, and customer support effectiveness, while Dell PowerScale (Isilon) could benefit from improvements in interface, performance speed, scalability, compatibility with other systems, and technical support.
Features: In terms of valuable features, Dell ECS is praised for its efficient performance, seamless integration, and reliable storage capabilities. On the other hand, Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is known for its exceptional data scalability, efficient storage management, and reliable performance.
Pricing and ROI: The setup cost for Dell ECS is considered straightforward and easy with no major complications, accommodating different business needs. On the other hand, Dell PowerScale (Isilon) also has a straightforward setup cost without any hidden charges or complexities, ensuring smooth integration and use of the product., Users have reported positive ROI with Dell ECS, citing cost savings, improved resource allocation, increased productivity, and streamlined processes. Dell PowerScale (Isilon) users appreciate its performance, scalability, efficiency, seamless integration, and cost savings from improved productivity and data management.
Room for Improvement: Dell ECS could benefit from improvements in product reliability, user interface intuitiveness, customer support effectiveness, and customization options. In contrast, Dell PowerScale (Isilon) needs enhancements in interface, performance speed, scalability, compatibility with other systems, and technical support.
Deployment and customer support: The user reviews for Dell ECS indicate that the timeframes for establishing a new tech solution varied, with some users taking three months for deployment and an additional week for setup. In comparison, the reviews for Dell PowerScale (Isilon) also mention varying timeframes, with some users spending three months on deployment and others reporting a week for setup. However, it is important to note that in cases where a week was required for both deployment and setup, these terms refer to the same period and should be evaluated together., Dell ECS has received commendations for their exceptional customer service, with users expressing satisfaction with the prompt response time and efficiency in resolving concerns. Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is highly commended for its exceptional customer service, with users praising the promptness, efficiency, and effectiveness of Dell's assistance. The level of expertise and professionalism demonstrated by the support team is also praised.
The summary above is based on 35 interviews we conducted recently with Dell ECS and Dell PowerScale (Isilon) users. To access the review's full transcripts, download our report.
"It's definitely good for unstructured data. In earlier days, we had Centera, so for the DR it's really good. It has load balancing facility, and we're using it with the Kemp Load Balancer."
"This product is very competitive."
"This solution is very easy to use, and is very reliable."
"The technology is very good, it performs well."
"The performance is good."
"The tool is easy to use."
"It is a stable solution."
"I like that the solution is easy to scale and that's its stable."
"The solution is stable."
"Isilon is flexible in supporting various data workloads while keeping them protected. Dell continues to release updates and patches which enhance the use of this solution. This includes offering ransomware protection."
"Since it can scale so easily, as long as I have money to buy more nodes, I can grow it as big as I need to. That is important in our business. As sequencing technologies continue to evolve, and as those technologies evolve, the amount of data generation never gets smaller. It just always seems to get bigger. This is one of the absolute key aspects: We can grow on demand without having to forklift stuff."
"There are also the policies that you set up on replication and purging files, and policies for something called WORM. That's a "write once, read many," where you can't overwrite certain files or certain data. It puts them in a "protected mode" where it becomes very difficult for someone to accidentally delete. We use that for certain files or certain directories, because we're dealing with video and some video has to be protected for chain-of-custody purposes. The WORM feature works great."
"Dell PowerScale's performance is good."
"The single pane of glass for both IT and for the end-user is a valuable feature. On the IT side, I can actually control where things are stored, whether something is stored on solid-state drives or spinning drives... The single pane of glass makes it very easy to use and very easy to understand. We started at 100 terabytes and we moved to 250 and it still feels like the exact same system and we're able to move data as needed."
"You plug in a new node and data starts migrating over to it, and IT spreads out the load. We've added multiple nodes to the system since deploying it. The process is pretty seamless, and we are able to do it with no downtime. It's a very easy process to do."
"This is the best platform that we could have for storage utilization. It is affordable and scalable. At the end of the day, it's something that we find very easy to use."
"If Dell ECS would be available as standalone software, so you can use any hardware with it, would make the solution better. It would also be good if Dell ECS had more integrations with other products."
"The solution needs to provide better integration between this solution and all other kinds of systems."
"It is a good solution, except for the cost."
"There is room for improvement in the DPI reports, as they could be made more user-friendly."
"You should be able to calculate so that when it's full it's 100% full, not just 90%."
"In Taiwan, they don't have professional technical support."
"The solution’s stability could be improved."
"Dell ECS needs to improve its performance."
"Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is a bit expensive compared to other products."
"Dell PowerScale (Isilon) could improve the load distribution capability. For example, in some cases, the system load is not distributed automatically on all the nodes but is concentrated only on one. You have a peak request on only one node and the others don't do anything."
"There is room for improvement in its handling of object storage."
"There aren't many templates still coming out for it. They need to provide templates so we can copy and paste what we've done in the past to future, new things."
"We used to have a chat feature available on the support site. It's not available to us anymore."
"The management and monitoring tools comprise a disparate suite of products and the roadmap is very unclear. We've got four different products that look after the Isilon, management-wise, and it's a bit of a mess."
"The biggest weakness is small file handling. Small file compression options are not enabled out of the box. It would be good to have this enabled by default."
"The product’s expansion capacity, pricing clarity, and ease of use need improvement."
Dell ECS is ranked 5th in File and Object Storage with 25 reviews while Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is ranked 2nd in File and Object Storage with 39 reviews. Dell ECS is rated 8.0, while Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is rated 9.0. The top reviewer of Dell ECS writes "Enables multiple protocol support, but its IOPS functionality needs improvement in terms of performance ". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Dell PowerScale (Isilon) writes "We can easily deploy, manage, and maintain systems without needing a huge amount of expertise to facilitate them". Dell ECS is most compared with Amazon AWS, NetApp StorageGRID, MinIO, Red Hat Ceph Storage and Scality RING, whereas Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is most compared with NetApp FAS Series, Pure Storage FlashBlade, Qumulo, HPE StoreEasy and Red Hat Ceph Storage. See our Dell ECS vs. Dell PowerScale (Isilon) report.
See our list of best File and Object Storage vendors.
We monitor all File and Object Storage reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.