Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers vs Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers comparison

"The VIC card is the most important feature."

"Cisco rack servers are very easy to integrate with other products from different vendors."

"Its hardware is really reliable. We also like Cisco for its support."

"The product's stability is good. Stability-wise, I rate the solution a nine to ten out of ten."

"It is very nice and stable with an easy administration GUI."

"Excellent server solution with incredible network throughput."

"The technical support from Cisco is fine."

"The most valuable feature of the solution is performance."

"I like everything about this solution. It is a very good server, with excellent availability. The size of the power is adequate and the low heating is beneficial."

"The most valuable aspect of Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers is the brand name and the service relationship we have with Lenovo."

"The initial setup of Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers is straightforward. The process of implementation took me approximately two to three days. We only had to install the hardware for the installation."

"The solution is very simple to install."

"The IMM tool is great because we can upgrade different views and device versions very quickly. We can upgrade everything from a single point through a single dashboard, which is great for us because we also have Lenovo storage. Lenovo ThinkSystem also has Xclarity built into the system."

"It's very power-efficient and allows you to access the rack server directly without accessing the operating system on that server."

"The initial setup is easy."

"It is a scalable product."

"The C-Series is not designed to be as scalable. They are designed to have enough RAM and enough CPU on their own side. If you want scalability, it's better to choose the B-Series— the Blade Servers — because those are much more scalable with Fabric Interconnect."

"The initial setup could be easier."

"The warranty and support periods should be extended."

"On the contact center and video conferencing, I would definitely like to see more AI features. The AI features are key for us. You will find a lot of them in the cloud-based solution, but in the on-premises solution, they're hardly there. I would like to see the same AI features that are there in the cloud-based Cisco UC."

"The only thing I would change is to provide more proactive support."

"Technical support could be more responsive."

"The improvement should be done as per customer requirements."

"I would like to see a little more integration with VMware."

"HP has a riser inside, but Lenovo does not have a riser. It would be good to have a riser with Lenovo. The GUI of the system is really bad. HP has a very good UI for smart memories and everything inside, but in Lenovo, we have a black-and-white UI. HP right now manufactures a server with scalable SP1 and SP2 on a single machine, which is not the case with Lenovo. They are changing the machine. For SP 1, there is one server, and for SP2, there is another server, which is really bad. In HP, we can use two models of processors in a single case. Lenovo should also be improved to have SP1 and SP2 scalable processors simultaneously on a single machine. They should not release another machine. This issue is also there in H3650 severs. They are all inside, but only V3 CPU or only v4 CPU can work, whereas, in HBG9, we can deploy V3 and V4 simultaneously. Lenovo also needs to advertise more because I can't see advertisements anywhere."

"There are other solutions that are less expensive."

"For the price my company pays for Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers, we can have more from other vendors offering the same functionalities that are present in Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers at a lower price."

"Improvements could be made in the network cards, particularly by offering options for higher-speed cards beyond the current 10 GB."

"I do not have any notes for improvements."

"The performance of the solution could be better."

"It was complex to get this started because the Lenovo and VMware are not very compatible. We had to get some updates in order for it to be implemented."

"The solution's initial setup was complicated."

"Cisco is expensive, but we didn't look at the cost of the product. We were looking at reliability and support."

"My company has an agreement with Cisco to get discounted rates. It is one of the reasons why we chose the product."

"The price of Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers is approximately 20 percent more than other solutions."

"​Best to buy all the blades configured for the same purposes of load balancing and failover or load shifting.​"

"We have to pay for the VMware and Cisco licenses."

"The solution requires an annual licensing fee."

"The server itself isn't costly at all, but the CPU and the RAM can be pretty expensive. You can buy a UCS for $2,000, but the RAM and CPU can cost up to $80,000. The most expensive asset is the intel processor, but it depends on how many cores you want and the technology you want to use on your CPU, like Hyper-V, etc."

"If they plan to expand their infrastructure in periods, then simply Cisco is not a good choice."

"The price of Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers is competitive."

"It is the cheapest solution we have seen on the market."

"It is too expensive. Because we are a university and we have to look for our money, many times we buy some refurbished machines or equipment at reasonable prices from IBM or Lenovo. We are a little bit limited in terms of money, and we buy as much as we can. If they were cheaper, we would buy more."

"As the costs got high, we had to use the virtualization feature to consolidate the server farm.​"

"It costs around $8,000. There is an additional cost for the support for a year."

"Its pricing is very competitive."

"The price of the solution is very expensive when compared to other solution like HP or Dell."

"Other than the standard licensing fees there are no other additional costs. The price of Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers could be better, and the availability of the solution could improve. We have been waiting two months for one server."