Scale Computing HC3 vs SteelFusion comparison

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Scale Computing HC3 and SteelFusion based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

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Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"The most useful aspect is the hyper-converged SD SAN and the ease to expand it by just adding cheap SSD or NVME disks.""Active-active HA provides top performance and redundancy.""We are able to execute maintenance on one server while the other is still running.""Without the need for any downtime, enterprises can simply grow their storage infrastructure using StarWind Virtual SAN by adding new servers or disks to the current infrastructure.""Highly available storage is the most valuable feature. The entire rollout is hyper-converged and requires no extra storage further than the hosts in which Hyper-V is running. Another feature that has been great is the support from StarWind in general. We have their proactive support package on the main cluster that employs Starwind Virtual SAN.""The management was very easy and I was able to find all that I need in the software dashboard.""Their support goes above and beyond with the integration of their software.""The instant failover, with vSAN copying data to the second node, allowed for the continuous availability of our applications."

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"The initial setup is pretty straightforward.""I rate Scale Computing support 10 out of 10. They're accessible and responsive.""I like that Scale Computing HCR is slimmed down and gives me the features I need and not features that I don't need.""The most valuable feature of Scale Computing HC3 is if one of the devices fails, you won't even notice, the service maintains operation. The customers don't have to waste two, or three days on delays. Additionally, you do not have to waste time with recovery software, it is a lot easier.""The solution is scalable.""The most valuable feature of the solution is the nice GUI.""The most valuable features are the appliance-type feel and that you don't need additional licenses as everything is built-in."

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"Sync to Central and edge protection mitigate my risk in our branch offices. All services that need to be local to the user exist on local servers. Users run applications and access data locally while the data is constantly being synced to Central, and protected. If an edge device fails, we can recover quickly."

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Cons
"Besides not being able to use any filesystem, I do not have any additional cons.""It should be improved in the way it detects the right filesystem image after a complete shutdown of the system or in the case of disaster recovery.""It would help if the manufacturer provided clearer and more detailed documentation, with explanations of how the application can be installed in various HA configurations.""I would like to see more user-friendly dashboards in future versions.""It would be helpful to have a little more insight into what kind of performance the VSAN cluster is utilizing; something that would be more proactive on our side, versus their ProActive Support.""The documentation could be clearer in terms of explaining the installation.""The initial setup got a little confusing at a few points with differences between the VMware version in documentation vs the latest, etc.""Some of the documentation seems to be a bit older and refers to deprecated items."

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"The product struggles to cope with bigger workloads. In the next release, I'd like some backup solutions to be added.""I would like bigger clusters with more than eight nodes.""I've had so many issues with the sales team when I was looking to make some improvements, and improve the performance. They would create so many excuses to force me to buy new nodes all the time and not let me add more memory to each node.""Scale Computing HC3 said in an announcement they were going to integrate with a backup service which would be good. If they could do this it would be beneficial.""The product could use a better control center.""The snapshot technology takes up 500 times more space compared to other solutions.""Scale HC3 improvements would involve literally fixing up the replication."

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"Setting up disks for use is a multi-step process that could use some refinement. Setting up a core-to-core replication or DR strategy is also cumbersome."

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Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "The setup cost is very low. The pricing is great."
  • "We are happy with the price."
  • "The license is reusable. We can always rebuild it and apply the license. Then, boom, we get new servers, apply the license, and we're back up and running."
  • "The pricing is fine for the work that it does."
  • "When we did all the analysis for StarWind, it was approximately 20 percent less than any of the other solutions that we looked at."
  • "The scalability limitation for us is its licensing. At some point in the fairly near future, we will probably have to upgrade our license so we can store eight terabytes instead of four. We are currently at four terabytes, but we're starting to knock on the door of that capacity."
  • "The pricing is excellent. It will run on anything. You don't have to buy a $100,000 server, with hardware you don't need. You just pay for the license and you're good to go."
  • "The licensing is a bit weird. If you license the standard version of StarWind, it allows you four terabytes. Then, they have a pro version, but with the pro version, the only difference is it doubles the terabytes to eight."
  • More StarWind Virtual SAN Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "I pay for Scale Computing HC3 and it includes customer service for one year. We paid for an additional year for customer service but that includes the updates and everything for the software. Additionally, the licensing is for Windows, which is the same for everybody."
  • "I give the pricing a nine out of ten."
  • "rate HC3's pricing a five out of ten since it is affordable."
  • More Scale Computing HC3 Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "Price is an issue – this is expensive stuff. My advice is to beat up Riverbed as much as possible on price. These things are expensive and there is room for negotiation."
  • More SteelFusion Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:It is easy to use and can monitor system synchronization and check Storage status. StarWind Virtual SAN (VSAN) combines… more »
    Top Answer:The cost of this is less than you expect. Since they're selling a software stack, you do need to consider your own… more »
    Top Answer:You can maintain and update it with little to no fuss, even the free version is incredibly capable whilst it brings the… more »
    Top Answer:I like that Scale Computing HCR is slimmed down and gives me the features I need and not features that I don't need.
    Top Answer:Scale Computing HC3 is less expensive than other products. I rate HC3's pricing a five out of ten since it is… more »
    Top Answer:The product could use a better control center. The dashboard gives you a lot of control, but it could still give you a… more »
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    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    StarWind SAN & NAS
    Learn More
    Scale Computing
    Video Not Available
    Riverbed
    Video Not Available
    Overview

    StarWind Virtual SAN provides high availability and fault tolerance for virtualized environments without the need for dedicated SAN hardware. It allows for real-time replication between servers, shared storage for Hyper-V clusters, and enables vMotion and High Availability features for VMware vSphere. The solution reduces costs and leverages existing hardware while providing a scalable and reliable infrastructure. Valuable features include ease of use, scalability, top-tier support, hardware agnosticism, and the ability to use off-the-shelf standard servers to increase storage space. StarWind VSAN has helped organizations improve performance, data availability, and data security while reducing downtime and providing cost-saving storage options.

    HC3 is an appliance-based hyperconverged infrastructure solution. HC3 combines servers, storage, virtualization, and backup/disaster recovery into a single appliance. This hyperconvergence of technologies radically simplifies IT infrastructure making it easier to implement and manage and significantly reduces the total cost of ownership of infrastructure. The HC3 hyperconverged appliance approach allows seamless, non-disruptive infrastructure scale out and automated, non-disruptive software and firmware updates. Our customers choose HC3 to reduce complexity and cost from IT infrastructure so they can focus their IT administration on improving applications and process rather than managing and maintaining complex infrastructure.

    Riverbed SteelFusion is the first and only hyper-converged infrastructure for branch IT, enables 100% consolidation of branch data and servers from remote sites into data centers, delivering complete data security and centralized data protection, without compromising on any of the benefits of running branch services locally for your users. SteelFusion eliminates the need for physical servers, storage and backup infrastructure at branch locations, creates the ability to instantly provision and recover branch services, and provides full visibility and superior performance of on-premises and cloud-based applications, leading to dramatic increases in data security, business continuity, agility and operational efficiency.

    Offer
    30-days for free

    Try it today

    Learn more about Scale Computing HC3
    Learn more about SteelFusion
    Sample Customers
    Baker Tilly BVI, CMS Internet, Board Harpeth Hall School
    Edgetec Systems, Triton School Corporation, Anamosa Community School District, Standard School District, Iron County School District, Sevier County Bank, St. Richard’s Catholic College, Stoke Park School and Community Technology College, City of St. Cloud Minnesota, Presbyterian Mo-Ranch Assembly, KIB Electronics, Chaitons LLP, Reading Muhlenberg Career & Technology Center, Penlon, American College of Education, Steel Summit Holdings, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Canadian Museum of History, Canadian War Museum
    Roxtec, Engen, Bobst, CBP, IUCN, Mahoning County, Kentucky Transportation Cabinet
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Manufacturing Company10%
    Construction Company8%
    Educational Organization8%
    Computer Software Company8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company18%
    Manufacturing Company9%
    Government9%
    Financial Services Firm8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization39%
    Computer Software Company12%
    Financial Services Firm6%
    Manufacturing Company5%
    No Data Available
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business64%
    Midsize Enterprise22%
    Large Enterprise13%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business25%
    Midsize Enterprise17%
    Large Enterprise58%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business29%
    Midsize Enterprise43%
    Large Enterprise29%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business26%
    Midsize Enterprise45%
    Large Enterprise30%
    No Data Available
    Buyer's Guide
    HCI
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Dell Technologies, Nutanix, VMware and others in HCI. Updated: March 2024.
    765,386 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Scale Computing HC3 is ranked 20th in HCI with 7 reviews while SteelFusion is ranked 26th in HCI. Scale Computing HC3 is rated 7.6, while SteelFusion is rated 9.0. The top reviewer of Scale Computing HC3 writes "A reliable stripped-down solution that comes with excellent support". On the other hand, the top reviewer of SteelFusion writes "Sync to Central and edge protection mitigate my risk in our branch offices". Scale Computing HC3 is most compared with VMware vSAN, Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI), VxRail, Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure and HPE SimpliVity, whereas SteelFusion is most compared with Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI).

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