HPE SimpliVity compares well with other HCI solutions, but its reliance on VMware ESXi as the primary hypervisor might limit flexibility. In the hypervisor landscape, VMware holds a strong position, followed by Nutanix, Dell VxRail, and then SimpliVity. HPE may need to consider diversifying hypervisor options for broader compatibility.

I previously used DataCore SANSymphony, Nimble and from my last company, it was vSAN 6.0 and 3PAR SAN. Our Datacore SAN that we migrated off of lacks a lot of features and was built on very cheap hardware.

SimpliVity meets all of our requirements and also address other future requirements that were not in the scope of the primary storage project.

The main reason customers choose this solution is the fast backup and recovery capabilities.  

We never used hyper-convergence before SimpliVity

We have a very dispersed environment and were looking to centralize. We were using traditional VMware farms, standalone servers, etc.

With new technology as the next thing, when we are replacing our environment, we try to go with not only what fits from a cost perspective, but we also try to stay on the edge of technology since we tend to keep our environments past their usual lives. So, it's better to start new and work out the bugs.

We were previously using the HPE MSA solution.

We used EqualLogic SAN with independent host but that solution was nearing end-of-life. By moving to SimpliVity we were able to reduce our hardware footprint.

We didn't initially think we needed to invest in a new hardware solution. We really were focused on DR backup. As we went through the use case and worked out the financials on it, we determined that SimpliVIty was the right move for us, as it financially made sense to the point that we had an HPE 3PAR that was two years old and we put that on the shelf. So, it was not hardware refresh related at all.

Previously, we had a conventional architecture with three host servers and two SANs.

I did have another product. I found a need to upgrade due to space issues and the amount of time that it was taking to run my backups at night.

Cisco's more about immediate support, like calling them. But HPE SimpliVity is a set-and-forget solution. Once you configure it, it runs itself. 

Cisco requires human intervention for management.

Our previous solution used three VMware servers and two mirrored SANs. The servers were end-of-life and the SANs were almost out of available storage space.

VxRail is the only competitor, no other product comes near HPE SimpliVity.

We needed SimpliVity for our architecture. 

When the Dell PowerEdge infrastructure became old we then decided to switch to SimpliVity. We have also used Dell VxRail and all the other solutions that we had upgraded at that time.

no

We were previously using basic compute storage.

We were lifecycle managing all our technology, so it was more about stability. We switched for a more converged solution.

We were running on antiquated equipment and older solutions that required a lot more hands-on work. We used a piecemeal solution. We had two Dell servers and a VNXe storage unit and we backed it up through Commvault. So we had a bunch of different providers, different supports that we'd have to call for the three different things. With SimpliVity it is all just one.

Legacy Dell Equallogic SAN. Needed a datacenter refresh and loved the feature rich all in one SimpliVity solution.

We switched because we have a most-excellent salesperson. He promised something more than what the SimpliVity environment can support.

We previously used a different solution. It was not a true HCI.

We wanted the advantages of HCI versus legacy stacks as a means of expanding our capabilities, as we are a VMware-based environment and make heavy use of cloning and templates which OmniStack can deduplicate efficiently.

I used a three-tier solution, meaning SAN, hosts, and the network fabric. I wanted to move away from the three point failure environment into the single mirror environment, especially for performance.

I didn't know what exactly what I was looking for in the beginning. I knew we needed to move away from our legacy environment into the hyper-converged world. Therefore, I was looking at different solutions. I knew that Nutanix was the big one out there, and is still the big one out there. Somehow, I landed on the SimpliVity site.

Our previous solution failed, which is why we switched. We were using the HPE HC380. We had already started examining the SimpliVity solution as a replacement for that stack, but then it failed. So, we had to put SimpliVity in as an emergency.

First hyper-converged solution that I have ever used.

We moved to SimpliVity from our previous solution because SimpliVity met our requirements. Our previous solution was four years old.

I was using classical storage, server technology, because it's not easy to manage all hardware capacity.

We were using a different solution and we were reaching end of life. That's when we started evaluating different vendors and different products. We didn't know much about HPE. We saw their solution, saw the backup restore, and the ability to do disaster recovery and business continuity, and we were sold. We chose HPE because we did a test between this and one other competitor. We tested some dry failures and that type of thing, and found out that the data protection was much better with SimpliVity.

When selecting a vendor, the most important criteria are functionality, performance, and support. We looked at all of those and that's why we chose SimpliVity.

In the past we were running UCS with a NetApp SAN connected via FC. We were ready for a refresh when we saw Simplivity. It looked like a perfect fit.

We didn't use any other hyper-converged technology. We just moved from a VMware system that was kind of the old school type with two servers, a disk array, and a separate disk.

We used vSAN for the VMware solution.

We previously used a different solution, but SimpliVity is a fully integrated system. You have one vendor who is responsible for the hard and software. That is the main benefit.

I previously used a traditional virtualization stack with a SAN, compute, and network layers.  I switched because, at the time, we had no DR solution in place for many of our services. We were looking for the best available options to replicate data for a DR site and bring up services at that site. 

SimpliVity provides an all-in-one solution and has been a great addition to our tech portfolio.

we did not have disaster recovery in place before.

I saw SimpliVity about two or two and a half years ago, at a VMR user group in New England and it just appealed to me. The very first time I saw VMware I said, "Oh my God, I can't believe you can do that." Later on, I saw SimpliVity and I said, "Oh my God, I can't believe you can do that. That's really cool." We've always used different solutions, we've been an HPE shop, now, for a long time. We have used more traditional solutions, like HPE c7000 Blade Chassis, 3PAR, big storage in the backend not necessarily the hyper-converged.

We previously used a different solution and we switched because of total cost (ROI) and efficiency.

We had an aging infrastructure that was due to be replaced. We wanted our new product to have built-in DR capability.

No, this is our first hyperconverged solution.

This was the first hyper-converged system we used, however, we do have some experience with VMware now. 

We have used Check Point.

We had an aging infrastructure that we didn't want to replace with a ton of physical servers. We went from a whole mess of old, difficult servers to support to three servers that we never have to touch. Therefore, it has greatly reduced the amount of administration for our site, and we basically don't touch it.

We did not use a solution previous to this one. It was added to our IT portfolio because there was a need for it.

We didn't use any other solution.

This was our first hyper-converged solution. Previously, we had used separate blade servers tied to separate SANs tied to separate backup solutions.

We knew that we needed to invest in new solution because we were using a standard, best of breed solution, and it was time to refresh that.

I migrated from IBM Blade Servers and traditional SAN infrastructure.

I used CISCO.

We were using what is called a traditional conversion solution. We switched to SimpliVity because it enabled us to consolidate our nodes. 

I needed an all in one solution. I had looked at Nutanix and SimpliVity and between the two, Nutanix would only sell me in nodes of three and SimpliVity was willing to sell me a box by itself. 

When you're a vendor, I look for support. That's the most important thing. I like that SimpliVity ran on a Dell backend. Now that it is going to HV, we'll have to see how that runs, but the support that I knew I could get from SimpliVity was very important.

Customers have moved to SimpliVity for ease of use, consolidation of vendors, reducing cost, improving performance, improve data protection capabilities, and even managing storage at multiple sites.

We are using VMware and HPE SimpliVity together. The backup and the decompression of the files are very useful. Previously the updating was not easy when I only used my servers alone. However, with the HPE SimpliVity, it's updating the firmware and VMware in one step.

I have used Nutanix and updating the system was simple, HPE SimpliVity could improve in this area.

No, previously we didn't use a differente solutio , just HP DL nodes separately

Being vendor agnostic, we are not partial to any solution or product. Where we have deployed SimpliVity we have not faced issues. In short, no switching.

We were using a different solution, and it was reaching end of life. That is when we started evaluating different vendors and products. We didn't know about this tool. We saw their solution, saw the backup and restore, the ability to do disaster recovery and business continuity, and we were sold.

We chose HPE because we ran a test between this and one other competitor. We tested some drive failures and that type of thing, and found out that the data protection was much better with SimpliVity.

When selecting a vendor, the most important criteria are functionality, performance, and support. We looked at all of those and that's why we chose SimpliVity.

We didn't have a previous solution.

When selecting a vendor, I want to know whether they look solid and stable. Now, with the acquisition by HPE, they look even more solid and more stable. Also, a vendor solution must provide functionality that we need to have in a way that is simple, particularly for our organization, because it's not IT. We needed something that didn't require a lot to manage them. A system that is very simple. It didn't increase the items on my plate that I had to do with one more thing.

Most of our data center was running on IBM BladeCenter and they just became obsolete. So we started to look into something more advanced, more innovative and simpler to manage.

When selecting a vendor the most important aspect is technical help and their support and simplicity of the system itself.

In the past, we deployed the more traditional systems, such as a hypervisor with shared storage. We see the advantages of hyperconverged solutions and were impressed by the SimpliVity product, so we have shifted our main focus to hyperconverged solutions; in particular, SimpliVity.

We previously used Intel services and products previously. We decided to switch, and, due to Turkish regulations, we couldn't use a public cloud product. That's why we chose HPE.

We evaluated different solutions, but SimpliVity was the best choice in performance and scalability.

We previously used a centralized VMware solution; not enough resources and internal support was lacking. We needed more control over our environment.

Dell EMC puts the direct application in the store, like MySQL or Oracle databases. The equipment is all-flash. 

We went from our old technology to the new technology. So far, it has helped us with backups to save us money from the old technologies.

We were using traditional server and storage based. We switched to SimpliVity because it was looking promising. It was simple. It reduced hardware presence in the datacenter. It increased backup speeds. The simplicity of the SimpliVity.

We were partnered with SimpliVity before they were bought by HPE, but we never really had any deals as far as HPE goes.

We've sold a lot of blades and 3PAP. We've had some other solutions, like ExaGrid, that tries to compete with HPE. We've done a couple of deals for them. Usually, we try to promote the HPE infrastructure whenever we can, so this product is going to help out with that.

Had a traditional Server/SAN setup. Upgrading that turned out to be more expensive than moving over to the new solution.

Yes, we did have a previous solution. 

We switched because we have to renew components in the datacenter every so many years. First year, the storage; second year, the switching; third year, the computing; and so on. So, with SimpliVity, we know that we have boxes that we can add, and the oldest one can move out of the datacenter without all the hassle of making components obsolete. 

The SimpliVity OmniCube solution was the first that we have used for software defined, data center field. We have been using it ever since

We previously used Dell PowerEdge rack servers.

Traditional stack with storage and compute.

We had an aging Compellent SAN which was critically close to running out of disk space. Dell would not sell me an additional disk enclosure, thus forcing me to do a forklift upgrade. Moving to the Simplivity HCI allowed me considerably more resources and we came in under budget.

We saw changes in the market and changes in the way applications are developed. The market is going away from what we think of as databases, and is moving toward cloud data applications.

Veeam and Dell Servers and Storage.

We were using HPE BladeSystem.

I have some experience with Nutanix. I've read about it and gone over documentation. I've never installed it, however, I find the implementation in theory easier and more automated than this product.

No, we have not previously used a different solution. 

We have the need to implement a disaster recovery (DR) strategy in our branch offices. We were looking for different solutions, and one of them was HPE SimpliVity. We are checking it out at this moment.

Our previous solution was hardware, not a one box solution. It had multiple servers.

It was time to upgrade the client's solution. We chose to go with this solution because it was a small market client.

We did not have a previous solution. As far as hyper converge goes, that was the first one we started selling. We've sold vSAN, as well, and the same with Nutanix. But SimpliVity is kind of the horse for picking a ride now.

I want stability when picking a vendor. Look at a company like Simplivity. They were a great company, but poorly managed as far as money goes and luckily HPE was able to swoop them up and that’s better than a lot of the other companies that could have bought them.

Previously, we did not use another solution.

SimpliVity is the first HCI that we have implemented in this company. We have learned and gained more experience in this area.

We used Cisco HyperFlex. It was just another system that was brought to our attention by a different reseller. SimpliVity was introduced to us by sales and we needed something like that.

We didn't previously use a different solution.

We had old end-of-life and end-of-support servers.

I switched from a non-hyperconverged solution. This was less hardware and VMware licensing to manage.

We had a standard HPE blade server. Our reseller put forward SimpliVity to us. We tried it out and tested it. I was like, "Wow." It blew us away. 

We previously used regular Windows servers. We switched for better efficiency of storage and backup.

Nutanix. We switched because Simplivity deduplicates and compresses online and can be started with two nodes, without forgetting disk protection.