TrustRadius: an HG Insights company

Save this comparison

Save this comparison

Add Product

Recommended Comparisons

    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Cisco UCS Series

    Score9.2 out of 10
    N/AThe Cisco UCS Series is a modular, high-density, high-availability, dual-node storage- optimized server suited for service providers, enterprises, and industry-specific environments. It provides dense, cost-effective storage to address your ever-growing data needs. Designed for a new class of data-intensive workloads, it is simple to deploy and excellent for applications for big data, data protection, software-defined storage environments, scale-out unstructured data repositories, media…N/A

    VMware vSphere

    Score8 out of 10
    N/AAn enterprise workload platform, vSphere is used to improve the performance for a data center. It is used to boost operational efficiency, supercharge workload performance, and accelerate innovation.

    $995

    per year

    Pricing
    Cisco UCS SeriesVMware vSphere
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    Standard
    $995.00
    per year
    Enterprise
    $3,995.00
    per year
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Cisco UCS SeriesVMware vSphere
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
    Additional Details
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Cisco UCS SeriesVMware vSphere
    Considered Both Products
    Cisco
    No answer on this topic
    VMware by Broadcom
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    97%
    Would buy again
    67 Answers
    97%
    Would buy again
    30 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    97%
    Delivers good value for the price
    60 Answers
    97%
    Delivers good value for the price
    30 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    99%
    Happy with the feature set
    68 Answers
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    31 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    97%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    58 Answers
    96%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    25 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    97%
    Implementation went as expected
    60 Answers
    96%
    Implementation went as expected
    26 Answers
    Features
    Cisco UCS SeriesVMware vSphere
    Server Virtualization
    Comparison of Server Virtualization features of Cisco UCS Series and VMware vSphere
    Feature
    Cisco UCS Series
    -
    Ratings
    VMware vSphere
    7.2
    67 Ratings
    11% below category average
    Virtual machine automated provisioning00 Ratings7.062 Ratings
    Management console00 Ratings7.067 Ratings
    Live virtual machine backup00 Ratings6.060 Ratings
    Live virtual machine migration00 Ratings8.065 Ratings
    Hypervisor-level security00 Ratings8.062 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Cisco UCS SeriesVMware vSphere
    Small Businesses
    Dell PowerEdge
    Score7.6 out of 10
    Proxmox VE
    Score9.2 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Dell PowerEdge
    Score7.6 out of 10
    VMware vSOM (discontinued)
    Score10 out of 10
    Enterprises
    IBM Power
    Score9 out of 10
    IBM PowerVM
    Score9.6 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Cisco UCS SeriesVMware vSphere
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.3
    (72 ratings)
    7.0
    (70 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    8.2
    (2 ratings)
    7.0
    (7 ratings)
    Usability
    8.0
    (9 ratings)
    8.0
    (11 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.0
    (12 ratings)
    8.0
    (25 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    8.5
    (2 ratings)
    9.0
    (2 ratings)
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.4
    (5 ratings)
    Professional Services
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.7
    (3 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Cisco UCS SeriesVMware vSphere
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Cisco
    Well suited for virtual infrastructures and for large companies where you have to have a lot of virtual machines set up for servers, especially if you need one that has a heavy workload that needs an entire server dedicated to it. Less appropriate, just small mom and pop companies or smaller companies that don’t need such a hefty piece of equipment.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    vSphere is well suited for multiple VMWare hosts and can be very useful in larger enterprises where vMotion is used to load balance and failover running virtual machines. In smaller businesses with one or two hosts then the features can be overkill. The addition of virtual TPM support is a very nice addition to provide vm security in a more Microsoft supported methodology.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Cisco
    • It's very customizable. It's customizable as in you have a chassis, but you could pick and choose the size of your blades puff with full width depending on what your workloads are. So in a way, you're not locked in. It's not like you buy a chassis and you're stuck into one thing could go and put, you need something that's storage intensive or maybe you've got more graphics intensive workload. You could choose and mix and match in the same.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    • vMotion that provides seamless movement of Virtual Machines between physical hosts and datastores.
    • Ease of Manage: vCenter provides very good management experience to the users.
    • It provides hassle free upgrade of versions, which requires good planning.
    • Easy to manage datastore, networks, CPU and memory resources.
    • It also allows to convert the physical machine and bring it to vSphere Environment with minimum effort.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Cisco
    • Continue on development of platform management. Cisco has been notorious for terrible web applications but the functionality of this product is getting to where it is expected to be.
    • Recognition of this being a product in a competitive market. When I think of servers I do not think of Cisco. Cisco = Networking Dell,HP=Servers
    • 3rd party interoperability. I love Cisco but being tied to proprietary hardware/software is not a functionality that the end user or customer benefits from.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    • Allow enable EVC without requiring host shutdown
    • More detail in recent tasks. Instead of just showing a task called "Reconfigure virtual machine" also have a link to more detailed information as to what was reconfigured, changed or removed.
    • Allow searching tasks or events
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Cisco
    Cisco UCS has been a highly reliable compute platform for our workloads, handling MSSQL, SSIS, virtualization (VMware vSphere), and analytics workloads with low latency and high efficiency. UCS Service Profiles and centralized management (UCS Manager, Intersight) make it easy to provision, scale, and manage compute resources efficiently across production and non-production environments. Our UCS setup integrates well with Pure Storage and Nimble HF40, delivering high IOPS, low latency, and fast throughput for data-intensive workloads. Cisco UCS hardware and licensing can be expensive compared to some alternative compute platforms, especially when considering cloud-based or hyperconverged options. While UCS can work in a hybrid cloud setup, it doesn’t natively integrate as seamlessly with public cloud providers like Azure or AWS compared to some newer solutions. We may need to evaluate Azure Stack HCI or AWS Outposts for future flexibility.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    We are constantly looking for change that will benefit our company. We are not ones to stick with a product simply because it is what we know, but rather looking for what fits us best. We can't imagine another product on the market today doing a better job of handling our infrastructure than vSphere.
    Read full review
    Usability
    Cisco
    While Cisco's hardware is solid and long running, their software is usually the weak point. I will say that they are getting better with each release but if I had to find a problem with usability that would be it. Overall usability is good when you can work around software issues.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    Very useful for environments where space and energy consumption are issues and management is not very keen on upfront spending on hardware every time whenever requirement comes from any dept for provisioning a machine for their occasional use, easily can be done in case of VMware vSphere in few clicks. Backup, security, monitoring and management everything is covered but at additional cost.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Cisco
    The platform’s redundant fabric interconnects, power supplies, and built-in high-availability features ensure that systems remain online even during hardware failures or maintenance. Unplanned outages are rare, and when combined with proactive monitoring, UCS provides a very reliable environment for critical workloads.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    No answers on this topic
    Performance
    Cisco
    The system performs exceptionally well in terms of speed and efficiency, with pages loading quickly, and reports completing in a reasonable time frame, even with complex configurations. The integration of UCS with other systems, such as VMware vSphere and storage solutions, has generally not caused noticeable performance degradation. The scalability of UCS allows it to handle growing workloads without significant slowdowns. However, the performance could be slightly impacted during hardware or firmware upgrades, but these instances have been rare and well-managed. Overall, the performance has met our expectations and continues to provide reliable results.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    Cisco
    Cisco TAC is simply unbeatable and that goes for Cisco UCS server support just as well as it does for Cisco CUCM software. TAC has a well-deserved, excellent reputation and I do not hesitate to call them or open a ticket online, because I always know that I will get the help that I need and get it quickly
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    I rarely ever have to contact support and when I do need to resolve an issue, there is always an abundance of kb articles and research information available that can help quickly resolve the issue. Depending on the type of support contract you have, you may get support from some offshore group in another country and this could be a little challenging because of the language barrier.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    In-Person Training
    Cisco
    I would rate the in-person training as excellent. The sessions were well-structured, hands-on, and delivered by knowledgeable instructors who made UCS concepts easy to understand. It greatly improved our team’s confidence in managing the platform.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    No answers on this topic
    Online Training
    Cisco
    The training materials provided were generally informative and covered the essential aspects of the UCS platform, such as UCS Manager, Service Profiles, and integration with other systems. However, some of the training modules could benefit from being more hands-on and interactive. Additionally, certain advanced topics, like complex network configurations or troubleshooting hardware issues, were not covered in as much depth. Overall, while the training was useful, there’s room for improvement in terms of depth and practical application for more advanced users.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation Rating
    Cisco
    We were very satisfied with the implementation of Cisco UCS Series. The deployment was well-structured, Cisco’s support team was highly responsive, and the solution integrated smoothly with our existing infrastructure. The project was completed on time with minimal disruption to operations.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    Just make sure that when you implement, that the person implementing truly knows what they are doing and has a plan of action coming in. Since our initial implementation using a consulting service, I have implemented a few vSphere just from what I learned at the initial implementation and use over time, and the person implementing really needs to know what they are doing or you will miss out on features that may help you down the line
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Cisco
    UCS integrates with VMware vSphere while adding hardware automation and unified fabric. Why UCS?
    Cisco UCS offers better infrastructure abstraction and automation via UCS Manager and Intersight. The integration of compute and fabric in a single system reduced configuration time and enabled faster troubleshooting. We selected Cisco UCS because it aligns with our long-term strategy, offering infrastructure, simplified lifecycle management, automated scaling, and reduced operational complexity. Additionally, we secured a significant discount from Cisco due to our use of another Cisco solution.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    vSphere has a lot more feature sets than Hyper-V but at a much higher cost of entry versus MS Hyper-V. I have not been able to play with Hyper-V as much as I would have liked, but the setup and ongoing maintenance seems to be easier in vSphere than with Hyper-V
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    VMware by Broadcom
    The contract terms are very clear and can be updated as per the project requirement. Customer support is also included in the contract which help us to troubleshoot critical issues very easily. Training included in contract will really help the client team to empower and hands-on on the latest updates and enhancements
    Read full review
    Scalability
    Cisco
    Cisco UCS Series provides a highly flexible architecture with service profiles, fabric interconnects, and modular blades/rack servers, allowing organizations to scale compute and network resources across multiple departments and sites efficiently. The only minor limitation is that careful planning is required to maintain consistency at very large scales.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    No answers on this topic
    Professional Services
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    VMware by Broadcom
    As I said earlier, they're always ready to understand our issues and propose the best and most appropriate solution for issues all the time. The security patches solution is accordingly to the business needs. Another scenario is their Knowledge Base where
    they're many articles that help you in order to solve something which
    is wrong.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Cisco
    • I'm going to start with the negative impact. Maybe in order to have the ease of use, you have to get some time to prepare correctly and to correctly to design the correct design. But now that you've done this time, you don't have to take that to get back to this configuration. You are all free. And this is the positive side, it's that when everything is prepared correctly, everything is smooth. So the use of the profiles, the connection of new servers, the decommissioning and the adding of new servers, the modification of configuration, everything is more easy to use and the less we interrupt user access to our service, the more the hospital is working fine and we can achieve a better support to our end users. And then to the patients.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    • Having vSphere helped my business quickly recover from a ransomware attack which would have crippled us for weeks if we were not virtualized. I think the ROI on something like that is immeasurable.
    • vSphere has allowed my company to purchase bigger server hardware to host 3 or 4 virtual servers, which was at a cost much lower than buying 3 or 4 server hardware boxes, saving us thousands each time we need to upgrade hardware.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Cisco UCS Series Screenshots

    Screenshot of Cisco System I/O ControllerScreenshot of Cisco UCS S3260 System I/O ControllerScreenshot of Cisco UCS S3260 Base ChassisScreenshot of Cisco UCS C4200 Series Rack Server ChassisScreenshot of Cisco UCS C125 M5 Rack Server NodeScreenshot of UCSC-C245-M8SX Rack Server