TrustRadius: an HG Insights company

Save this comparison

Save this comparison

Add Product

Recommended Comparisons

    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Cisco UCS Series

    Score9.3 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
    Pricing
    Cisco UCS Series
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Cisco UCS Series
    Free Trial
    No
    Free/Freemium Version
    No
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    No
    Entry-level Setup FeeOptional
    Additional Details—
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Cisco UCS Series
    Considered Both Products
    Cisco
    Chose Cisco UCS Series
    In our opinion, Cisco UCS X-Series provides better flexibility and management.
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco UCS Series
    Robust SaaS based mgmt.
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco UCS Series
    Better performance and scalability, with a broader solution integration and many validated designs for VMware, Red Hat, Nutanix, Bermital, and many other solution providers. I strongly suggest it for those who would like a long-term solution that is reliable and well-suited, as …
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco UCS Series
    compared to the vmware vblock architecture, Cisco UCS Series is smaller and easier to deploy. though Cisco UCS Series does not have the built in networking the the vblock comes with
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco UCS Series
    Intersight is so much better. UCP only comes with HPE servers. So there is a limiting factor in the Cisco UCS X-Series advantages
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco UCS Series
    Better features, higher prices.
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco UCS Series
    compared with traditional rack servers, Cisco UCS X-Series provides better lifecycle consistency and easier standardization across computer nodes. compared with older UCS it offers a more modern design with better adaptability for future compute.
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco UCS Series
    The expected long life-cycle will help in limiting complete replacement when a server technology refresh is required
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco UCS Series
    Hyperflex is being discontinued so that’s not so good!
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco UCS Series
    We decided to go with the UCS X-Series as it is easy to integrate. The engineers are familiar with it. The Partner network is good and we have good external engineers to help us with problems and integration questions. It is a flexible solution that can help us fulfill the …
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco UCS Series
    UCS-x if truly template driven
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco UCS Series
    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 …
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco UCS Series
    With the standard UCS series starting to be retired, the Cisco UCS X-Series was the logical replacement to stay in the Cisco portfolio.
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco UCS Series
    Flexibility, efficiency, foot print and converged solution are some of the differentiators for preferring Cisco UCS Solution.

    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco UCS Series
    Well, I'm primarily our data center services compute guy, so I've used all of the UCS primarily. I've used IBM Data Blade Center and some of that in the past and Dell, but really we've been primarily UCS for the last 12 to 15 years. So exclusively. All of the above. I mean, …
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco UCS Series
    WHereas all vendors provided a wide range fo x86 processor support, Cisco provided the most useful configurations. HPE needed to outsource to 3rd party vendors for parts but was the most cost effective Dell didn't have small form factor processors needed but did offer more …
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    98%
    Would buy again
    94 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    98%
    Delivers good value for the price
    85 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    99%
    Happy with the feature set
    95 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    96%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    79 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    97%
    Implementation went as expected
    85 Answers
    Best Alternatives
    Cisco UCS Series
    Small Businesses
    Dell PowerEdge
    Score7.6 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Dell PowerEdge
    Score7.6 out of 10
    Enterprises
    IBM Power
    Score9 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Cisco UCS Series
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.3
    (99 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    8.2
    (3 ratings)
    Usability
    8.0
    (10 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.0
    (12 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    8.5
    (2 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Cisco UCS Series
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Cisco
    I like the solutions because they are easy to use and operate via Cisco Intersight. Also, the support is amazing, as there is no better support than Cisco has ever seen. I recommend it for companies to improve reliability and achieve easier operation without incurring overhead. The solution is ready to be used for any workload.
    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
    Cons
    Cisco
    • It’s about to be replaced, so I would rather wait until I try the UCSX series out, because it’s about to be replaced by a better version of it. So what I would have to say would need to be upgraded is probably being replaced. Well, I mean, some of the issues we would have with it or things we would like to have with it might be in the new thing.
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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