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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    IBM Power Virtual Server

    Score9.4 out of 10
    N/AIBM presents their Power Systems Virtual Server as a scalable, cost-effective way to run IBM AIX, IBM i and Linux workloads​.N/A

    Microsoft SQL Server

    Score8.7 out of 10
    N/AMicrosoft SQL Server is a relational database.

    $1,418

    Per License

    Pricing
    IBM Power Virtual ServerMicrosoft SQL Server
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    Subscription
    $1,418.00
    Per License
    Enterprise
    $13,748.00
    Per License
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    IBM Power Virtual ServerMicrosoft SQL Server
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    YesNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    IBM Power Virtual ServerMicrosoft SQL Server
    Considered Both Products
    IBM
    Chose IBM Power Virtual Server
    The flexibility of IBM Power Systems Virtual Server is what made it stand out from the rest. This allows you to create the virtual server exactly as your business requires. Dynamic partitioning and scalability ensure that the server is the right size and power to support the …
    Incentivized
    Chose IBM Power Virtual Server
    It is more flexible and reliable. My team can manage it as they want. Easy to use. Technical support is good. I will continue to use it.
    Incentivized
    Chose IBM Power Virtual Server
    All the options we considered were expensive when it comes to having dedicated server for any system. Thus we chose IBM where we could have maximum support over a shared DNS server for various types of Clusters. All of our clusters have been supported on IBM's PS VS. IBM's …
    Incentivized
    Microsoft
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    98%
    Would buy again
    193 Answers
    100%
    Would buy again
    53 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    99%
    Delivers good value for the price
    187 Answers
    96%
    Delivers good value for the price
    45 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    99%
    Happy with the feature set
    194 Answers
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    53 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    99%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    165 Answers
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    39 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    96%
    Implementation went as expected
    177 Answers
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    45 Answers
    Features
    IBM Power Virtual ServerMicrosoft SQL Server
    Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS)
    Comparison of Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) features of IBM Power Virtual Server and Microsoft SQL Server
    Feature
    IBM Power Virtual Server
    8.6
    197 Ratings
    4% above category average
    Microsoft SQL Server
    -
    Ratings
    Service-level Agreement (SLA) uptime8.9195 Ratings00 Ratings
    Dynamic scaling8.8195 Ratings00 Ratings
    Elastic load balancing9.8189 Ratings00 Ratings
    Pre-configured templates9.7190 Ratings00 Ratings
    Monitoring tools7.0194 Ratings00 Ratings
    Pre-defined machine images9.7191 Ratings00 Ratings
    Operating system support8.9193 Ratings00 Ratings
    Security controls8.0192 Ratings00 Ratings
    Automation7.0168 Ratings00 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    IBM Power Virtual ServerMicrosoft SQL Server
    Small Businesses
    IBM Cloud Object Storage
    Score9 out of 10
    Amazon RDS
    Score8.1 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    IBM Cloud Bare Metal Servers
    Score8.7 out of 10
    SingleStore
    Score8.2 out of 10
    Enterprises
    SAP on IBM Cloud
    Score9 out of 10
    SAP IQ
    Score5.4 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    IBM Power Virtual ServerMicrosoft SQL Server
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.8
    (195 ratings)
    7.9
    (107 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.0
    (5 ratings)
    9.0
    (8 ratings)
    Usability
    8.5
    (4 ratings)
    7.6
    (17 ratings)
    Availability
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Performance
    8.2
    (2 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.1
    (3 ratings)
    7.9
    (26 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Online Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    9.0
    (6 ratings)
    Configurability
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Data Sharing and Collaboration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (5 ratings)
    Data Sources
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (5 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    7.5
    (3 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    9.0
    (3 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    IBM Power Virtual ServerMicrosoft SQL Server
    Likelihood to Recommend
    IBM
    It is really impactful in terms of scenarios like ERP systems and Data Analytics where heavy data needs to be analysed in terms of volume and their needs to be high scalability offering so in that scenario it is a great asset and features like distribution of workload using AI capabilities by leveraging modern IBM offerings like Watson is really helpful the area in which it could improve is native development of application in terms of adoption of New cloud Technologies
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    Microsoft SQL is ubiquitous, while MySQL runs under the hood all over the place. Microsoft SQL is the platform taught in colleges and certification courses and is the one most likely to be used by businesses because it is backed by Microsoft. Its interface is friendly (well, as pleasant as SQL can be) and has been used by so many for so long that resources are freely available if you encounter any issues.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    IBM
    • It is good in managing our documents in a precise manner.
    • It is a comprehensive tool and supports other languages like JAVA and Python and it is useful for us.
    • It is quite a valuable tool available at a reasonable price in the market and it is a scalable tool.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • Easy to configure and use with Visual Studio and Dot Net
    • Easy integration with MSBI to perform data analysis
    • Data Security
    • Easy to understand and use
    • Very easy to export database and tables in the form of SQL query or a script
    Incentivized
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    Cons
    IBM
    • The software appears to be geared for a no-programming approach, which implies that making changes is more difficult.
    • The user base is small making it monotonous and difficult to come up with new methods.
    • The number of rankings is not as large as competitors.
    • The admin end is poorly designed, as they are unable to receive and respond to client feedback.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • Microsoft SQL Server Enterprise edition has a high cost but is the only edition which supports SQL Always On Availability Groups. It would be nice to include this feature in the Standard version.
    • Licensing of Microsoft SQL Server is a quite complex matter, it would be good to simplify licensing in the future. For example, per core vs per user CAL licensing, as well as complex licensing scenarios in the Cloud and on Edge locations.
    • It would be good to include native tools for converting Oracle, DB2, Postgresql and MySQL/MariaDB databases (schema and data) for import into Microsoft SQL Server.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    IBM
    Easy to understand the architecture, easy of implementation and support with perfect documentation. Results driven performance in terms of latency and speed. Able to perform heavy workloads and huge transformations, also integrated SAP systems and Oracle robust deployments. But looking more in terms of AI capabilities to achieve more innovation.
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    We understand that the Microsoft SQL Server will continue to advance, offering the same robust and reliable platform while adding new features that enable us, as a software center, to create a superior product. That provides excellent performance while reducing the hardware requirements and the total cost of ownership of our solution.
    Incentivized
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    Usability
    IBM
    It provides strong support for Terraform, Ansible, and API-based management gives power users flexibility and efficiency and IBM Cloud UI is modern and relatively easy to navigate. Interfaces and workflows are consistent with on-prem Power Systems management tools. Areas to be improved - Compared to AWS or Azure, the UI could be more streamlined in how it presents all related services (e.g., networking, logging, storage) that tie into PowerVS
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    SQL Server mostly 'just works' or generates error messages to help you sort out the trouble. You can usually count on the product to get the job done and keep an eye on your potential mistakes. Interaction with other Microsoft products makes operating as a Windows user pretty straight forward. Digging through the multitude of dialogs and wizards can be a pain, but the answer is usually there somewhere.
    Incentivized
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    Reliability and Availability
    IBM
    Very easy to use.
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    Its does not have outages.
    Incentivized
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    Performance
    IBM
    While there’s room for improvement, it generally works very well.
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    SSAS data cubes may some time slow down your Excel reports.
    Incentivized
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    Support Rating
    IBM
    As with most IBM products the ongoing support for IBM Power Virtual Server is solid and consistent. IBM provides a clear roadmap for receiving support of their products. Both voice and online response is offered. It is obvious that IBM has the internal systems and culture to maintain support functions. This starts from the initial support call to the problem analysis and continues through the problem resolution. Documentation and communication are consistent within this process.
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    We managed to handle most of our problems by looking into Microsoft's official documentation that has everything explained and almost every function has an example that illustrates in detail how a particular functionality works. Just like PowerShell has the ability to show you an example of how some cmdlet works, that is the case also here, and in my opinion, it is a very good practice and I like it.
    Incentivized
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    In-Person Training
    IBM
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    It was good
    Incentivized
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    Online Training
    IBM
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    very hands on and detailed training
    Incentivized
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    Implementation Rating
    IBM
    It is economic.
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    Other than SQL taking quite a bit of time to actually install there are no problems with installation. Even on hardware that has good performance SQL can still take close to an hour to install a typical server with management and reporting services.
    Incentivized
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    Alternatives Considered
    IBM
    They both have their own ups and downs and it totally depends on the team which suits them best. IBM Power Virtual Server has Performance, Scalability, Reliability and Availability, Compatibility, and Good Vendor Support. The specific use case and workload requirements played a significant role. Some workloads may benefit from IBM Power Systems' architecture, while others may perform equally well on alternative platforms.
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    [Microsoft] SQL Server has a much better community and professional support and is overall just a more reliable system with Microsoft behind it. I've used MySQL in the past and SQL Server has just become more comfortable for me and is my go to RDBMS.
    Incentivized
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    Scalability
    IBM
    Built to handle thousands of concurrent users, high query loads, and massive datasets especially in data-heavy industries like finance, healthcare, and manufacturing. In-memory processing, dynamic query optimization, and intelligent caching mechanisms help it scale efficiently under load. You can configure clusters of Cognos servers to distribute workload and ensure high availability, even during peak usage
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    SQL server does handle growing demands of a mid sized company.
    Incentivized
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    Return on Investment
    IBM
    • We have had a return on investment of 30%.
    • There have also been 80% fewer application crashes due to a lack of resources that previously ran on the X86 platform.
    • Administration management has been simplified and staff can dedicate themselves to the development of applications, instead of providing support to users when the applications do not respond efficiently, this made staff 45% more productive.
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    • Increased accuracy - We went from multiple users having different versions of an Excel spreadsheet to a single source of truth for our reporting.
    • Increased Efficiency - We can now generate reports at any time from a single source rather than multiple users spending their time collating data and generating reports.
    • Improved Security - Enterprise level security on a dedicated server rather than financial files on multiple laptop hard drives.
    Incentivized
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    ScreenShots