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Scale Computing Platform vs. VMware Workstation Player

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Scale Computing Platform

    Score9.2 out of 10
    Mid-Size Companies (51-1,000 employees)
    Scale Computing offers edge computing, virtualization, and hyperconverged solutions for customers around the globe. Scale Computing HyperCore software promises to eliminate traditional virtualization software, disaster recovery software, servers, and shared storage, replacing these with a fully integrated, highly available system for running applications. The vendor says that, using patented HyperCore™ technology, the SC//HyperCore self-healing platform automatically identifies, mitigates, and…

    $249

    per year per core

    VMware Workstation Player

    Score9.9 out of 10
    N/AVMware Workstation 17 Player is a platform for running a single virtual machine on a Windows or Linux PC to deliver managed corporate desktops. Organizations can use Workstation Player to deliver managed corporate desktops, while students and educators use it for learning and training.N/A
    Pricing
    Scale Computing PlatformVMware Workstation Player
    Editions & Modules
    Standard
    $249
    per year per core
    Professional
    $312
    per year per core
    Professional Essentials
    $5,600
    one-time fee
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Scale Computing PlatformVMware Workstation Player
    Free Trial
    YesYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    YesNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
    Additional DetailsPricing shown in U.S. Dollar. Pricing for other regions available on request.—
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Scale Computing PlatformVMware Workstation Player
    Considered Both Products
    Scale Computing
    No answer on this topic
    VMware by Broadcom
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    100%
    Would buy again
    75 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    74 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    75 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    99%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    73 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    93%
    Implementation went as expected
    69 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Best Alternatives
    Scale Computing PlatformVMware Workstation Player
    Small Businesses
    StarWind HCA
    Score8.6 out of 10
    VMware Fusion
    Score7.4 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    StarWind HCA
    Score8.6 out of 10
    VMware Fusion
    Score7.4 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure
    Score9 out of 10
    Amazon WorkSpaces
    Score8.7 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Scale Computing PlatformVMware Workstation Player
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.8
    (245 ratings)
    6.9
    (9 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.4
    (22 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Usability
    7.5
    (40 ratings)
    8.0
    (2 ratings)
    Availability
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.1
    (245 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    1.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Online Training
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Configurability
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Scale Computing PlatformVMware Workstation Player
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Scale Computing
    Scale is best suited to environments that do not have excessive external or proprietary peripherals. Integrating with tape drive backups or robot tape libraries can be problematic. The most effective use of Scale systems is for companies running multiple instances of the same operating system. The hypervisor's code/file-sharing nature does an excellent job managing new instances while keeping the increase in storage to a minimum.
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    VMware will work great for the following test scenarios:
    • Testing windows updates on a system
    • Testing a new software or a new software version
    • Creating a sandbox to test options/features of an OS
    • Creating different VM to test a software on different OS without the need to have physical machines for all of them
    You can also use it as a "player" only where you have that static VM that you run from time to time as with my use for SAS University. Whenever you need to use the software, you simply start that VM.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Scale Computing
    • Simplicity - I do not have to create storage buckets or micromanage anything.
    • Efficiency - Lower power use since moving to a hyperconverged environment.
    • Scalability - Adding additional hardware is easy, and increasing things like the amount of RAM or number of cores is easy.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    • VMware Player is easy to use.
    • VMware Player supports a wide variety operating systems.
    • Unity mode makes it easy for the end user to utilize needed legacy applications while maintaining their familiar Host OS desktop. It's seamless to the point where the end user doesn't know they're running applications from a VM.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Scale Computing
    • Dedicated Lights-Out Solution for low-end systems
    • Ability to replace smaller storage drives with larger ones, rather than requiring the addition of an entire node for storage increases
    • Different UI views for VMs: ability to minimize certain groups and have that persist through log-ins
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    • Would be nice to use more VMs at once, but this is basically trial software, so it's hard to fault them.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Scale Computing
    Since I have had no issues with downtime; easier management of my cluster and the ability to lower the number of devices in my Infrastructure, I will gladly renew my support contract with Scale Computing HC3 and upgrade my equipment with them when it comes time for it.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    I give a rating of 8 because VMware Player has its use cases, for example it requires the host OS to be logged in, and the VMware Player application to be opened and the Guest VM started. Only one VM can run at a time. I'd give a 9/10 to VMware Workstation because you can run shared VMs at startup without logging in or starting the workstation application. and i'd give ESX a 10/10 because ESX is the leader in enterprise visualization.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Scale Computing
    Everything you need to do is point-and-click easy. If you are the kind of admin who wants to edit every config file and endlessly customize your environment, then Scale may not be for you. On the other hand, if you just want it to work really well, and do what they told you it will do, then Scale is the ideal system.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    Great product. Its user-friendly GUI and overall performance are really the biggest strength of this tool. The reason why I don't give a higher note is because of the price. Although it's decent (starting at around $200 for a license), there is a good free alternative in VirtualBox. Not everyone values friendly GUI as something worth paying for. For people that are more tech-savvy, I would recommend looking into VirtualBox as they might actually like the model better (with downloadable add-ons and packages).
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Scale Computing
    Never had an outage or an error. Once a hard drive failed, but Scale kept on working flawlessly without interruption.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    No answers on this topic
    Performance
    Scale Computing
    Performance has been just as outstanding as reliability. I have never experienced delays in any aspect of usage.
    Incentivized
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    VMware by Broadcom
    Integration isn't really relevant here but I see this question more as an OS compatibility for the VM. They state that they support over 200 different OS versions. I honestly have never tried anything else other than Ubuntu and Windows myself but nonetheless, this is impressive. I have not hit any limitation in my use of this software in terms of limitation or conflicts with other software.
    Incentivized
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    Support Rating
    Scale Computing
    They are very knowledgeable about their own products and hardware addressing my concerns or issues very quickly and on the first contact. Calls concerning VMware migrations and Acronis backup took a little more time for more complicated issues, but the Scale Computing Platform techs were diligent to stay on top of issues until they were resolved. Most of my issues have been with the initial setup/migration.
    Incentivized
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    VMware by Broadcom
    VMware support is very knowledgeable on their products, eveything from AirWatch to ESX clusters. VMware is easy to contact, they stay in touch and see the issue through to the end and a final resolution. They keep you up to date on your issue status and don't leave you waiting for answers.
    Incentivized
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    In-Person Training
    Scale Computing
    I did not do in-person training.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    No answers on this topic
    Online Training
    Scale Computing
    Because Scale is so simple, the training is just as quick and easy.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation Rating
    Scale Computing
    The implementation was very easy. We had Scale support on standby and they were ready and eager to help if needed. The process went so fast the employees in the organization did not even know it was done.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    Installing the application was easily completed on the twenty computers that needed VMware Player. Once those 20 users were configured we copied our virtual machine template to the 20 users and turned on their newly provisioned virtual machines. We then configured unity mode so the user could easily work from within the virtual machine from their host desktop.
    Incentivized
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    Alternatives Considered
    Scale Computing
    We previously used Microsoft Hyper V and VMWare and, before that, a room for single-purpose servers. My satisfaction with Scale is because it is a more straightforward product to install and use; it has incredible speed and reliability. In the past, getting support from Microsoft was labor intensive, and with VMWare, there was a language accent barrier.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    Both free, VMware supports USB 3.0 while VirtualBox does not. VMware supports nested hardware-assisted virtualization while VirtualBox does not.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Scalability
    Scale Computing
    HC3 is one of the best products I have purchased for our district. It is unbelievably reliable to the point that they shoot themselves in the foot on support contracts.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    Scale Computing
    • With the high cost of the leading competitor the savings starts day one and saves every year after.
    • Scale can be administered by a tier one technician so cost of labor is reduced.
    • If there is a problem like a cyber attack, the savings kick in with the least amount of downtime.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    • A positive impact is that it require little to no funding to use.
    • Negative impact is that because it is free it can be hard to get support.
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Scale Computing Platform Screenshots

    Screenshot of Scale Computing Fleet Management Dashboard - 
At-a-glance summary of the health of the fleet upon login.Screenshot of Cluster Details -
Details of a particular cluster, including health, fleet manager connectivity, nodes, and VMsScreenshot of Scale Computing Fleet Manager -
Manages an organization’s fleet of Clusters.Screenshot of Hypercore UI -
Simple Web Interface for Local Management of the Cluster and its Workloads