Item: Scale Computing Platform
Rating: 10
Author: Richard Hardcastle

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use the Scale servers as our main production servers for our entire organization. We also use it for our offsite disaster recovery use. It helped our organization to quickly move to an all virtual environment and allows for future processing and storage growth. It also gives us a better disaster recovery plan with offsite storage.

Pros and Cons

Very easy implementation and migration.
Great support from Scale Computing.
A good path for expansion and growth.
Firmware is so simple, Scale technical support backs up our data, implements the updates and verifies all servers are operational.

I would like to see Scale allow a totally different snapshot scheduling for our offsite backups.
More training for end users to allow us to see potential issues.

Support Rating

Excellent technical support. Scale support is very good at fixing issues or implementing updates. Very easy to talk with and I have never had to wait to speak to a support person.

Apps Run

We run all of our production applications on the Scale servers. Every department is dependent of server application uptime. We have had NO outages since moving to the Scale clusters.

Return on Investment

Very low cost on the initial purchase of the equipment.
No cost support for the first 3 years of ownership.
File storage allow us to utilize the the thin-provisioned storage.

Alternatives Considered

HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage, VMware ESXi, HPE ProLiant DL and Dell EMC VMAX All Flash Storage

Price was a huge factor. Of the products we looked at the Scale HC3 package was considerably cheaper, but had processing, storage and virtualization we needed. I spoke to other companies in our line of business that own the Scale servers and all were so happy they moved over to Scale.

Likelihood to Recommend

This a great solution for smaller organizations to utilize a virtual environment that takes advantage of hyper converged environment. It has all of our CPU processing, SAN storage, and processing memory in one package that is very easy to monitor utilization and at a very low cost.

Key Insights

Do you think Scale Computing Platform delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Scale Computing Platform's feature set?

Yes

Did Scale Computing Platform live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Scale Computing Platform go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Scale Computing Platform again?

Yes

Usability

Our Scale cluster was very easy to setup and to maintain. Scale support is very knowledgeable and helpful. When initially setting up the cluster we had a question and we did not have to wait on hold for a support person. He answered our questions and gave additional advise for other options. We have had ZERO issues with our servers. Very happy

Exceptional Examples of Scale Computing Platform Support

Our only issue was during initial setup. Scale support quickly assisted us, because we made a dumb mistake, but Scale support got us back on track very fast.

Users and Roles

42 - All of our internal users (roughly 40) are accessing the Scale cluster, but it is myself and our MSP that do the support on the cluster.

Support Headcount Required

1 - I am the lone in-house support person. Although I have extensive IT experience, very little expertise is needed to maintain the servers.

Business Processes Supported

The need for expandable storage and replication
Need for redundancy
A requirement for off-site snapshots
Low cost alternative to Veeam backups
Low cost replacement for VMware

Innovative Uses

The ability to remotely manage storage options
Deduplication of remote snapshots
The ability to off-time schedule snapshots

Future Planned Uses

The ability to "grow" our server storage as we need to

Likelihood to Renew

We love the Scale product because they are lower costs that others, but support and hardware are excellent.

Other Software Used

Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365), Adobe Acrobat DC, VIPRE, Cisco Meraki MX, Barracuda Email Security Gateway, Malwarebytes, Zoom, Microsoft SQL Server, Sage 50cloud Accounting (formerly Sage 50 Accounting), Windows Server, Azure Windows Virtual Desktop

Products Replaced

Yes - We were using HP ML380 servers running VMware. We needed additional storage and were looking for an alternative to VMware.

Key Differentiators

Advisor recommendation
Implementation support

We contacted several companies that are using Scale to get their opinion of the product. All were outstanding.

Evaluation Lessons Learned

I would change very little on how we evaluated Scale product. I did or over did my due diligence when reviewing products.

Scale Computing Platform Customer Support Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Quick Resolution Good followup Knowledgeable team Problems get solved Kept well informed No escalation required Immediate help available Support understands my problem Support cares about my success Quick Initial Response	None

Pros	Cons
Like to use Relatively simple Easy to use Technical support not required Well integrated Consistent Quick to learn Convenient Feel confident using Familiar	None

Easy Tasks

Setting up virtual snapshots and scheduling
Creating a new virtual server
Managing storage
Managing CPU and memory
Contacting support (if needed)

Difficult Tasks

I have found nothing is difficult or cumbersome

Scale HC3 review

Overall Satisfaction with Scale Computing HC3