Cisco UCS Series vs. HPE Integrity

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Cisco UCS Series
Score 9.4 out of 10
N/A
The 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
HPE Integrity
Score 8.0 out of 10
N/A
HPE Integrity is a line of blade servers, from Hewlett-Packard Enterprise.N/A
Pricing
Cisco UCS SeriesHPE Integrity
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
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Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Cisco UCS SeriesHPE Integrity
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 SeriesHPE Integrity
Considered Both Products
Cisco UCS Series
Chose Cisco UCS Series
We found Cisco UCS to be more reliable and less fault-prone than Dell Poweredge Servers. Although, we have both of them in our cloud.
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 …
Chose Cisco UCS Series
Flexibility, efficiency, foot print and converged solution are some of the differentiators for preferring Cisco UCS Solution.

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, …
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 …
Chose Cisco UCS Series
Cisco Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms, Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers, Cisco Duo, Cisco Nexus 9000 Series Switches, Cisco Meraki SM and Cisco Catalyst Switches
Chose Cisco UCS Series
The Cisco UCS Series systems have far fewer hardware issues than the competition and seem to run longer than what we would be able to. They are also easier to manage from an admin perspective with easy to use tools, the right diagnostic and alerting and remote administration …
Chose Cisco UCS Series
The scalability with the use of adding more server chassis and profiling them to be quickly deployable and manageable on one website. The communication that are linked to each servers and with the Cisco UCS Series. In chassis particularly, it's more convenient because we have …
Chose Cisco UCS Series
It integrates perfectly with Cisco Nexus switches, which we use on our infrastructure, giving us a seamless experience on the implementation and configuration.
Chose Cisco UCS Series
For its economical hardware value and because our environment has mostly Cisco devices so for standizing and ease of management of compute and storage.
Chose Cisco UCS Series
They are very comparable. To be honest, I don't think you can go wrong with any of the major manufacturers. What it always comes down to me is ease of use, reliability, and most of all cost. If I can put a server in production and the end of life is 7 to 10 years down the road …
Chose Cisco UCS Series
What I like about it is I can connect them to together in the same management setup for maintenance and different stuff I need to do with them.
Chose Cisco UCS Series
Cisco UCS Series has better support.
Chose Cisco UCS Series
Cisco HyperFlex and Nutanix Unified Storage
Chose Cisco UCS Series
I think the Cisco UCS Series is better or at least as good as other servers, but the management of the Cisco UCS Series servers have a simpler management when using Fabric Interconnects. No other manufacturer of Server hardware is close to doing anything close to what Cisco has …
Chose Cisco UCS Series
Cisco UCS is great for VM server integration and scalability of resources. The reduced provisioning time to spin up a server helps ease the management and time spent by a server admin. It can also integrate well with fiber channel switches. It is also more power efficient then …
Chose Cisco UCS Series
Cisco UCS Series is potentially worse as far as experience and reliability, however, not to the point that cost should not be the deciding factor.
Chose Cisco UCS Series
CIsco is much better than HPE. Easy to setup and manage
HPE Integrity

No answer on this topic

Best Alternatives
Cisco UCS SeriesHPE Integrity
Small Businesses
Dell PowerEdge
Dell PowerEdge
Score 10.0 out of 10

No answers on this topic

Medium-sized Companies
HPE ProLiant DL
HPE ProLiant DL
Score 5.9 out of 10

No answers on this topic

Enterprises
IBM Z
IBM Z
Score 9.3 out of 10

No answers on this topic

All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Cisco UCS SeriesHPE Integrity
Likelihood to Recommend
9.4
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.1
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
7.8
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.8
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Cisco UCS SeriesHPE Integrity
Likelihood to Recommend
We have used these servers as edge servers as well as core servers. They always perform extremely well and have very few hardware issues. If they do experience a hardware issue it is easy to find the replacement part and fix it without any issues. They are great performers and overall a great buy.
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Pros
  • 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.
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Cons
  • Some OS memory vulnerabilities existed for a while.
  • We ended up swapping out several DIMMS, however the newest firmware appears to have resolved the issue for for now.
  • Though not as user-friendly as other Cisco products, the template system is often adequate.
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Likelihood to Renew
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.
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Usability
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.
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Reliability and Availability
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.
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Performance
The platform delivers fast and consistent compute performance for a wide range of workloads, including virtualization, and high-throughput applications. Even when integrated with other systems or software, UCS maintains responsiveness, ensuring reports, applications, and services run efficiently without noticeable slowdowns.
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Support Rating
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
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In-Person Training
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.
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Online Training
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.
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Implementation Rating
While there were some challenges, particularly with driver compatibility, network configuration, and hardware integration, the overall process was well-managed. The implementation team worked effectively to resolve issues, and we received great support from Cisco throughout the process. The training and knowledge gaps were addressed, and once the system was up and running, the UCS Series has significantly improved our infrastructure. The experience was generally positive, and any difficulties encountered were ultimately overcome with careful planning and support.
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Alternatives Considered
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.
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Scalability
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.
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Return on Investment
  • ROI is more on the stability side. The less you have to troubleshoot the more time you have to do what is actually needed.
  • Quick provisioning time for standing up new servers has been a great benifit.
  • The ability to quickly shift the use case for a server is great.
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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