Hewlett Packard and Dell are the market leading server manufacturers. But which should you choose when buying a server? We put the two head to head to help you decide.

1. PRESENTS
“World's most intelligent servers”
“The Power to do More”
Proliant Gen8
Nemertes PilotHouse Award
Servers for Virtualization (2011)
PowerEdge
InfoWorld
Technology of the Year Award,
BladeSystem
SearchDataCentre.com
Product of the Year in the
Computing Hardware Category,
HP ProLiant DL980 G7 (2011)
InfoWorld
Technology of the Year Award,
Dell PowerEdge R715 (2012)
SmallBizWindows
Server of the Year 2012 Award,
HP ProLiant DL385 G7 (2010)
PC Pro
Recommended
PowerEdge R620 (2012)
IT Pro
Editor's Choice
PowerEdge R720 (2012)
V3
Editors' Choice
PowerEdge R620 (2012)
AWARDS
AWARDS
AWARDS
AWARDS
A specialist in computing technology since
the 1930s, HP's latest ProLiant Gen8 servers
were built with the intention of delivering:
A world leader in technology solutions for almost
30 years, Dell's latest range of PowerEdge
servers were created with the aim of:
Increased compute power in less space
Faster problem resolution
Increased administrator productivity
Return on investment within 3 months
Streamlining day-to-day operations
Reducing complexity with modular design
Maintaining server health
Managing costs with the right form factor
V
MARKET
SHARE
HP
100%
DELL
100%
75%
75%
50%
50%
25%
25%
0%
0%
2008
2009
2010
2011
RELIABILITY
According to ITIC, 84% of HP UX 11i v3 users testified to
the reliability of those platforms, reporting that they
experience either one or less than one unplanned Tier 3
outage per server, annually.
When a roof leaked and flooded a data centre at a U.S
Medical Research and Command, the DELL servers on top
of the rack head were filled with 5 cups of water in each.
The servers were dried out and allowed to be put back into
service and all servers performed just as before the flood.
C
RACK TOWER
‘3D array of
temperature sensors’
0
10
-40 -20
0
20
0
10
-40 -20
20
30
40
20
0
20
60
30
40
60
40
TEMPERATURE
‘Fresh air
technology’
Operating
0
Non-0perating
80
40
10
-40 -20
Operating
0
Non-0perating
80
-40 -20
20
0
10
20
30
40
20
0
20
60
30
40
60
40
80
40
80
RACK TOWER
OPERATING
EFFICIENCY
HP has partnered with Energy Star to offer the
most energy efficient servers in the industry.
The latest Dell PowerEdge servers consume up to
25% less energy than previous generations
which, when combined with performance gains,
results in up to a 3x increase in efficiency.
POWER
CONSUMPTION
Power Capping of HP Proliant and
BladeSystem servers available through
HP’s Insight Power Manager can allow
up to 40% more servers in the same
power envelope.
Dell supports power capping of
individual servers up to complete blade
chassis. The free OpenManage Power
Centre allows users to take control of
server, rack, aisle, or server room.
CUSTOMER
SERVICE
76%
70%
HOW CAN
I HELP?
of HP customers rated support and
service as Excellent or Very Good.
of Dell customers rated support and
service as Excellent or Very Good.
To shorten hold times, HP aim to
answer 80% of support calls in 3
minutes or less.
In 2007, Dell spent $150 million on
customer service improvements.
USP
V
Gen8 servers enable 3x faster system
deployment and support 30% more virtual
machines per server with a reduction of
40% less energy.
Unique to Dell across their 12th Gen
PowerEdge range are their Redundant
Hypervisor mirrored SD cards for vmware
diskless configs.
Featuring an unprecedented set of
innovations, the new ProLiant family
transforms
the
expectations
and
economics of the data centre thanks to
intelligent technology built into the world’s
most self-sufficient servers.
Dell's FreshAir capabilities also allow you to
run your data centre at a higher temperature
- with or without AC.
Dell's Express Flash includes up to 3x more
disk iops than standard SSD & still hot plug.
SPICEWORKS COMMUNITY POLL
Which do you prefer, HP or Dell servers?
48% 52%
Sources:
http://itic-corp.com/blog/2011/04/itic-2011-reliability-shows-that-dell-hp-ibm-stratus-score-high-marks-for-service-support/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djfdwuIHWgA
http://www.dellsainsights.com/dell-in-the-news/12th-generation-poweredge-reviews-and-awards-3/
http://h18004.www1.hp.com/
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/servers/374416/dell-poweredge-r720/2
http://www.dell.com/poweredge
http://welcome.hp.com
http://www.spiceworks.com
www.kingofservers.com
Design: Bite Digital - www.biteus.net
“HP without a doubt. HP's just seem to be more solid in the long run”
“Dell is better in all aspects”
“HP servers are very mature and their deployment and management tools are second to none”
“Dell. They're solid and their premium support is awesome”