Oracle SPARC Servers vs.

IBM Power Systems

Oracle SPARC Servers

vs. IBM Power Systems

Reviews, Tips and

Advice from Real Users
October 2024

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Oracle SPARC Servers vs. IBM Power Systems

Contents

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 - 5

Oracle SPARC Servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 - 7

Valuable Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 - 10
Pain Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 - 15
Pricing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 - 17
Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 - 19
Customer Service and Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Other Solutions Considered . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

IBM Power Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 - 23

Valuable Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 - 28
Pain Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 - 32
ROI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 - 35
Pricing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 - 37
Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 - 40
Customer Service and Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 - 42
Other Solutions Considered . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 - 44

Reviewers Who Have Researched Both Solutions 45 - 54

About PeerSpot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 - 56

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Oracle SPARC Servers vs. IBM Power Systems

Oracle SPARC Servers

VS. IBM Power Systems

Executive summary
Oracle SPARC Servers and IBM Power Systems are two leading enterprise
server solutions. IBM Power Systems have the upper hand for performance and
features, while Oracle SPARC Servers offer competitive pricing and support.

Features: IBM Power Systems provide robust performance, scalability, and

seamless integration with various applications. They have superior processing
power. Oracle SPARC Servers are valued for security features, reliable
architecture, and cost-effectiveness. IBM Power Systems offer a broader array
of features, giving them an edge.

Room for Improvement: Oracle SPARC Servers need better system flexibility,
software compatibility, and more intuitive management tools. IBM Power
Systems require simpler system setup, initial configuration, and improved
customer service responsiveness. Both need enhancements, but Oracle SPARC
benefits more from increased flexibility.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Oracle SPARC Servers have

straightforward deployment and excellent customer support, with smooth initial
setup processes. IBM Power Systems face criticism for intricate deployment and
less responsive customer service. Oracle SPARC Servers have an advantage
here.

Pricing and ROI: Oracle SPARC Servers are cost-effective, providing good value
for money with robust security and reliability. IBM Power Systems are more
expensive but deliver better ROI through enhanced processing power and
scalability. Despite higher costs, users see IBM Power Systems as a worthwhile
investment for long-term benefits.

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Oracle SPARC Servers vs. IBM Power Systems

Solution Oracle SPARC Servers IBM Power Systems

Ranking

Sample University Hospitals Leuven, B&H Cipher

customers Photo, Tuscon Electric Power, IS
Nordic, Siemens

Top IBM Power Systems vs. Oracle SPARC Intel Server System vs. IBM Power
comparisons Servers Systems
Compared 40 of the time Compared 42 of the time

Intel Server System vs. Oracle SPARC Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers vs. IBM
Servers Power Systems
Compared 31 of the time Compared 21 of the time

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers vs. Oracle Oracle SPARC Servers vs. IBM Power
SPARC Servers Systems
Compared 9 of the time Compared 17 of the time

Top industries Financial Services Firm 25% Financial Services Firm 18%
based on
reviewers*
Computer Software 16% Computer Software 14%
Company Company
Government 8% Manufacturing Company 9%

Manufacturing Company 7% Government 7%

Top industries Financial Services Firm 36%

based on
companies
Retailer 15%
reading reviews*

Manufacturing Company 9%

Government 6%

* Data is based on the aggregate profiles of PeerSpot Users researching this solution.

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Oracle SPARC Servers vs. IBM Power Systems

Company Sizes

Small Business Midsize Enterprise Large Enterprise

Oracle SPARC Servers vs. IBM Power Systems

by reviewers by reviewers

by visitors reading reviews by visitors reading reviews

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Product Recap
Oracle SPARC Servers

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Oracle SPARC Servers Recap

Jump to IBM Power Systems Recap

PeerSpot users give Oracle SPARC Servers an average rating of 4.1 out of 5.

Oracle's SPARC S7, T7, and M7 Servers with always-on memory intrusion protection and
comprehensive data encryption secure data with no performance penalty. Security in silicon
features and Oracle Solaris protect data in memory from unauthorized access and stop
malware before it gets in.

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Valuable Features
Excerpts from real customer reviews on PeerSpot:

“The operating system is rock solid and the best I have ever used.”

Abdul-Salam
Sr. Manager - System Analyst (Datacenter Infrastructure) at Sohar International

“I have found the LDAP facilities most valuable. In addition, I like the CPU.”

Nout Gemmeke
CEO at Stargem

“The most valuable features of the solution stem from the fact that Oracle
Database functions very well with Oracle SPARC Servers.”

Awa Sri
Director at Nehish Software Solutions

“The Oracle server is very powerful. They are more powerful and durable
compared to Intel hardware. Which has been a benefit to our organization.”

Mir-Ali
Infrastructure Manager - Oracle SCM at a financial services firm with 5,001-
10,000 employees

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“The performance is the best feature.”

Rakesh Ojha
DGM at SAIL Bokaro Steel Plant

“The processor is very helpful and the licensing is very flexible.”

Khurshid AlamSheikh
Head of IT at Sonali Intellect

“Our customers are happy with many features in Oracle SPARC Servers, like
the automatic ASR feature.”

Ashish Gaire
Sr. Sun Solaris Field Support Consultant at World Distribution Nepal Pvt.Ltd

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What users had to say about valuable features:

“The operating system is rock solid and the best I have ever used.

You can perform nearly 100% of things online without needing downtime.

The solution has rich virtualization features that allow you to host many VMs on
one box.

The processors are very powerful. ”

Abdul-Salam Read full review

Sr. Manager - System Analyst (Datacenter Infrastructure) at Sohar
International

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Pain Points
The main pain points mentioned:

“Oracle doesn't have a good roadmap for the solution because they are
moving to the x86 platform.”

Abdul-Salam
Sr. Manager - System Analyst (Datacenter Infrastructure) at Sohar International

“I would like to see a reduced price point.”

Nout Gemmeke
CEO at Stargem

“Oracle SPARC Servers should be fine-tuned well enough to work with the
other servers and software products in the market, as it is an area where
Oracle SPARC Servers lack.”

Awa Sri
Director at Nehish Software Solutions

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“The solution could improve by giving a clear roadmap about the future. I'm
not seeing a lot of improvements on the OS side of the software. They need to
work more on the operating system.”

Mir-Ali
Infrastructure Manager - Oracle SCM at a financial services firm with 5,001-
10,000 employees

“They have declared the end of life of the hardware.”

Rakesh Ojha
DGM at SAIL Bokaro Steel Plant

“They need some sort of modeling because IBM has different types of
models.”

Khurshid AlamSheikh
Head of IT at Sonali Intellect

“Like IBM, Oracle SPARC Servers should be able to run other open operating
systems like Linux.”

Ashish Gaire
Sr. Sun Solaris Field Support Consultant at World Distribution Nepal Pvt.Ltd

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Room for improvement:

“Oracle products are usually fine-tuned with the software of other Oracle
products, like Oracle WebLogic Server Services, Oracle Database, and Oracle Core
Banking Software and Solutions, as all the aforementioned products work very well
with Oracle SPARC Servers. Oracle SPARC Servers should be fine-tuned well
enough to work with the other servers and software products in the market, as it is
an area where Oracle SPARC Servers lack.

The most challenging part concerning the product arises from the pricing model of
the solution. Most of my company's clients state that Oracle SPARC Servers are
costlier than the other servers available in the market, like the ones provided by
IBM and the other normal line of servers.

With the solution's technical support, the turnaround time is high, making it an
area of concern where improvements are required. When my company raises
issues with the technical support team, we expect them to reach out to us within
two days, but the support team's turnaround time goes beyond fifteen days.”

Awa Sri Read full review

Director at Nehish Software Solutions

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“Oracle doesn't have a good roadmap for the solution because they are moving to
the x86 platform. Oracle is focusing on the cloud platform with a PCA and standard
x86 architecture. Linux is their other OS and is mostly in the cloud. We don't see
much development happening on Solaris even though it came as an acquisition
from Sun Microsystems. Eventually, the solution and its platform will die because
there has been no new development on the Solaris end and we haven't seen new
servers in the last five years. At this point, we are pretty sure there is no real
roadmap or future for the solution.

There is a shortage of expert engineers because Oracle is not pushing the

technology. It is hard for us to find engineers because the number of people
supporting us has considerably reduced. ”

Abdul-Salam Read full review

Sr. Manager - System Analyst (Datacenter Infrastructure) at Sohar
International

“They have declared the end of life of the hardware, so they should ensure they
have support for existing customers. There is a feature in IBM that I would like to
see here. IBM has a feature where you can have a system backup, so whenever you
want to restore, you just put in the backup, give it a phone, and it will restore.”

Rakesh Ojha Read full review

DGM at SAIL Bokaro Steel Plant

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“There is a huge difference between the M Series and the T Series. They need some
sort of modeling because IBM has different types of models.

If I'm calculating the M Series, there is a large amount of core. The T Series has
less, but there is no actual model we can fix up. When we actually require some
support, we are going for the logical partitioning for two. At that point, when you
are calculating processing power and memory, IBM offers more choices, whereas
it's actually very difficult for Oracle.”

Khurshid AlamSheikh Read full review

Head of IT at Sonali Intellect

“The solution could improve by giving a clear roadmap about the future. I'm not
seeing a lot of improvements on the OS side of the software. They need to work
more on the operating system.”

Mir-Ali Read full review

Infrastructure Manager - Oracle SCM at a financial services firm with 5,001-
10,000 employees

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Oracle SPARC Servers vs. IBM Power Systems ▪ Oracle SPARC Servers

Pricing

“The hardware is expensive but it has very rich virtualization features that make it
economical.”

Abdul-Salam Read full review

Sr. Manager - System Analyst (Datacenter Infrastructure) at Sohar
International

“The application running on it is very important to us and this makes the price
worth it.”

Nout Gemmeke Read full review

CEO at Stargem

“My company makes yearly payments toward the licensing costs attached to the
solution.”

Awa Sri Read full review

Director at Nehish Software Solutions

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Oracle SPARC Servers vs. IBM Power Systems ▪ Oracle SPARC Servers

“The licensing is flexible.”

Khurshid AlamSheikh Read full review

Head of IT at Sonali Intellect

“Oracle SPARC Servers are expensive to manage, this is because after five years
Oracle will increase the support charges for the hardware. The licensing policy for
Oracle is different for Intel and Sparc. It will cost you less if you use your Oracle
hardware with Oracle SPARC Servers.”

Mir-Ali Read full review

Infrastructure Manager - Oracle SCM at a financial services firm with 5,001-
10,000 employees

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Setup
The setup process involves configuring and preparing the product or service for use, which may
include tasks such as installation, account creation, initial configuration, and troubleshooting any
issues that may arise. Below you can find real user quotes about the setup process.

“Oracle SPARC Servers can be easily installed.

The time taken to complete the deployment process of Oracle SPARC Servers
memory from industry to industry. For a small-scale industry, the product's
deployment can be done in a day, but it may take a week for bigger businesses to
deploy the product.

Only two or three people were required to take care of the Oracle SPARC Servers
deployment process in my company.

The solution is deployed on the cloud and on an on-premises model.”

Awa Sri Read full review

Director at Nehish Software Solutions

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“The initial setup is pretty straightforward. However having a knowledge base

with Solaris that is running on it, then it is not that difficult to work with. At least
you know what you are doing with it.”

Nout Gemmeke Read full review

CEO at Stargem

“The setup is simple, but the engineer has to have knowledge about Solaris to
manage it. It is not like Linux or another operating system. It's a little bit different
compared to Red Hat and other Linux variations. The full deployment takes
approximately two days.”

Mir-Ali Read full review

Infrastructure Manager - Oracle SCM at a financial services firm with 5,001-
10,000 employees

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Customer Service and Support

“They have a beautiful feature called automatic service request, so if some other
party is going to fail, they have telemetry data that informs them before we know
it.”

Rakesh Ojha Read full review

DGM at SAIL Bokaro Steel Plant

“The technical support from the vendor quality depends upon the issue.
Sometimes they will give you very good support and other times they will pass you
on to someone. It will depend upon the issue.”

Mir-Ali Read full review

Infrastructure Manager - Oracle SCM at a financial services firm with 5,001-
10,000 employees

“Though I wouldn't describe the solution's technical support as a good feature of

the product, my company is okay with the current services offered by the
solution's support team.

I rate the support a five or six out of ten.”

Awa Sri Read full review

Director at Nehish Software Solutions

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Other Solutions Considered

“Previously we used Intel server then we migrate to Solaris. We switched because

we heard about the high performance of Oracle hardware and software works.”

Mir-Ali Read full review

Infrastructure Manager - Oracle SCM at a financial services firm with 5,001-
10,000 employees

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Oracle SPARC Servers vs. IBM Power Systems ▪ IBM Power Systems

Product Recap
IBM Power Systems

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Oracle SPARC Servers vs. IBM Power Systems ▪ IBM Power Systems

IBM Power Systems Recap

Jump to Oracle SPARC Servers Recap

PeerSpot users give IBM Power Systems an average rating of 4.4 out of 5.

IBM Power Systems are built to crush the most advanced data applications - from the
mission-critical workloads you run today to the next generation of AI.

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Valuable Features
Excerpts from real customer reviews on PeerSpot:

“The availability of a solution depends on the requirement of the customer.

The most valuable feature is the virtualization. You can have this one system
or you can use it for many. They were using almost 120 servers within that
specific service.”

Shan Ahmed
System Analyst at Freelancer

“The most valuable feature of our machines is their ability to replace faulty
parts without causing any downtime.”

Omobolaji Olaloku
Senior Enterprise System Engineer at Zenith-bank

“Stability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten...Scalability-wise, I rate

the solution a nine out of ten.”

ManojAlenkeel
Implementation and Technical Sales Manager at ROI Botswana

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“The technical support that clients get from IBM is excellent.”

Verified user
General Manager Applications at a tech services company with 201-500
employees

“IBM Power Systems provides very good performance and stability compared
to other brands or processors.”

Lindra Heryadi
Dept Head of Enterprise Hardware Product at PT Multipolar Technology Tbk

“BM Power Systems get updated every two years and are scalable and
stable.”

Getachew Zeleke
Senior Custormer Engineer at Afcor PLC

“The performance and stability are great.”

Adalberto Giaretta
Technology director at Infodive Representações e Serviços ltda

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What users had to say about valuable features:

“Power Systems' best features include its user-friendliness and self-

checking/self-healing abilities. It's also the best solution for MIMIX and high
availability.”

MertPolatay Read full review

General manager at SM

“IBM Power Systems get updated every two years and are scalable and stable. It is
99.99% easy to update.

Power VMA integrations are unique to IBM in that they are free.”

Getachew Zeleke Read full review

Senior Custormer Engineer at Afcor PLC

“Compared to x86 platforms, their reliability is unbeatable. They also excel in

security, especially with specific features like HIPs, Postgres, intrusion prevention
systems, and even built-in AI for specific goals.

Additionally, the processing power is far superior, especially with the RSA feature
for reliability, serviceability, and availability.”

Rohintan-Karanjia Read full review

Advisory Services at Nangia Andersen LLP

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“The most valuable feature of our machines is their ability to replace faulty parts
without causing any downtime. Our servers are equipped with advanced
technology, making it possible to replace defective parts without having to bring
down the servers. This is crucial, as any disruption to our services would result in
inconvenience to our customers. Therefore, being able to service the machines and
replace parts without causing any downtime is highly beneficial.”

Omobolaji Olaloku Read full review

Senior Enterprise System Engineer at Zenith-bank

“The most valuable features include:

• RAS (Reliability, Availability, Sustainability)

• Reliability (Reliable on performance, uptime, and longevity)
• Availability (Available for applications running on it)
• Sustainability (Sustainable for backward compatibility of application growth
and parts availability)
• Accessibility (The server gives performance even if the CPU is 100%. No new
user can connect, however, the existing user will not understand that the
server CPU is 100% full)
• Machine Performance, Uptime, manageability, and runtime resource
allocation (Using Power VM) are highly beneficial.

Md Al-Amin Read full review

Senior System Analyst at Thakral

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“The reliability and availability are both excellent.

It offers very good security.

The performance and stability are great.

Technical support is helpful.

The solution can scale well. ”

Adalberto Giaretta Read full review

Technology director at Infodive Representações e Serviços ltda

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Pain Points
The main pain points mentioned:

“The scalability process should be simplified.”

Shan Ahmed
System Analyst at Freelancer

“The price has room for improvement.”

Omobolaji Olaloku
Senior Enterprise System Engineer at Zenith-bank

“The number of times IBM refreshes its operating system appears to be very
slow.”

ManojAlenkeel
Implementation and Technical Sales Manager at ROI Botswana

“IBM should be more flexible with marketing or offer marketing events

themselves and invite the partners to attend. That might be far more
productive.”

Verified user
General Manager Applications at a tech services company with 201-500
employees

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“IBM should provide a platform where users can learn about the storage and
security of IBM Power Systems.”

Lindra Heryadi
Dept Head of Enterprise Hardware Product at PT Multipolar Technology Tbk

“In my country, there are power supply interruptions. IBM could find ways to
make the product stable through these interruptions.”

Getachew Zeleke
Senior Custormer Engineer at Afcor PLC

“The pricing is high.”

Adalberto Giaretta
Technology director at Infodive Representações e Serviços ltda

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Oracle SPARC Servers vs. IBM Power Systems ▪ IBM Power Systems

Room for improvement:

“IBM systems are old technologies. I couldn't renew and get to use IBM Power
Systems, and it offers users very expensive support. The aforementioned areas can
be considered for improvement in the product.”

DILMUROD VAHABDJANOV Read full review

SYSTEM ADMIN at Hacettepe Üniversitesi

“We've found that sometimes, certain setups require better servers. Ideally, the
next level of model that IBM offers would be perfect for those situations.

Sometimes, the availability of additional services can be a challenge for some

software. Certain IBM software takes time to deliver to the client. It can be slow.

So deployment is an area for improvement.”

Rohintan-Karanjia Read full review

Advisory Services at Nangia Andersen LLP

“Feature-wise, the power system is great, however, IBM should work on pricing.
No available price list is on the web. Due to this, the customer cannot compare
pricing. For example, the RISC server can not be compared with the INTEL server
over price. ”

Md Al-Amin Read full review

Senior System Analyst at Thakral

“In my country, there are power supply interruptions. IBM could find ways to

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make the product stable through these interruptions.

Also, each time we have to go outside the storage, it fails.”

Getachew Zeleke Read full review

Senior Custormer Engineer at Afcor PLC

“Speaking about the disadvantages, the tools available to manage IBM Power
Systems are not that good. My company also uses VMware, which is easy to use. In
IBM Power Systems, things can get complicated when you try to manage the
platform.

Price and complexity related to the management of the solution are areas of
concern in the solution where improvements are required.”

Roberto Quiros Read full review

Server and storage administrator at Banco de Costa Rica

“They simply need to promote or provide more support to open applications like
.NET.

We'd like to see the solution support skill servers.

The pricing is high.”

Adalberto Giaretta Read full review

Technology director at Infodive Representações e Serviços ltda

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ROI
Real user quotes about their ROI:

“We had maxed out our earlier versions, and when we moved to a POWER7 we saw
a definite performance increase. It was able to take care of some of the bottlenecks
that we were experiencing. In terms of power usage and space it's been great as
well.”

Verified user Read full review

Developer

“We have observed a positive return on investment as our services have improved,
resulting in increased customer acquisition, a rise in the number of new accounts
being opened daily, and prompt response times due to the absence of any
downtime. I give the ROI a nine out of ten.”

Omobolaji Olaloku Read full review

Senior Enterprise System Engineer at Zenith-bank

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Oracle SPARC Servers vs. IBM Power Systems ▪ IBM Power Systems

“This doesn't really apply to me, but I certainly think the customers are seeing ROI
in their move from seven to eight. I don't know anybody who moved to eight and
said, "Darn, I wish I had stuck with seven." They seem to be pretty happy and
that's usually the best measure, right?”

Verified user Read full review

Director of technology at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees

“In terms of a return on investment from upgrading from a previous version of AIX
to the current version, from a financial standpoint I don't really see a difference.

But for performance, it's not so much just the performance, it's the new features
that come in the code that makes it appealing to me.”

Verified user Read full review

Aix Linux lead

“There are a lot of day-to-day administrative tasks. Problems that you face in a
typical environment, you will not face on Power Systems. If you secure your
environment, you can better focus on other productive tasks for your organization,
other than spending time logging into your VMs and making changes after every
little while and things like that. Your technical teams can offload a lot of the daily
routine tasks.”

Fahim Ahmed Read full review

Server Support Specialist at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

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Oracle SPARC Servers vs. IBM Power Systems ▪ IBM Power Systems

“In terms of the upgrades, moving from previous versions to POWER8, I absolutely
see a return on investment. We're virtualizing it, and being able to share across the
multiple organizations that we support, we're able to push the utilization upwards
of 70%.

Previously we would create physical LPARs and there would be one or two LPARs
and we'd only be utilizing 10% of a 770, or the 570s, or 670s. So it was a got a
million dollar system, and we were using 10%. That's $100,000 worth of use,
$900,000 is not being used.

Now we're pushing that utilization to where we have a lot more virtual LPARs and
we're actually using that full system instead of having ten million-dollar systems.
We have one million-dollar system and we're using ten virtuals on it.”

Billy Fowler Read full review

Admin at a leisure / travel company with 1,001-5,000 employees

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Oracle SPARC Servers vs. IBM Power Systems ▪ IBM Power Systems

Pricing

“I give the cost a one out of ten.”

Omobolaji Olaloku Read full review

Senior Enterprise System Engineer at Zenith-bank

“Price-wise, I rate the solution a five out of ten.”

ManojAlenkeel Read full review

Implementation and Technical Sales Manager at ROI Botswana

“The solution's pricing is very, very high compared to other platforms.”

Lindra Heryadi Read full review

Dept Head of Enterprise Hardware Product at PT Multipolar Technology
Tbk

“The machine is good and has a comparatively good price.”

Getachew Zeleke Read full review

Senior Custormer Engineer at Afcor PLC

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Oracle SPARC Servers vs. IBM Power Systems ▪ IBM Power Systems

“IBM Power Systems is a really expensive product.”

Roberto Quiros Read full review

Server and storage administrator at Banco de Costa Rica

“It's more about the value you get for the price. Considering its stability and
performance, the pricing is good.”

Rohintan-Karanjia Read full review

Advisory Services at Nangia Andersen LLP

“When there is an error in the SAS drive of 10,000 RPM, my company buys support
for 1,500 USD.”

DILMUROD VAHABDJANOV Read full review

SYSTEM ADMIN at Hacettepe Üniversitesi

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Oracle SPARC Servers vs. IBM Power Systems ▪ IBM Power Systems

Setup
The setup process involves configuring and preparing the product or service for use, which may
include tasks such as installation, account creation, initial configuration, and troubleshooting any
issues that may arise. Below you can find real user quotes about the setup process.

“The product's initial setup phase is done with the channel or server connection
channel. The setup is using CLI. For Oracle's setup phase, my company uses a web-
based GUI, so management and configuration are very easy. IBM offers old
technologies.”

DILMUROD VAHABDJANOV Read full review

SYSTEM ADMIN at Hacettepe Üniversitesi

“It definitely requires more expertise than x86 systems, especially considering the
importance of reliability and availability for our clients' banking solutions.

So, I would rate my experience with the initial setup a seven out of ten, where one
is difficult, and ten is simple.

The hardware installation itself is quick, but migrating data from old systems or
integrating new solutions can take time. Usually, it's anywhere from a few weeks
to a month or two, depending on the complexity of the application being
migrated. Usually, a team of three to four people is needed.”

Rohintan-Karanjia Read full review

Advisory Services at Nangia Andersen LLP

“The initial setup of the product is complex. In our company, we had an instructor
from IBM who told us IBM prefers to make the setup phase difficult. In other
platforms, the deployment phase can be completed with a few clicks, but with

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Oracle SPARC Servers vs. IBM Power Systems ▪ IBM Power Systems

IBM, you need to do a lot of steps even though the end result may not be as good as
you expected.”

Roberto Quiros Read full review

Server and storage administrator at Banco de Costa Rica

“We spent two weeks on the deployment process. The first three days were
dedicated to allowing the team to acclimate to the data center. The IBM team took
care of the initial setup, including firmware updates on the servers, while we
handled assigning IP addresses. Once those tasks were completed, we were able to
access the system network and begin creating virtual machines based on specific
requirements from different units. A team of five people consisting of the
administrator, network administrator, storage administrator, IT operational
person, and power and data center administrator was required for the
deployment.”

Omobolaji Olaloku Read full review

Senior Enterprise System Engineer at Zenith-bank

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Oracle SPARC Servers vs. IBM Power Systems ▪ IBM Power Systems

“The installation is very simple.

From the installer, you install the machine. Maybe you want to install the
operating system. It's quite different from Windows or Linux since this is Unix-
based. ”

Johansen Lee Read full review

Senior Pre-Sales Manager at PT GLOBAL INFOTECH SOLUTION

“The initial setup took us time because we migrated from a legacy to a power
system. The migration took us about one week. The OEM IBM provided the
consultant that did the installation.”

Ademola Adedoyin Read full review

Deputy director at Central Bank of Nigeria

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Oracle SPARC Servers vs. IBM Power Systems ▪ IBM Power Systems

Customer Service and Support

“We needed to use IBM support just a couple of times and the onset time was quite
comfortable so I can say I'm comfortable with quality of service support from
IBM.”

Verified user Read full review

Gerente CPD-Dcloud at a tech services company with 201-500 employees

“In Indonesia, they have local support, however, maybe for certain products, the
support is just not as good as the main product, like the Power System or Storage.
Maybe for another product, the support is very limited.”

Johansen Lee Read full review

Senior Pre-Sales Manager at PT GLOBAL INFOTECH SOLUTION

“Technical support is good, but sometimes we require urgent attention,

particularly due to time differences. Although the response time may be delayed, it
is still satisfactory. However, not all engineers are located in my region, which
poses a challenge in terms of support.”

Omobolaji Olaloku Read full review

Senior Enterprise System Engineer at Zenith-bank

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Oracle SPARC Servers vs. IBM Power Systems ▪ IBM Power Systems

“IBM takes its support very seriously - whenever you contact them for support,
the people who onboard will know how to resolve the issue smoothly. Also,
because IBM owns all the hardware in its machines, they don't refer you anywhere
else, they take care of everything themselves.”

Atif Najam Read full review

Chief Information Officer and Program Lead at Gatron Industries Ltd

“We've been getting excellent service from IBM resellers and their management
teams.

The resources and support depend on location. For example, metro cities get better
service.”

Rohintan-Karanjia Read full review

Advisory Services at Nangia Andersen LLP

“Even though my company does have connections with a local partner of IBM,
whenever we need direct support from IBM, it can be difficult to get support
because even though they say that they support technologies from other vendors,
we face a lot of issues in my company when we try to deploy machine since there
are a lot of issues in this software of those machines provided by other vendors.

I rate the technical support an eight out of ten.”

Roberto Quiros Read full review

Server and storage administrator at Banco de Costa Rica

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Oracle SPARC Servers vs. IBM Power Systems ▪ IBM Power Systems

Other Solutions Considered

“We had previously utilized an alternate solution, but we switched to IBM licenses
due to the need for a more resilient option. We have been satisfied with this
change and have not considered going back to our previous solution.”

Omobolaji Olaloku Read full review

Senior Enterprise System Engineer at Zenith-bank

“Compared to similar solutions, IBM Power Systems has a proven record. They
have their own reputation. You have the availability of technical expertise in the
market. They're quite compatible with most of the solutions that we work with.”

Verified user Read full review

I.T. Head - Infrastructure, Network and Security at a financial services firm
with 1,001-5,000 employees

“A second option after IBM Power Systems is HP Unix servers.

IBM is better than HP Because IBM is a product where all things have to be
integrated, including the operating system. But HP is just software.”

Getachew Zeleke Read full review

Senior Custormer Engineer at Afcor PLC

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Oracle SPARC Servers vs. IBM Power Systems ▪ IBM Power Systems

“We evaluated Oracle and HP but ultimately chose IBM due to our past positive
experience with them. We have previously used IBM for a few applications and
were satisfied with their performance. Since our storage software systems are also
IBM, it made sense to opt for IBM servers and storage for better compatibility.”

Omobolaji Olaloku Read full review

Senior Enterprise System Engineer at Zenith-bank

“I have previously used Intel and Oracle Solaris servers. The performance of IBM
Power Systems is very good compared to Intel. IBM Power Systems provides more
stability compared to Intel. You have firmware and malware issues with Intel, but
IBM Power Systems has no security issues.”

Lindra Heryadi Read full review

Dept Head of Enterprise Hardware Product at PT Multipolar Technology
Tbk

“Oracle SPARC is one of the solutions with which my company has some
experience. My company switched from Oracle to IBM since we faced some
problems with Oracle, from whom we had purchased eight SPARC T4-1 Servers.
The problem arose when we had to create a new contact to support Oracle SPARC
T4-1 Servers, and Oracle never cared to help us. Rather than resolving our issues,
Oracle told my company that we could either migrate to the cloud or buy new
servers from them.”

Roberto Quiros Read full review

Server and storage administrator at Banco de Costa Rica

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Oracle SPARC Servers vs. IBM Power Systems

Reviewers Who Have

Researched Both
Solutions

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Oracle SPARC Servers vs. IBM Power Systems ▪ Customer Review

Abdul-Salam
Sr. Manager - System Analyst (Datacenter Infrastructure) at Sohar International

Researched IBM Power Systems But

Chose Oracle SPARC Servers

Pros Cons

“The operating system is rock solid “Oracle doesn't have a good

and the best I have ever used.” roadmap for the solution because
they are moving to the x86
platform.”

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Oracle SPARC Servers vs. IBM Power Systems ▪ Customer Review

What is our primary use case?

“Our company uses the solution for our core applications. It is installed on the
back end and houses records for our bank-wide system. Nearly all 300 employees
use the solution on the back end. ”

What is most valuable?

“The operating system is rock solid and the best I have ever used.

You can perform nearly 100% of things online without needing downtime.

The solution has rich virtualization features that allow you to host many VMs on
one box.

The processors are very powerful. ”

What needs improvement?

“Oracle doesn't have a good roadmap for the solution because they are moving to
the x86 platform. Oracle is focusing on the cloud platform with a PCA and standard
x86 architecture. Linux is their other OS and is mostly in the cloud. We don't see
much development happening on Solaris even though it came as an acquisition
from Sun Microsystems. Eventually, the solution and its platform will die because
there has been no new development on the Solaris end and we haven't seen new
servers in the last five years. At this point, we are pretty sure there is no real
roadmap or future for the solution.

There is a shortage of expert engineers because Oracle is not pushing the

technology. It is hard for us to find engineers because the number of people
supporting us has considerably reduced. ”

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Oracle SPARC Servers vs. IBM Power Systems ▪ Customer Review

For how long have I used the solution?

“I have been using the solution for seven years. ”

How are customer service and support?

“I have contacted technical support multiple times and they are good. Support is
rated an eight out of ten. ”

How was the initial setup?

“The setup is easy. ”

What about the implementation team?

“We implemented the solution in-house. It took about three weeks to prep for
deployment which included setting up hardware, assembling, and installing.”

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

“The hardware is expensive but it has very rich virtualization features that make it
economical. You can have many VMs hosted on a single box. ”

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

“We are trying to move away from the solution for new applications because there
is no real roadmap for the solution's future. ”

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Oracle SPARC Servers vs. IBM Power Systems ▪ Customer Review

What other advice do I have?

“I rate the solution an eight out of ten. ”

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises

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Oracle SPARC Servers vs. IBM Power Systems ▪ Customer Review

Rohintan-Karanjia
Advisory Services at Nangia Andersen LLP

Researched Oracle SPARC Servers But

Chose IBM Power Systems

Pros Cons

“Additionally, the processing power “Sometimes, the availability of

is far superior, especially with the additional services can be a
RSA feature for reliability, challenge. Certain IBM software
serviceability, and availability.” takes time to deliver to the client. It
can be slow.”

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Oracle SPARC Servers vs. IBM Power Systems ▪ Customer Review

What is our primary use case?

“We are consultants. Usually, those permissions are provided for core banking
operations, so we need to do the infrastructure sizing first.

We tailor the hardware to their specific needs.

It is primarily used for core banking solutions.”

What is most valuable?

“Compared to x86 platforms, their reliability is unbeatable. They also excel in

security, especially with specific features like HIPs, Postgres, intrusion prevention
systems, and even built-in AI for specific goals.

Additionally, the processing power is far superior, especially with the RSA feature
for reliability, serviceability, and availability.”

What needs improvement?

“We've found that sometimes, certain setups require better servers. Ideally, the
next level of model that IBM offers would be perfect for those situations.

Sometimes, the availability of additional services can be a challenge for some

software. Certain IBM software takes time to deliver to the client. It can be slow.

So deployment is an area for improvement.”

For how long have I used the solution?

“We have been familiar with this product for about nine years. ”

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Oracle SPARC Servers vs. IBM Power Systems ▪ Customer Review

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

“It's very, very stable. I've never seen it go down for any reason. I would rate the
stability a ten out of ten.

IBM is much more stable than Oracle or HPE. We find it the most stable system in
the market.”

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

“Scalability depends on the person scaling the solution. Web applications do the
horizontal scaling, while databases get vertical scaling. We keep 30-45% of the
headroom for future needs.

Scalability depends on who sizes the hardware. If they choose the right
configuration, it can be very scalable.

I would rate the scalability a ten out of ten. Our clients are mostly enterprise
businesses.”

How are customer service and support?

“We've been getting excellent service from IBM resellers and their management
teams.

The resources and support depend on location. For example, metro cities get better
service.”

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

“We had Oracle SPARC.”

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Oracle SPARC Servers vs. IBM Power Systems ▪ Customer Review

How was the initial setup?

“It definitely requires more expertise than x86 systems, especially considering the
importance of reliability and availability for our clients' banking solutions.

So, I would rate my experience with the initial setup a seven out of ten, where one
is difficult, and ten is simple.

The hardware installation itself is quick, but migrating data from old systems or
integrating new solutions can take time. Usually, it's anywhere from a few weeks
to a month or two, depending on the complexity of the application being
migrated. Usually, a team of three to four people is needed.”

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

“It's more about the value you get for the price. Considering its stability and
performance, the pricing is good. So, it is fairly priced after getting a good
discount. In India, we get a good discount. ”

What other advice do I have?

“If your application is designed for IBM OS servers, it can be a very stable and
reliable solution. Otherwise, it might not be the best fit.

Overall, I would rate the solution a nine out of ten. ”

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Oracle SPARC Servers vs. IBM Power Systems

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Oracle SPARC Servers vs. IBM Power Systems

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