Executive Summary & Recommendations
This section provides a high-level summary of the two platforms. Sangfor HCI offers a simplified, all-in-one "data center in a box" experience, ideal for enterprises seeking operational ease. ZStack IaaS provides a powerful, flexible "cloud-building fabric" for organizations that prioritize scalability and deep automation. Use the table below to quickly grasp their core differences.
| Criterion | Sangfor HCI | ZStack IaaS Cloud |
|---|
Architectural Philosophy
The core difference between the platforms lies in their architecture. Sangfor pursues radical integration for simplicity, delivering a pre-packaged Software-Defined Data Center (SDDC). ZStack provides a modular, massively scalable fabric, offering a flexible toolkit for building clouds. The diagrams below illustrate these contrasting approaches.
Sangfor HCI: The Integrated Appliance
A unified stack where compute, storage, networking, and security are tightly coupled and managed as one.
Unified Management
Single GUI for all operations
Compute Virtualization
Storage Virtualization
Network Virtualization
Integrated Security
ZStack IaaS: The Scalable Fabric
A modular, API-first platform where components are plugins, enabling massive scale and flexibility.
API-First Automation (Ansible)
Programmatic control over all resources
Asynchronous Message Bus
Compute (KVM, VMware)
Storage (Ceph, NFS, etc.)
Networking (NFV, SDN)
Feature Deep Dive
While their architectures differ, both platforms offer a rich set of capabilities. Use the tabs below to explore a side-by-side comparison of their features across key infrastructure domains. This allows for a granular understanding of how each platform addresses core requirements.
Use Case Explorer
Which platform is right for you? The best choice depends on your specific needs. Click on a use case below to see a visual comparison and a tailored recommendation based on the report's findings. This interactive tool helps match platform strengths to your strategic goals.
Select a Use Case
Click a card above to see which platform is better suited for that scenario.
TCO & Licensing Comparison
Both platforms promise a lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) than traditional infrastructure, but they achieve it in different ways. Sangfor focuses on operational simplicity and bundled features, while ZStack emphasizes hardware freedom and automation efficiency. The charts below visualize their distinct value propositions.
Sangfor HCI: Value through Integration
TCO savings are driven by reducing administrative overhead with a simple UI and bundling security, backup, and DR features into one license.
ZStack IaaS: Value through Flexibility
TCO savings come from using commodity hardware, reusing legacy servers, and achieving massive operational efficiency via automation (APIs/Ansible).