Key facts
- Topgolf saved over $11.3 million by migrating 12,000 virtual machines from VMware to VergeIO.
- Broadcom's changes to VMware licensing, including stopping perpetual licenses and bundling products into fewer, more expensive SKUs, prompted the migration.
- Topgolf replaced 650 VxRail hosts with approximately 400 Dell PowerEdge servers.
- VergeIO's VergeOS combines compute, storage, disaster recovery, networking, and AI.
- Topgolf's software costs decreased by 77 percent after the migration.
Topgolf has achieved significant cost savings by migrating its IT infrastructure away from VMware, a move prompted by Broadcom's strategic changes to VMware's licensing model. The company moved over 12,000 virtual machines to VergeIO's VergeOS platform, anticipating a 400 percent cost increase under Broadcom's new terms.
Before the migration, Topgolf had a deep-rooted relationship with VMware, utilizing its vSphere, ESXi, and VxRail solutions for decades. Scott Forehand, Topgolf's global infrastructure manager, noted that the company's employees were actively involved in VMware customer councils. However, Broadcom's decision to discontinue perpetual licenses and consolidate products into more expensive SKUs forced Topgolf to seek alternatives for its on-premises workloads across venues, offices, labs, and data centers.
Topgolf expects to be entirely off VMware by early December. The migration to VergeOS has resulted in reduced infrastructure costs, with Forehand stating that the savings are "much more" now considering current market hardware costs. VergeIO's platform, which integrates compute, storage, disaster recovery, networking, and AI, appealed to Topgolf due to its multi-tenant capabilities, allowing for easier management and segmentation of deployments by time zone. This contrasts with VMware's perceived limitations in segregating clusters into tenants.
The transition involved replacing 650 VxRail hosts with approximately 400 Dell PowerEdge servers, leading to an 87 percent reduction in comparative hardware spend. Software costs also decreased by 77 percent. Topgolf secured a five-year enterprise license agreement with VergeIO, longer than the three-year ELA reportedly offered by VMware. The company also collaborated with VergeIO to accommodate specific needs, such as its Toptracer system for machine learning-driven golf ball tracing, which generates substantial data traffic.
Challenges during the migration included coordinating the server stack replacement with other projects, such as replacing game panels and implementing a new Kubernetes gaming architecture. Integrating the new virtualization platform with existing third-party software like Rubrik and LogicMonitor also presented hurdles, leading Topgolf to pivot to Veeam for certain data protection and security features. VergeIO's strategy to address integration challenges involves building capabilities into its platform and forming key partnerships.