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Topgolf Ditches VMware, Saves Millions
14 Oct
Summary
- Topgolf saved over $11 million by migrating 12,000 VMs.
- Broadcom's VMware cost increase prompted the company's exit.
- VergeOS offers multi-tenant segmentation, easing management.
Topgolf has significantly reduced infrastructure costs by migrating approximately 12,000 virtual machines from VMware to VergeIO's VergeOS platform. This strategic shift, driven by Broadcom's substantial VMware cost increases, has already saved the sports entertainment company over $11 million. Topgolf, which has a global presence with over 100 locations, previously relied heavily on VMware's vSphere and VxRail solutions for decades.
The decision to move away from VMware was precipitated by Broadcom's changes to licensing models, which threatened to increase Topgolf's costs by 400 percent. Topgolf's infrastructure manager noted that the company is expected to be entirely off VMware by the second week of December. The migration also involved replacing 650 VxRail hosts with around 400 Dell PowerEdge servers, leading to a substantial reduction in hardware expenses.
VergeOS was chosen for its robust multi-tenant capabilities, a feature Topgolf found lacking in VMware, simplifying management across its numerous venues. This segmentation allowed for easier upgrades and maintenance by organizing deployments by time zone. Topgolf also highlighted VergeOS's API-first approach, facilitating integration with infrastructure-as-code tools like Terraform and Ansible.
Despite challenges in integrating third-party software such as Rubrik and LogicMonitor, Topgolf has adapted by switching to Veeam for specific security features. The company's migration efforts also included simplifying its gaming stack and moving it to edge game panels, alongside replacing server stacks and adopting a new Kubernetes gaming architecture, further reducing technical debt.
